The U.S. Treasury Department lifted sanctions from a British resident whose conviction more than 20 years ago on charges of attempting to transport nuclear triggers to Iraq was quashed by an English court.
The U.S. Treasury Department Thursday will lift economic restrictions against Sudan that have hampered the growth of the Republic of South Sudan's oil sector and the role of banks in the region.
U.S. and European banks are rejecting millions of dollars of legitimate remittances originating from Iran and intended for Iranians and Iranian-Americans in the United States, even when federal authorities approve the transactions.
The U.S. Treasury Department Tuesday sanctioned three more Libyan banks, bringing to a dozen the number of financial institutions cut off from the U.S. financial system since Libya was first targeted for economic sanctions at the end of February.
U.S. Treasury documents involving companies that sought exemptions from economic sanctions illustrate the lengths banks must go to avoid violating sanctions laws and detail their efforts to avoid penalties when they discover they are doing business with a sanctioned entity.
Wells Fargo paid the U.S. government $67,500 for performing financial services in the United States at the behest of an individual in Iran that officials had previously voiced concerns about.
The U.S. Treasury Department's sanctions arm blacklisted Korea Daesong Bank Thursday for its alleged ties to a branch of the North Korean communist government.
The U.S. Treasury Department Tuesday blacklisted seven individuals and 22 organizations, including two banks in Belarus and one in Iran over their alleged ties to Iran's nuclear program.
The U.S. Treasury Department finalized a decision Monday to discount voluntary self disclosures by sanctions violators in cases when third parties reveal the same information, despite financial institution concerns.
The U.S. Treasury Department blacklisted a Labuan, Malaysia-based subsidiary of an Iranian financial institution Thursday over the bank's alleged ties to Iran's nuclear weapon's program.
The U.S. Treasury Department is focusing less on punishing individuals who travel to Cuba and more on egregious, high-dollar violations, according to a government report.
A contradiction between U.S. sanctions rules and federal guidance on Cuban money remitters is prompting some compliance staff to scratch their heads, say analysts.
The U.S. Treasury Department is reorganizing its economic sanctions enforcement efforts to focus more on egregious violations that are subject to millions of dollars in penalties granted under a 2007 law.
Betsy Sue Scott, former head of the civil penalties division, says a recent increase of the maximum fines for OFAC violations will better fit the punishment to the crime. Violators previously were only receiving a "slap on the wrist" for serious offenses, she says.
The law, enacted last week, increases civil penalty amounts fivefold but will be used chiefly in the enforcement of "major cases," an OFAC official said Monday.
The list of specially designated nationals falls short because little information, often only a name and potential aliases, is provided about individuals named on the list, some say.
National Australia Bank's remittance of $100,000 to the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control to settle charges that it violated economic sanctions against Cuba and other countries marked the largest settlement with OFAC by a bank this year. But the penalty could have been much larger.
U.S. and European banks are dropping their direct and correspondent relationships "and any other ties" with Cuba in an effort to protect themselves from any possible fines or actions they anticipate could be levied by U.S. regulators.
The U.S. Treasury Department has named Adam Szubin director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control.