Office of Foreign Assets Control – Strafen!

Nachfolgend ein „kleiner Vorgeschmack“ betreff dessen, was Unternehmen blühen kann, wenn sie gegen eines der OFAC Gesetze verstoßen. Die Beachtung von OFAC z.B. im Rahmen eines funktionierenden Compliance Systems eines auch in den USA tätigen Unternehmens oder eines Unternehmens mit Amerikanern in seinen Organen ist unabdingbar.

Criminal Penalties

A—Trading With the Enemy Act, 50 U.S.C. App. §§§§ 1-44 (“TWEA”) [North Ko rea, Cuba, Trans ac tion Con trol Reg u la tions] pro – vides for ten years im pris on ment, a USD1,000,000 fine for cor po ra tions, and a $100,000 fine for in di vid u als, as well as for fei ture of funds or other prop erty in volved in vi o la tions [In ad di tion, 18 U.S.C. §§ 3571 pro vides that or ga ni za tions or in di vid u als con victed of vi o lat ing a crim i nal stat ute may be fined the greater of the amount spec i fied in the stat ute, or twice the pe cu ni ary gain or loss from the vi o la tion and that individuals may be fined $250,000 for felonies];
B—In ternational Emergency Economic Powers Act, 50 U.S.C. §§§§ 1701-06 (“IEEPA”) [Iraq, Su dan, Iran, Ter ror ism, Nar cot ics, Nonproliferation, Si erra Le one, Zim ba bwe, the Bal kans, Syria, and Burma] pro vides for ten years im pris on ment, and a USD50,000 fine for cor po ra tions and in divid u als [In addi tion, 18 U.S.C. §§ 3571 pro vides that or ga ni za tions or in di vid u als con victed of vi o lat ing a crim i nal stat ute may be fined the greater of the amount spec i fied in the stat ute, or twice the pecu niry gain or loss from the vi o la tion, or $500,000 for fel o nies and that individuals may be fined $250,000 for felonies];

C—Iraqi Sanctions Act, Pub.L. 101-513, 104 Stat. 2047-55 (“ISA”) [Iraq] pro vides for twelve years im pris on ment and a USD1,000,000 corporate or per sonal fine [In ad di tion, 18 U.S.C. §§ 3571 pro vides that or ga ni za tions or in di vid u als con victed of vi o lat ing a crim i nal stat ute may be fined the greater of the amount spec i fied in the stat ute, or twice the pe cuni ary gain or loss from the violation];

D—United Nations Participation Act, 22 U.S.C. §§ 287c (“UNPA”) [Iraq and Di a mond Trad ing] pro vides for ten years im pris on ment, a $10,000 crim i nal fine for cor po ra tions and in di vid u als, and crim i nal forfei ture of funds or other prop erty in volved in vi o la tions [In ad di tion, 18 U.S.C. §§ 3571 pro vides that or ga ni za tions or in di vid u als con victed of vi o lat ing a crim i nal stat ute may be fined the greater of the amount spec ified in the stat ute, or twice the pe cu ni ary gain or loss from the vi o la tion, or $500,000 for fel o nies and that individuals may be fined $250,000 for felonies];
E—International Security and Development Cooperation Act (“ISDCA”) codified at 22 U.S.C. 2349 aa-9 (Iran) has no crim i nal penalties, but gen eral Cus toms and other rel e vant pen alty pro vi sions may apply to par tic u lar circumstances;

F— The Cuban Democracy Act (“CDA”), 22 U.S.C. §§ 6001-10 [relating to Cuba] has the same fines as TWEA above;

G— The Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (“LIBERTAD”) Act, 22 U.S.C. 6021-91, [relatng to Cuba] has the same fines as TWEA above and cod i fies the Cu ban As sets Con trol Regulations;

H—— The Antiterrorism and Ef fective Death Penalty Act, (enact ing 8 mU.S.C. 219, 18 U.S.C. 2332d and 18 U.S.C. 2339b) [Cuba, North Ko rea, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Su dan] pro vides for crim i nal pen al ties of $500,000 per count against cor po ra tions, and ten years im pris on ment and/or $250,000 per count for in di vid u als, for willful violations;

I— The Foreign Narcot ics Kingpin Designation Act, Pub L. No.  106-120, tit. VIII, 113 Stat 1606, 1626-1636 (1999) (to be cod i fied at 21 U.S.C. §§§§ 1901-1908) pro vides for crim i nal pen al ties of $10,000,000 per count against cor po ra tions, and thirty years im pris on ment and/or $5,000,000 per count for in di vid u als, for wilful violations;
J— The Criminal Code at 18 U.S.C. §§ 1001 pro vides for five years impris on ment and a USD10,000 crimi nal fine for know ingly mak ing false state ments or fal si fy ing or con ceal ing ma te rial facts when deal ing with OFAC in con nec tion with mat ters un der its jurisdiction.

Civil Penalties
OFAC has au thor ity to im pose civil penalties for violations under IEEPA (USD250,000 or or twice the amount of the un der ly ing trans ac tion ), TWEA (USD65,000), the Iraqi Sanc tions Act (USD325,000), and the For eign Nar cot ics King pin Des ig na tion Act (USD1,075,000), as well as
$55,000 for bank ing trans ac tions un der the Antiterrorism Act. Each set of reg u la tions con tains pro ce dures for Civil Pen al ties in Sec tions 701 through 706 of the per ti nent reg u la tions. Over the past sev eral years, OFAC has had to im pose mil lions of dol lars in civil pen al ties in volv ing
pay ments and ex ports. The ma jor ity of the fines re sulted from il le gal trans fers ref er enc ing tar geted coun tries or SDNs. When it co mes to OFAC’s at ten tion that an il licit trans ac tion has oc curred, OFAC nor mally sends an ad min is tra tive de mand for in for ma tion, called a “602 let ter” to the exporter re quest ing an ex pla na tion of the trans ac tion. Upon re ceipt of a re sponse to this letter, the case may be re ferred to the Civil Pen al ties Division, which is sues a “Prepenalty No tice” citing the vi o la tion and stat ing the amount of the pro posed pen alty. The ex porter then has thirty days to make a writ ten pre sen ta tion as to why a pen alty should not be im posed, or, if im posed, why it should be in a lesser amount than pro posed. It is critical to an swer such “Prepenalty Notices” since fail ure to re spond may result in de fault judge ments levy ing max i mum fines. Miti ating fac tors in Civil Pen alty pro ce dures in clude self-dis clo sure, the use and sophisti cation of in ter dict soft ware, and other com pli ance ini tia tives. TWEA Civil Pen alty and forfeiture proceedings include the opportunity for an administrative hearing and pre-hearing discovery prior to imposition of a penalty or forfeiture.

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