Kobre & Kim Analyzes First OFAC Case Against an Individual in Years for the Wall Street Journal


August 13, 2020

Publication: Wall Street Journal

For the first time in several years, the U.S. Treasury Department has pursued a sanctions-related case against an individual, which could be a potential sign of things to come, Kobre & Kim’s Beau Barnes told the Wall Street Journal.

The case involved a former employee of the U.S. Army stationed in the U.S Embassy in Colombia, who was accused of engaging in prohibited transactions with a narcotics dealer on the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) blacklist. Though the individual settled with OFAC for US $5,000, the fine could have been up to US $36.3 million. 

Barnes states that, just as OFAC once focused more heavily on individuals over a decade ago, “Individuals may yet again become a focus of OFAC’s attention and individuals who previously escaped personal liability for negligent and reckless sanctions violations may find themselves in OFAC’s crosshairs again.”

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