In Law360 Article, Akin Gump Authors Explore Compliance Priorities in Light of OFAC Cases

Law360 has published the article “What 2 Recent OFAC Cases Say About Compliance Priorities,” written by Akin Gump international trade partners Anne Borkovic, Jonathan Poling and Wynn Segall and associate Andrew Schlossberg. The article, which first appeared as an Akin Gump client alert, discusses a pair of recent cases before the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) involving administrative subpoenas “with follow-up responses deemed by OFAC to be materially inaccurate or incomplete.”

The article begins with a look at the two cases, which involve findings of violation by two U.S. companies amid a “recent upswing in trade-related enforcement activity involving false, misleading or incomplete material statements in relation to internal investigations conducted in response to government requests for information or self-disclosures.” In each instance, OFAC found there to be aggravating factors, such as “reckless disregard for sanctions requirements” and a lack of cooperation with OFAC’s investigation.

In an effort to mitigate risk, the authors offer some suggestions, including that companies “not underestimate the importance of furnishing the required or requested information to agencies.” Failure to do so, they warn, could result in civil penalties or criminal charges. In addition, they advise that companies “develop detailed and stringent internal investigation procedures to ensure that any official government submissions are thorough, complete and accurate to the best of the reporting personnel’s knowledge and material information is not omitted.”

To read the original Akin Gump client alert on which the article is based, please click here.