OFAC penalties decline

OFAC penalties decline    Fines imposed by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on American companies doing business with countries believed to be supporting terrorists have declined considerably since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, according to an Associated Press analysis.
   The average penalty for a U.S. company doing business with Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Libya and the Sudan dropped three-fold, from more than $50,000 in the five years before the 2001 attacks to about $18,700 (The figures do not reflect the U.S.’s recently altered positions toward Iraq and Libya).
   The decline appears due to the fact that companies are policing themselves more rather than risk OFAC fines, even if penalties are lower.
   OFAC, a spokesman said, “is committed to ensuring that U.S. entities abide by U.S. sanction laws. We’re not in the business of making money.”
   Penalties levied against doing business with Cuba also fell, from an average of just under $100,000 before the 2001 attacks to slightly above $20,000 today.