Latest OFAC Settlement Shows Need For Integrated Compliance Program

On April 25, 2022 the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”)  announced a settlement with Toll Holdings Ltd. (“Toll”), an Australian logistics company, related to apparent violations of multiple U.S. sanctions programs. As part of the settlement, Toll agreed to pay a $6 Million+ fine to settle a liability for approximately 3,000 apparent violations related to payments it made to sanctioned jurisdictions and entities using the U.S. financial system. The settlement is of special note for a few reasons:

• Action Against Non-U.S. Entity  – As described in the settlement announcement, the hook for U.S. jurisdiction, in this case, was Toll's use of financial institutions in the U.S. as well as foreign branches of financial institutions incorporated in the U.S. to process payments to sanctioned entities and jurisdictions. This jurisdictional hook highlights OFAC's continuing appetite to apply U.S. sanctions extraterritorially. This is