OFAC's Framework For Sanctions Compliance And Its Impact On Recent Enforcement Cases

On May 2, 2019, the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published its first-ever  Framework for OFAC Compliance Commitments ("Framework"), detailing the essential components of a sanctions compliance program, and the contents were hardly a surprise. As we indicated in our recent client alert outlining  the top 20 compliance lessons to learn from the past year's OFAC enforcement cases, OFAC has hinted at this Framework since last fall when it began publishing  settlement agreements with compliance commitments included. Although OFAC reiterated that every company's risk-based sanctions compliance program will vary based on its own individual risk factors – including the company's size and sophistication, products and services, customers and counterparties, and geographic locations – OFAC characterized the five "essential components" of compliance as requiring: (1) management commitment; (2) risk assessment; (3) internal controls; (4)