OFAC settles with travel assistance company

OFAC has announced a settlement with Generali Global Assistance, Inc. (GGA), a New York-incorporated travel assistance services company. GGA agreed to remit $5,864,860 to settle its potential civil liability for 2,593 apparent violations of the Cuban Assets Control Regulations. GGA intentionally referred Cuba-related payments to its Canadian affiliate, thereby avoiding processing reimbursement payments directly to Cuban parties and to travelers while they were located in Cuba. GGA subsequently reimbursed its Canadian affiliate for those payments.

The statutory maximum civil monetary penalty applicable in this matter is $168,545,000. OFAC determined, however, that GGA voluntarily self-disclosed the Apparent Violations and that the Apparent Violations constitute an egregious case. Accordingly, under OFAC’s Economic Sanctions Enforcement Guidelines (“Enforcement Guidelines”), the base civil monetary penalty amount applicable in this matter is $84,272,500. The settlement amount of $5,864,860 reflects OFAC’s consideration of the General Factors under the Enforcement Guidelines.

In its notice of the settlement, OFAC said this enforcement action highlights the importance of ensuring that sanctions compliance policies and procedures address both direct and indirect sanctions compliance risks, and in particular, highlights the risks of implementing a procedure to process, indirectly, transactions whose direct processing would be prohibited by U.S. sanctions.