The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), an arm of the US Treasury Department, has imposed a $2 million fine on oil corporation ExxonMobil, including its US subsidiaries ExxonMobil Development and ExxonMobil Oil, for violating sanctions imposed in connection with Russian actions against Ukraine. this on Thursday OFAC announced .

Between approximately May 14 and May 23, 2014, ExxonMobil violated sanctions imposed following the annexation of Crimea when the presidents of its U.S. subsidiaries entered into a business relationship with a person whose property or interests in property were frozen in the United States, namely the principal Executive Director of Rosneft Igor Sechin. In particular, they signed eight legal documents with him related to oil and gas projects in Russia.

OFAC determined that ExxonMobil did not voluntarily report these actions to regulators and considered them a violation of the sanctions regime. At the time of signing the documents, the company’s top managers already knew about Sechin’s sanction status, the regulator indicated. He was included in the list of persons who are prohibited from entering the United States and whose assets in the United States should be frozen, along with other persons close to President Vladimir Putin. President Barack Obama's sanctions order clearly stated that US persons are prohibited from dealing with such individuals, including providing or receiving funds, goods, or services from them, OFAC recalls.

Obama signed the decree on March 16, 2014, Sechin was included in the sanctions list on April 28. The Treasury Department said in a press release that same day that “transactions by U.S. persons or in U.S. territories with designated persons or entities are generally prohibited.” On May 8, OFAC issued a clarification stating that U.S. persons are prohibited from dealing with sanctioned individuals, including Sechin, receiving services from them, or benefiting from any services they may provide. Despite this, ExxonMobil “went ahead and signed legal documents with Igor Sechin between approximately May 14 and May 23, 2014,” OFAC said.

In objections sent to OFAC, ExxonMobil noted, the agency reports: in explanations to the media, representatives of the presidential administration noted that the purpose of the decree is to identify and isolate people from Putin’s inner circle, and not the companies that they may control. (Sectoral sanctions against Russian companies, limiting the supply of technology or long-term financing to them, were introduced later, after the downing of a Malaysia Airlines plane over Donetsk in July.) Therefore, ExxonMobil, it claims, separated “personal” and “professional” communications with Sechin, especially since persons from the United States, for example, were not prohibited from participating in the meeting of the board of directors of Rosneft.

However, OFAC in its message indicates that there is no such division either in the presidential decree or in the office’s clarifications. Their text, press releases from the White House and the Treasury Department regarding the ban on transactions with people on the sanctions list, as well as similar cases back in 2013, “make it clear to ExxonMobil that OFAC will consider signing documents with a person on the sanctions list as a violation prohibitions established by sanctions imposed in connection with the events in Ukraine.”

ExxonMobil's actions and the company's failure to voluntarily report them are classified by OFAC as an "apparent violation." In addition, there are aggravating circumstances in the case, the department states: the company, which operates all over the world and constantly follows the requirements associated with sanctions and restrictions, was negligent in its approach to the ban, especially since its top managers knew that Sechin was included in the sanctions list . And by its actions, ExxonMobil “caused significant damage to the goals of the sanctions program related to the events in Ukraine.”

The basic and maximum fine for such a violation is $2 million, which was imposed by OFAC.

ExxonMobil will pay a $2 million fine for communicating with Igor Sechin