- Chief Compliance Officer and VP of Legal Affairs, Arrow Electronics
By 
Aaron Nicodemus2023-04-25T21:59:00
British American Tobacco (BAT) will pay more than $635 million to settle allegations the company violated U.S. sanctions against North Korea using a complex, yearslong scheme to import tobacco products into the country.
BAT engaged in a conspiracy to export tobacco products to North Korea via a Singapore-based subsidiary, according to the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and Department of Justice (DOJ). The company divested from a joint venture between its Singapore subsidiary and a North Korean business in 2007 over concerns of public association with North Korea, an action that “purposefully obscured” its continued effective ownership and control over the venture, OFAC said Tuesday in its enforcement release.
Payments to BAT were remitted through Chinese accounts, shell companies, two U.S.-sanctioned North Korean banks, BAT’s Singapore-based subsidiary, and North Korea’s embassy in Singapore, OFAC said in its settlement agreement.
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Italy-based Mondo TV agreed to pay $538,000 to settle charges with the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control over 18 apparent violations of North Korea sanctions regulations.
Penalties against companies including British American Tobacco, Wells Fargo, and Microsoft demonstrate the multiple ways in which businesses can run afoul of U.S. sanctions—an area receiving increased scrutiny by regulators.
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Purported “testimonial and review” service Rytr agreed to stop selling its program that used artificial intelligence to create fake content as part of a consent order with the Federal Trade Commission.
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