- Chief Compliance Officer and VP of Legal Affairs, Arrow Electronics
By 
Neil Hodge2024-08-28T16:03:00
Sanctions imposed against Russia following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine are being undermined by the U.K.’s poor track record of enforcement, according to a report by campaign group Spotlight on Corruption.
The report, titled “All bark and no bite?: Taking stock of the U.K.’s enforcement of sanctions,” said that up until publication on July 24, there had been no fines for breaches of financial sanctions imposed since 2022; no convictions for sanctions evasion since 2012; and no assets permanently seized through civil or criminal action related to sanctions violations–despite the U.K. government having appropriate legal powers.
The report pointed out at the time that the HM Treasury’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) has only “named and shamed” one firm, a nonmonetary penalty against Wise Payments in August 2023, and is yet to issue a single fine for post-invasion breaches of Russian financial sanctions in spite of reporting 172 live investigations by the end of March 2023.
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The U.K. has issued 56 new sanctions against entities and individuals involved with Russia’s war effort, including several private mercenary groups operating in Africa that are connected to the Kremlin.
The U.S. Treasury Department, in coordination with the United Kingdom, is clamping down harder on Russia’s ability to wage war against Ukraine by banning the import of Russian-origin aluminum, copper, and nickel.
The recent decision by the U.K. Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation to disclose details of how Wise Payments failed to stop an individual from obtaining cash while subject to Russian sanctions has ignited debate about whether the agency is taking the right enforcement approach.
A bank examiner and senior manager at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond pled guilty to insider trading after allegedly misappropriating confidential information on seven banks to make profitable trades.
New York-based investment firm Drexel Hamilton will pay more than $1.1 million in penalties, with four current and former employees paying fines as well over committing hundreds of violations of rules regarding the sale of municipal bonds.
A publicly traded cryptocurrency mining company will pay $10 million and completely change its business model to one with “lower corruption risk” as part of a settlement over violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), two regulators announced.
