CWT BV was a Netherlands-based travel services company. In 2006, however, its majority ownership changed to US owners, which made it subject to OFAC sanctions. And they didn't stop helping to fly folks to and from Cuba…. all the way through late 2012! Their services aided 44,430 passengers in that 6-year time span.
The base penalty was $11,093,500 and only got knocked down to $5,990,490 – for a voluntarily self-disclosed. The enforcement notice notes that a small number of the violations occured after CVT notified OFAC of the violations.
Here's the reasoning behind the math:
- CWT failed to exercise a minimal degree of caution or care regarding its obligations to comply with OFAC sanctions against Cuba by processing unauthorized travel-related transactions for more than four years before recognizing that it was subject to U.S.
jurisdiction;- CWT is a commercially sophisticated international corporation and travel services
provider;- CWT processed a high volume of transactions and assisted a large number of travelers,
which caused significant harm to the objectives of the CACR;- CWT had no compliance program
or an inadequate compliance program at the time of the apparent violations;- the transactions were
CWT’s “first violation,” as no Finding of Violation or penalty notice had been issued to CWT in
the five years preceding these transactions;- CWT provided substantial cooperation during
OFAC’s investigation of the apparent violations, including by agreeing to toll the statute of
limitations and by providing to OFAC detailed and well-organized documents and information;
and- CWT has taken significant remedial action in response to the apparent violations.
The 3rd to last bullet is actually kind of silly, as CVT wasn't subject to US jurisdiction until 2006, so there really was no “five years preceding these transactions”…
Link:
Posted with BlogsyFiled under: Cuba Sanctions, OFAC Updates, Settlements
