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B. Attachment of Assets Without an OFAC License or Case–Specific DOJ Statement of Interest
Sudan contends that the District Court erred in ordering the turnover of sanctions-controlled assets without first procuring either an OFAC license or a case-specific DOJ Statement of Interest stating that no OFAC license was necessary. We disagree. The government has made its position known through previous Statements of Interest that judgment holders under the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 (the “TRIA”), 28 U.S.C. § 1610 note, are exempt from the normal OFAC licensure requirement, and the government's position is not limited to the cases in which it filed the Statements.
Section 1605 of the FSIA creates exceptions to the general blanket immunity of foreign states from the jurisdiction of U.S. courts, including the “terrorism exception,” 28 U.S.C. § 1605A, which Congress added to the FSIA in 1996 to “give American Citizens...
1) See p. 192, native PDF. The 2nd Circuit rules that funds subject to attachment as a result of a TRIA judgment may be turned over without an OFAC license (or any other affirmative, case-specific statement by the Executive branch). Compare Case-No-CU-77689. The excerpted portion of the opinion is also notable for its determination that positions articulated in a statement of interest filed by the DOJ need not be repeated in every case for such statements to be relied on as reflecting the government’s view of the applicable law.