ENFORCEMENT INFORMATION FOR July 11, 2008
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INDIVIDUALS – 31 CFR 501.805(d)(1)(ii)
One individual was assessed a penalty totaling $4,351.50 for dealing in property in which Cuba or a Cuban national had an interest: On or about July 26, 2003, August 20, 2003, October 31, 2003, May 3, 2004, June 4, 2004 and July 3, 2004, the individual purchased Cuban-origin cigars offered for sale on the Internet. The individual did not voluntarily disclose this matter to OFAC.
One individual was assessed a penalty totaling $1,225 for dealing in property in which Cuba or a Cuban national had an interest: On or about October 25, 2003, November 6, 2003, December 4, 2003 and March 29, 2004, the individual purchased Cuban-origin cigars offered for sale on the Internet. The individual did not voluntarily disclose this matter to OFAC.
One individual has agreed to a settlement totaling $1,681.55 for allegedly dealing in property in which Cuba or a Cuban national had an interest: Between November 2004 and August 2006, the individual allegedly purchased Cuban-origin cigars offered for sale on the Internet. The individual did not voluntarily disclose this matter to OFAC.
One individual was assessed a penalty totaling $700.00 for dealing in property in which Cuba or a Cuban national had an interest: From 2003-2005 the individual engaged in unlicensed travel-related transactions incident to a trip to Cuba. The individual did not voluntarily disclose this matter to OFAC.
One individual was assessed a penalty totaling $650.00 for dealing in property in which Cuba or a Cuban national had an interest: On December 24, 2004 and March 15, 2005, the individual purchased Cuban-origin cigars offered for sale on the Internet. The individual did not voluntarily disclose this matter to OFAC.
One individual has agreed to a settlement totaling $395.25 for allegedly dealing in property in which Cuba or a Cuban national had an interest: In December 2004 and January 2005, the individual allegedly purchased Cuban-origin cigars offered for sale on the Internet. The individual did not voluntarily disclose this matter to OFAC.
1) Due to the high volume and low value of the announcements of penalties pertaining to individual person purchase of Cuban Cigars, we have omitted them from the research system, with the exception of this one set of penalties that is included for illustrative purposes. Altogether, there were 44 separate Cuban cigar-related enforcement actions pertaining to individuals from January, 2006 through March, 2019.
2) OFAC says that:
"One individual was assessed a penalty totaling $4,351.50 for dealing in property in which Cuba or a Cuban national had an interest: On or about July 26, 2003, August 20, 2003, October 31, 2003, May 3, 2004, June 4, 2004 and July 3, 2004, the individual purchased Cuban-origin cigars offered for sale on the Internet." (emphasis added).
That phrasing is not incorrect, but it does not reflect the reality of OFAC's current practice. Cuba or a Cuban national had, in the past, a legal interest in the cigars purchased from a third country, but Cuba considered to still have an ongoing, interminable general economic interest in those same cigars, and that is the basis for OFAC being able to regulate their purchase pursuant to TWEA. This is discussed in detail in General Note on the Meaning and Significance of the Construction "has or has had an interest" (System Ed. Note). In practice, it is not the case that all property in which any Cuban has ever “had” any interest whatever is necessarily subject to the prohibitions of the CACR.