ENFORCEMENT INFORMATION FOR August 16, 2011
Norton Lilly International Assessed a Penalty for Violating the Iranian Transactions Regulations: Norton Lilly International ("Norton"), Mobile, AL, has been assessed a penalty of $18,750 for its violation of the Iranian Transactions Regulations, 31 C.F.R. part 560, that occurred in November 2006. Norton Lilly engaged in a transaction or dealing related to services of Iranian origin, and facilitated a transaction by a foreign person involving Iranian-origin services. In the transaction, Norton acted as a paying agent for a foreign entity, to pay port charges incurred at an Iranian port in the amount of $14,936. OFAC determined that Norton did not voluntarily self-disclose the violation to OFAC and that the violation constituted a non-egregious case. The base penalty amount for the violation was $25,000. The assessed penalty reflects OFAC’s consideration of the following General Factors under OFAC’s Economic Sanctions Enforcement Guidelines: Norton had knowledge or reason to know that the conduct, activity, or transaction giving rise to the violation involved port charges with respect to a ship calling in Iran; Norton did not have a compliance program in place at the time of the violation; Norton has instituted remedial measures by adopting procedures to comply with OFAC’s regulations in the future; Norton cooperated with OFAC by promptly responding to OFAC’s administrative subpoena and providing OFAC all relevant information regarding the violation; and Norton has not been subject to an OFAC enforcement action in the five years preceding the date of the violation.
1) Here it appears that the U.S. person was involved in payment of port expenses in connection with a vessel and underlying transaction that otherwise had nothing to do with the U.S. This would be ordinary facilitation in most IEEPA-based embargoes (560.208), but here is also a direct violation of 560.206, which prohibits all transactions related to "Iranian origin services," incl. port services. Civil Enforcement Information - Barwil Agencies NA, Inc. (2009).