ENFORCEMENT INFORMATION FOR August 22, 2012
Grand Resources USA, Inc. (d/b/a GR-Duratech Texas, Inc.) Assessed a Penalty for Violating the Iranian Transactions Regulations and the Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferators Sanctions Regulations: Grand Resources USA, Inc. ("GR-Duratech"), Houston, TX, has been assessed a penalty of $402,000 for violating the Iranian Transactions Regulations ("ITR"), 31 C.F.R. part 560, in 2005 and 2009, and for violating the Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferators Sanctions Regulations ("WMDPSR"), 31 C.F.R. part 544, in 2009.
In 2005, GR -Duratech negotiated a sale of graphitized petroleum coke to a company in the United Arab Emirates, with knowledge that the goods were for delivery to Bandar Abbas, Iran. After negotiating the terms of the sale and the related letter of credit, GR-Duratech referred the sale to its parent company, Grand Resources Co., Ltd. ("Grand Resources"), in Beijing, China, and later received a...
1) Duratech argued (see Penalty Notice - Grand Resources USA, Inc. (d/b/a GR-Duratech Texas, Inc.)) that the three 2009 violations, all relating to the same shipment, should have been considered "one continuous violation," rather than multiple violations. OFAC considered the discrete actions taken at different points in time--all with respect to the same letter of credit--to constitute multiple violations. Note however that with respect to the 2005 violations, there may have also been discrete grounds for charging violations (e.g. the negotiation of the contract and the referring of the business to the offshore parent corporation), but it appears that only one violation was charged.
2) The language of the enforcement notice suggests that OFAC considers Duratech to have "dealt in" two forms of property in which the SDN had an interest, i.e. the letter of credit pertaining to a shipment aboard...