Enforcement Release: April 21, 2022
OFAC Settles with Newmont Corporation for $141,442 Related to Apparent Violations of the Cuban Assets Control Regulations
Newmont Corporation (“Newmont”) is a multinational mining firm headquartered in Denver, Colorado with operations and assets across the globe. Newmont has agreed to pay $141,442 to settle potential civil liability relating to Newmont subsidiary Newmont Suriname’s purchase of Cuban-origin explosives and explosive accessories from a third-party vendor, in apparent violation of the Cuban Assets Control Regulations. Newmont wholly owned, controlled, and managed Newmont Suriname, f/k/a Surgold, during the period in question. The settlement amount reflects OFAC’s determination that Newmont and Newmont Suriname’s conduct was non-egregious and voluntarily self-disclosed.
Description of the Apparent Violations
In 2013, Newmont and the Government of Suriname entered into a “Mineral Agreement” that granted Newmont the right to mine gold in Suriname. On August 11, 2014,...
1) The Newmont and Chisu companion cases, which arise out of the same set of facts and were made public on the same day, are generally straightforward from a legal basis perspective.
In the Newmont case, Newmont (a U.S. entity) had a wholly owned and controlled subsidiary that was directly subject to the prohibitions of the CACR as a result of 515.329(d). For any such entity, it is prohibited to deal in goods of Cuban origin (515.204), even where the dealing does not actually involve a Cuban person.
This Chisu case appears to be, in principle, a ‘facilitation’ case, though it is not explicitly described as such because the CACR does not contain an explicit facilitation prohibition. Instead, facilitation is implicitly within the scope of the prohibitions of 515.201...