Enforcement Release: March 1, 2023
OFAC Settles with Godfrey Phillips India Limited for $332,500 Related to Apparent Violations of the North Korea Sanctions Regulations
Godfrey Phillips India Limited (“GPI”), a tobacco manufacturer registered in Mumbai, India, has agreed to pay $332,500 to settle its potential civil liability for five apparent violations of the North Korea Sanctions Regulations (NKSR). These apparent violations resulted from GPI’s use of the U.S. financial system to receive payments for tobacco it indirectly exported to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK or “North Korea”) in 2017. In doing so, GPI relied on several third-country intermediary parties to receive payment, which obscured the nexus to the DPRK and caused U.S. financial institutions to process these transactions. This settlement amount reflects OFAC’s determination that GPI’s conduct was non-egregious and not voluntarily disclosed.
Conduct Leading to the Apparent Violations
On...
1) Compare Civil Enforcement Information - Essentra FZE, which is based on very similar facts, i.e. a non-U.S. person using U.S. banks to receive payment for tobacco-related exports to North Korea, and doing so in an evasive manner. As with Essentra, here OFAC charges the alleged violator with "causing" the "facilitation" of the underlying exportation of goods to North Korea, and "causing" the exportation of financial services to North Korea. While the facts are similar in some respects, the reason why this case was a "non-egregious" civil violation, while Essentra was an "egregious case" that resulted in criminal prosecution and a Deferred Prosecution Agreement, is that in Essentra the alleged violator "willfully violated the NKSR," while here Godfrey Phillips India Limited "acted recklessly when it failed to exercise a minimal degree of caution or care...