Enforcement Release: April 1, 2022
OFAC Settles with S&P Global, Inc. for $78,750 Related to Apparent Violations of the Ukraine-Related Sanctions Regulations in 2016 and 2017
S&P Global, Inc. (“S&P Global”), a New York-based company that provides business information and financial analytics has agreed to pay $78,750 to settle its potential civil liability for apparent violations of the Ukraine-Related Sanctions Regulations. The apparent violations occurred when S&P Global and a company it acquired reissued and redated multiple invoices to continue to extend credit to JSC Rosneft (“Rosneft”), a state-owned Russian oil company, in violation of the debt and equity restrictions set forth under Executive Order (E.O.) 13662. After reissuing and re-dating four invoices to extend the original payment dates, S&P Global ultimately accepted past-due payments totaling $82,500 from Rosneft. The settlement amount reflects OFAC’s determination that S&P Global’s apparent violations were non-egregious and not voluntarily self-disclosed....
1) The S&P Global case is the second enforcement action focused on SSI Directive 2 (after Haverly Systems, Inc.), and the third enforcement action related to the 2014 Ukraine-related SSI directives (see also Civil Enforcement Information - Cameron International Corporation).
2) Reissued Invoices as a "Dealing" in Prior Post-sanctions "New Debt"
Factually, the case is similar to Haverly Systems, Inc., but there are a few notable differences. The primary difference is that, here, there were apparent attempts to game (if not "evade") the “new debt” prohibitions by reissuing invoices connected to pre-existing, unpaid invoices that were out-of-tenor prohibited debt as of the date of the reissuance. The idea from the perspective of the reissuers was, evidently, was that by reissuing the invoices, the debt tenor clock would restart from the date of...