![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
symbioidljhttp://www.suntimes.com/output/terror/cst-nws-terr08.html
War on Terror
U.S. fines drop for companies dealing with terror states
November 8, 2004
BY MATT KELLEY
WASHINGTON -- Despite the Bush administration's pledge to battle terrorist financing, the government's average penalty for companies doing business with countries listed as terrorist-sponsoring states fell sharply after the Sept. 11 attacks, an analysis of federal records shows.
The average penalty for a company doing business with Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Sudan or Libya dropped nearly threefold, from more than $50,000 in the five years before the 2001 attacks to about $18,700 afterward, according to federal records.
Sign of job well done?
A Treasury Department spokeswoman said that despite the smaller average fines, the administration was doing a good job. Molly Millerwise said the department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, ''is committed to ensuring that U.S. entities abide by U.S. sanction laws. We are not in the business of making money.''
The smaller average fines could indicate that companies are making fewer large deals with terrorist countries, said Adam Pener, who advises businesses on how to avoid dealing with terrorist nations.
''I would argue this is a good sign OFAC is doing its job,'' said Pener. ''OFAC in a lot of ways is a deterrent.''
Nineteen executives or directors of companies fined by OFAC for dealing with state sponsors of terrorism were top campaign fund-raisers for Bush.
One example is Joseph J. Grano Jr., chairman of the Homeland Security Advisory Council, whose members Bush selected. Grano formerly headed the U.S. subsidiary of the Swiss bank UBS AG. It paid more than $100 million in fines for trading U.S. currency to Iran and for transferring funds to Iraq during Saddam's rule. AP
War on Terror
U.S. fines drop for companies dealing with terror states
November 8, 2004
BY MATT KELLEY
WASHINGTON -- Despite the Bush administration's pledge to battle terrorist financing, the government's average penalty for companies doing business with countries listed as terrorist-sponsoring states fell sharply after the Sept. 11 attacks, an analysis of federal records shows.
The average penalty for a company doing business with Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Sudan or Libya dropped nearly threefold, from more than $50,000 in the five years before the 2001 attacks to about $18,700 afterward, according to federal records.
Sign of job well done?
A Treasury Department spokeswoman said that despite the smaller average fines, the administration was doing a good job. Molly Millerwise said the department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, ''is committed to ensuring that U.S. entities abide by U.S. sanction laws. We are not in the business of making money.''
The smaller average fines could indicate that companies are making fewer large deals with terrorist countries, said Adam Pener, who advises businesses on how to avoid dealing with terrorist nations.
''I would argue this is a good sign OFAC is doing its job,'' said Pener. ''OFAC in a lot of ways is a deterrent.''
Nineteen executives or directors of companies fined by OFAC for dealing with state sponsors of terrorism were top campaign fund-raisers for Bush.
One example is Joseph J. Grano Jr., chairman of the Homeland Security Advisory Council, whose members Bush selected. Grano formerly headed the U.S. subsidiary of the Swiss bank UBS AG. It paid more than $100 million in fines for trading U.S. currency to Iran and for transferring funds to Iraq during Saddam's rule. AP
