WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The company’s US employees provided technical oilfield services to Iranian and Sudanese operations for about seven years from offices in Sugar Land, Texas, and took steps to disguise dealings, the Justice Department said.
“Schlumberger Oilfield Holdings Ltd (SOHL)… has agreed to enter a guilty plea and to pay a $232,708,356 penalty to the United States for conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) by willfully facilitating illegal transactions and engaging in trade with Iran and Sudan,” the statement, issued on Wednesday, said.
“Even if you don’t directly ship goods from the United States to sanctioned countries, you violate our laws when you facilitate trade with those countries from a US-based office building,” US Attorney Ronald Machen said in the statement.
Aditionally, SOHL will be placed on a three-year probation period, according to the statement.
The International Emergency Economic Powers Act, enacted in 1977, authorizes US Presidents to regulate commerce in response to any foreign threat to the United States. At present, more than a dozen countries, including Iran and Sudan, are subject to sanctions under the Act.
