“Amazon.com... has agreed to pay $134,523 to settle its potential civil liability for apparent violations of multiple OFAC sanctions programs”, the Department said in a statement. "Amazon provided goods and services to persons sanctioned by OFAC; to persons located in the sanctioned region or countries of Crimea, Iran, and Syria".
The Seattle-based e-commerce giant, according to the Office of Foreign Assets Control, also sold to individuals located in or employed by the foreign missions of sanctioned countries. Violations came as a result of “deficiencies related to Amazon’s sanctions screening processes", the release said.
"In some instances, orders specifically referenced a sanctioned jurisdiction, a city within a sanctioned jurisdiction, or a common alternative spelling of a sanctioned jurisdiction, yet Amazon’s screening processes did not flag the transactions for review", the release read. "For example, Amazon’s screening processes did not flag orders with address fields containing an address in 'Yalta, Crimea'".
Amazon also failed to timely report several hundred transactions conducted pursuant to a general license issued by the Office that included a mandatory reporting requirement, the Treasury Department added.
It explained that a modest penalty amount reflects a determination that Amazon’s apparent violations were “non-egregious and voluntarily self-disclosed”. The company also implemented “significant remedial measures” upon discovery, according to the statement.