On 26 September 2017, Richemont North America Inc., d.b.a. Cartier (“Cartier“), agreed to pay USD334,800 for violating the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Sanctions Regulations. Cartier violated the US sanctions between October 2010 and April 2011, when it exported four shipments of jewellery to Shuen Wai Holding Limited in Hong Kong, an entity added to added to the List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (the “SDN List”) by the Office of Foreign Asset Control (“OFAC“) in November 2008.
According to OFAC, Cartier did not voluntarily self-disclose the apparent violations and that the apparent violations constitute a non-egregious case. OFAC considered the following to be aggravating factors:
- Cartier failed to exercise a minimal degree of caution or care with respect to the conduct that led to the apparent violations;
- Cartier caused significant harm to the objectives of U.S. sanctions regulations by dealing in the property of an SDN and allowing an SDN access to the commercial marketplace; and
- Cartier is a commercially sophisticated entity with global operations operating in an industry at high risk for money laundering.
OFAC considered the following mitigating factors:
- Cartier has not received a Penalty Notice or Finding of Violation from OFAC in the five years preceding the earliest date of the transactions giving rise to the apparent violations;
- Cartier cooperated with OFAC during its investigation of the apparent violations, including by agreeing to execute multiple agreements to toll the statute of limitations; and
- Cartier took remedial action to correct the deficiencies giving rise to the apparent violations.
The OFAC enforcement notice can be found here.