OFAC Dings U.S. Defense Contractor for Sanctions Violations, Inadequate Screening

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has announced that Cobham Holdings, Inc. has agreed to pay $87,507 to settle violations of U.S. sanctions on Ukraine and Russia.

The reported violations were committed by Cobham’s former subsidiary Metelics, which was accused of selling products through distributors in Canada and Russia to Almaz Antey Telecommunications LLC. That company which was not on the OFAC List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons, but was 51 percent-owned by JSC Almaz-Antey, which was.

A search program that failed to catch the not-exactly-matching names has been blamed for Metelics not noticing the connection. Thad McBride of Bass, Berry & Sims warns that this explanation was not enough to protect Cobham from punishment.