Call off the search party……I’m back. I apologize for being gone so long, but I have been busy moving my offices from DC’s sleepy west end neighborhood to the much busier White House area. Ferrari Legal, P.C. is now located at 1455 Pennsylvania Ave., NW. This puts me right where I want to be….across the street from the Department of Treasury and about a block away from the home of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in the Treasury Annex building.

It is fitting that during my prolonged absence from this blog that OFAC designated a large number of individuals and entities under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (“Kingpin Act”). I had written earlier in the year about how OFAC was aggressively designating individuals and entities under the Kingpin Act and this is proof of that. In total OFAC designated 22 individuals and 10 entities as narcotics kingpins last week. In doing this, they did not remove any individuals or entities off of the list, which proves another pattern I have pointed out on this blog; that OFAC is more geared towards designation than review of their designations. The complete list of designations can be found here.

While its true that U.S. persons are now blocked from engaging in transactions with these individuals, all hope is not lost for these designees; they can still seek to have their designation removed by filing a petition for removal and requesting a hearing. It is not an easy process however, I have a number of these types of cases ongoing currently and I can tell you that you must bring a great deal of evidence to bear in order to have the designation removed; it definitely would behoove such parties to have an attorney experienced in this area assist them in the process.

According to a press release by the Department of Treasury the individuals and entities were designated for their ties to the Mexico-based Beltran Leyva Organization. The Beltran Leyva Organization is alleged to have smuggled multi-ton shipments of cocaine from Central and South America and multi-kilogram shipments of heroin from Mexico into the United States. In addition, Treasury believes that the Beltran Leyva Organization has also waged a violent war against rival Sinaloa Cartel organizations led by other designated kingpins. Treasury further contends that those parties designated last week controlled companies involved in air and vehicle shipping, electronics retailing, import/export of health products, business consulting and hospitality services.

Penalties for violations of the Kingpin Act range from civil penalties of up to $1.075 million per violation to more severe criminal penalties. Criminal penalties for corporate officers may include up to 30 years in prison and fines up to $5 million. Criminal fines for corporations may reach $10 million. Other individuals face up to 10 years in prison and fines pursuant to Title 18 of the United States Code for criminal violations of the Kingpin Act.

The author of this blog is Erich Ferrari, an attorney specializing in OFAC litigation. If you have any questions please contact him at 202-280-6370 at 202-351-6161 or ferrari@ferrari-legal.com.