Ladies and gentlemen of my readership…….Sorry about that I just wrapped up a jury trial in Houston and Im still in trial mode, but while the jury deliberates, I wanted to post to my neglected blog. First, allow me to apologize for my absence; I will try to be more consistent in my postings for the rest of the year.

The issue I wanted to discuss is not related to any Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) action. Rather it deals with a perception held not only amongst the public, but also by a lot of lawyers. The perception is that its ok to engage in unlicensed financial transactions with Iran. I have heard a lot of excuses from people who call me. For example, “well I can just send it through third party banks in other countries.” No, you can’t. If you do and OFAC catches you, they will penalize you. I’ve also heard, “well I can just go ahead and do it, they won’t catch me.” Wrong again. They will catch you.

Recently, a client of mine told me that they were told that OFAC doesn’t care about “small fish” like them, and that OFAC only goes after “big fish” like corporations. It’s not the size of the fish that OFAC is concerned with, it’s the way that fish swims. Here are the facts from my experience as an OFAC attorney: OFAC administers sanctions against Iran. OFAC provides licenses to engage in transactions despite the program. OFAC generally provides such licenses if you are open with them and fully disclose your activities. OFAC will penalize you if you engage in transactions with Iran without a license. Period.

There are no rules about the dollar amount involved in a financial transaction with Iran. Nor are there any provisions saying that OFAC doesn’t go after individuals. Person is defined in the regulations as either an individual or an entity. Therefore, when the regulations use the word “person” they are referring to either an individual (“small fish”) or a corporation (“big fish”).

The lesson here is that there is a lot of misinformation coming from lawyers who don’t know anything about how OFAC operates or what the regulations say. In my own OFAC practice I represent mostly individuals, I only have a few corporate clients. I have built my business on helping these “small fish” and I can tell you that OFAC will go after anyone big or small, individual or corporation, if you violate the sanctions.

When you are seeking advice on these issues, make sure you are getting it from a reliable source.

If you feel that you may have violated any OFAC administered regulations or seek assistance in complying with those regulations please contact the author at 202-280-6370 or by email at info@ferrari-legal.com

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.