Yesterday, the United States Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) released more individuals from its Specially Designated Nationals (“SDN”) list. The individuals released were originally designated for alleged involvement in international narcotics trafficking. Due to either error on OFAC’s part or some change in circumstances, the designation has been revoked and OFAC has removed their names from this list.

Seventy-eight (78) individuals and entities have been removed from the SDN list since January 1st of this year. While a few of those individuals removed were originally designated for alleged activities in support of global terrorism, the overwhelming majority were designated for alleged involvement in international narcotics trafficking; including some being designated as Foreign Narcotics Kingpins. This is not really all that surprising in that the majority of designations are made under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act and the Counter Narcotics Sanctions Regulations.

What it does signal is that OFAC is beginning to take removals of individuals from the SDN list much more seriously. At the current rate they are removing over 12 individuals or entities a month. This is promising for anyone suffering from the consequences of one of these designations, as it shows that there is hope for removal.

Although there is hope that an individual may be removed from the SDN list, that does not mean that the process is fast and/or easy. Generally the designation removal process takes years and can require the submission of an extraordinary amount of paperwork. Furthermore, it may require navigation of the complex legal framework that constitutes the sanctions regulations that one has been designated under. As such, in order to best ensure removal from the SDN list, one should retain legal counsel to assist them in the SDN designation removal process.

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.