In a move that will probably inspire hope in a number of individuals who have been placed on the United States Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) dreaded Specially Designated Nationals (“SDN”) List, OFAC has announced the removal from that list of twenty-five (25) individuals and entities. As such, U.S. persons are no longer prohibited from engaging in transactions with the following parties:

Al-Barakaat Wiring Service, Ahmad Sa’id Al-Kadr, Abu Abd Al-Rahman Al-Kanadi, Abu Abd Al-Rahman, Al-Nur Honey Center, Al-Nur Honey Press Shops, Al-Shifa’ Honey Press For Industry And Commerce, Dahir Ubeidullahi Aweys, Barakaat Boston, Barakaat Construction Company, Barakaat International, Inc., Barakat Wire Transfer Company, Mohamed El Mahfoudi, Alicia Mondragon Avila, Julio Cesar Munoz Cortes, Julio Cesar Munoz Cortez, Parka Trading Company, Diego Hernando Penalosa Camargo, Maria Del Pilar Restrepo Cano, Ruben Dario Restrepo Hernandez, Claudia Pilar Rodriguez Ramirez, Som Net AB, Somali Network AB Somali, International Relief Organization, Elsa Yaneth Trivino Rodriguez, and Adriana Vargas Duque.

These parties were all either designated under the Global Terrorism Sanctions Regulations or under the Counter Narcotics Trafficking Sanctions Regulations. In addition to these removals, several individuals and entities were designated.

These types of removals are not unusual. Indeed, a great deal of the work I do is on SDN removals. However, when I saw this list I recalled a conversation I had recently with an SDN who was seeking representation in the removal process. Apparently, he had previously hired an attorney based on a referral and this attorney had promised him a removal from the SDN list in 120 days. Two (2) years later he was still waiting for the promise to come true.

Any lawyer who has handled an OFAC matter can tell you that is ridiculous. It’s extremely difficult to believe that one could adequately evaluate the case, review the documentation to be submitted along with the request for reconsideration (which often times is very extensive), compel and review the unclassified administrative record, and then draft and submit an adequate request for reconsideration with in that time frame, much less do all of that and then receive a response back from OFAC. If this lawyer indeed can pull off such miracles, then please point to the type of coffee he drinks to maintain such a breakneck pace at work.

Obviously, this attorney was just trying to sell the client a dream; and although I find his tactics unethical the matter falls outside of the scope of this blog. However, it did get me thinking about how long the average SDN remains designated. So as I reviewed these latest removals, I went back into the press releases from when these parties were designated and tried to come up with some ballpark figures. This is certainly not an exact science and the sample size is small, but I know lots of people call me asking for how long these cases take. Hopefully, this will shed some light on the subject.

From this sample those parties designated under the Counter Terrorism Sanctions Regulations spent approximately nine (9) years on the SDN list. The most recently designated party spent four (4) years on the SDN list after they were designated in 2006.

Of this sample those parties designated under the Counter Narcotics Trafficking Sanctions Regulations spent approximately seven (7) years on the SDN list. The most recently designated party spent six (6) years on the SDN list after they were designated in 2004.

There are a lot of things to be considered here. Perhaps these parties did not seek removal from the list for sometime; maybe they sought removal but did so without the assistance of an attorney experienced in practicing before OFAC and with knowledge of the sanctions regulations; or even worse, maybe they sought removal and hired an attorney who didn’t know what they were doing–I’m thinking of Mr. 120 days here. Every case is different and every case can be influenced by a variety of factors.

While the numbers I came up with are frightening for anyone who has been designated, I do recall a case where an individual designated in 2006 as an SDN under the Counter Narcotics Trafficking Sanctions regulations was removed from the list in 2008, after being designated for a little less than two (2) years. Removals can sometimes happen this quickly; it just takes some smart and aggressive lawyering. The morale of the story here is to find an attorney who has experience in handling these types of matters and to retain them. A lawyer without such experience may be a waste of time and a waste of money.

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.