The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) publishes a list of foreign individuals and entities determined to have “violated, attempted to violate, conspired to violate, or caused a violation of U.S. sanctions on Syria or Iran.”

 

It also lists foreign persons who’ve “facilitated deceptive transactions for or on behalf of persons subject to U.S. sanctions.”

 

Collectively, these individuals and companies are called “foreign sanctions evaders” (FSEs).

 

Transactions by U.S. persons or within the U.S. involving FSEs are prohibited.

 

In February, the Treasury Department announced actions targeting a number of individuals and entities in several countries for evading U.S. sanctions against Iran, for example:

According to OFAC, Executive Order 13608 doesn’t require the “blocking” (i.e., freezing) of property or interests in property—unless the target also appears on OFAC’s Specially Designated National and Blocked Persons List (SDN List).

 

Instead, this Executive Order requires institutions to reject wires from FSEs, and “restrict” their accounts (i.e., the individual can’t use the account without OFAC authorization).

 

The FSE List is available in almost all of the same file formats as the SDN List. In addition, FSE List data files follow existing SDN List data standards. Find the FSE List files and data file specifications on the FSE List page. If you get a “hit” on the FSE List, contact OFAC at 800-540-6322 (OFAC).