OFAC Sticks to Original $402,000 Penalty for Exports to Iran
The Office of Foreign Assets Control said GR-Duratech Texas, Inc. is liable for a penalty of $402,000 for engaging in transactions related to goods for export, reexport, sale or supply to Iran and services of Iranian origin, and its facilitation of a foreign person's export of goods to Iran, according to a letter from OFAC Director Adam Szubin. GR-Duratech had said a penalty that large would put it out of business.
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OFAC had earlier proposed the penalty of $402,000, and advised GR-Duratech of the right to make a written presentation to OFAC setting forth the reasons why a penalty should not be imposed, or should be less than proposed. GR-Duratech objected to both the civil penalty and the amount, saying it should not exceed $260,000. It said it didn't willfully violate U.S. sanctions because it did not willfully conceal from Wells Fargo Trade Bank the involvement of an Iranian entity in connection with the trade documents.
In a letter to the firm, OFAC said it found its arguments unpersuasive. "As to GR-Duratech's dispute with characterizing the 2009 conduct as willful, the administrative record shows that GR-Duratech was aware of the intentional removal from trade documents of references to Iran, and was complicit in altering the documents to conceal those facts," the letter from Szubin said. He also said "GR-Duratech has failed to provide sufficient information demonstrating its inability to pay the proposed penalty."