U.S. academic institution agrees to pay $1.72 million for apparent violations of counternarcotics sanctions
Potential civil liability for 89 apparent violations of OFAC counternarcotics sanctions
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today announced $1,720,000 settlement with a U.S. academic institution to resolve potential civil liability for 89 apparent violations of OFAC counternarcotics sanctions.
According to the OFAC release, between 2019 and 2025, the entity—a school and athletic training facility headquartered in Bradenton, Florida— engaged in transactions involving the property or interests in property of two specially designated nationals (SDNs) who were sanctioned for their connections to a Mexico-based drug cartel. These transactions included entering into annual tuition agreements with the SDNs and processing payments related to those agreements.
OFAC determined that the conduct was non-egregious and had not been voluntarily disclosed.