American Express National Bank OFAC Settlement: $430.5K

On November 16, 2012, Walter Alexander Del Nogal Marquez ("Marquez") applied for and obtained a supplemental American Express Centurion Card on an account maintained by a U.S. person at Amex. On May 7, 2018, OFAC designated Marquez pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Sanctions Regulations (FNKSR), 31 C.F.R. Part 598, and added him to the SDN List. A few days after designation, Amex's internal sanctions list screening system generated a "high confidence" alert. An operations analyst erroneously closed the alert despite a match against multiple data elements — name, date of birth, and Venezuelan National ID number — and an internal procedural requirement for a second-level review of all high-confidence alerts.

On June 26, 2018, an analyst investigating an anti-money laundering ("AML") media alert identified and escalated Marquez's connection to the account. Instructions were given the following day to suspend charge privileges on all cards linked to the U.S. person's account, including Marquez's supplemental card. However, the employee who entered the suspension code did not include comments indicating the restriction was sanctions-related. When the U.S. person accountholder called on June 28, 2018 to inquire about the account status, a customer care professional removed the suspension. The AML team caught the error the next day and directed the account to be re-suspended, but the team applied the incorrect suspension code, allowing seven additional transactions after the suspension was lifted before the account was closed on July 6, 2018.

In total, between approximately May 7, 2018 and July 6, 2018, Amex processed 214 transactions totaling $155,189.42 in apparent violation of the FNKSR, 31 C.F.R. § 598.202.

OFAC determined that Amex did not voluntarily self-disclose the Apparent Violations and that the Apparent Violations constitute a non-egregious case. The statutory maximum civil monetary penalty applicable in this matter is $331,288,050. Under OFAC's Economic Sanctions Enforcement Guidelines, 31 C.F.R. Part 501, app. A., the base civil monetary penalty amount equals the sum of the applicable schedule amount for each apparent violation, totaling $574,000. The settlement amount of $430,500 reflects OFAC's consideration of the General Factors under the Enforcement Guidelines.

This action highlights the importance of properly training employees on sanctions compliance procedures and ensuring that those procedures are followed appropriately, especially when high-confidence alerts are generated. Consistent application of enterprise-wide compliance measures, including controls to prevent other departments or personnel from overriding a sanctions-related decision to suspend an account, can also help mitigate the risk of a sanctions violation.

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