It’s Not A Good Time for Iran Violations: Company Fined Over $16 Million for Medical Supplies Exported to Iran, Sudan and Syria

Alcon Laboratories, Inc., (Fort Worth), Alcon Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (Fribourg, Switzerland) and Alcon Management, SA (Geneve, Switerland) (collectively, “Alcon”) have agreed to settle a potential civil liability with the US Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Controls (OFAC) and with the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS).

Between 2008 and 2011 Alcon exported end-use surgical and pharmaceutical products from their United States location to their sister companies in Switzerland and then along to distributors in Iran, Sudan and Syria. The charges are broken down as follows:

OFAC Charging Details

On 452 occasions Alcon violated the Sudanese Sanctions Regulations (SSR) when they sold and exported medical supplies to distributors in Sudan. On 61 occasions they violated the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations (ITSR) when they sold and exported their products to Iranian distributors. Alcon will pay $7,617,150 related to the OFAC violations. The statutory maximum monetary penalty amount was $138,982,584 and the base penalty amount for the Apparent Violations was $16,927,000.

OFAC considered the following to be aggravating factors in this case:

1. Alcon demonstrated reckless disregard for U.S. sanctions requirements by having virtually no compliance program, despite significant business involving the exportation of goods from the United States to Iran and Sudan, and by failing to take adequate steps to investigate a third-party freight forwarder’s cessation of shipments to Iran on behalf of Alcon;
2. Alcon and its then-senior management knew of the conduct giving rise to the Apparent Violations; and
3. Alcon is a sophisticated multinational corporation with extensive experience in international trade.

OFAC considered the following to be mitigating factors in this case:

1. The harm to U.S. sanctions program objectives was limited because the exports involved medical end-use products that were licensable under the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000, and in fact had been previously and subsequently licensed by OFAC for Alcon;
2. Alcon has no prior OFAC sanctions history, including receipt of a Penalty Notice or Finding of Violation in the five years preceding the date of the earliest transaction giving rise to the Apparent Violations, making it eligible for “first violation” mitigation of up to 25 percent;
3. Alcon took remedial action by ceasing the unlicensed exports to sanctioned countries, initiating an internal investigation of the Apparent Violations, and instituting a robust compliance program that now includes:
   1. Updated or newly-created corporate export and trade sanctions compliance documents,
   2. Enhanced trade compliance training, and (c) enhanced compliance procedures for requesting OFAC licenses; and (4) Alcon substantially cooperated with OFAC’s investigation, including by providing detailed and well-organized information and entering into several statute of limitations tolling agreements with OFAC.

BIS Charging Details

Alcon has received 100 charges of Acting with Knowledge of a Violation, 45 charges of Unlicensed Reexports to Syria, and 43 Charges of Unlicensed Exports to Iran. In the cases of unlicensed exports, Alcon Pharmaceuticals (Switzerland) sent orders and invoices to Alcon labs (United States) with instructions to ship the orders to warehouses and distribution centers that it used in various countries, most specifically Switzerland. The facilities would receive the products and then Alcon Pharmaceuticals transferred and/or forwarded the items to Iran and Syria without required government licenses.

Alcon collectively has been accessed a civil penalty from BIS in the amount of $8,100,000, all of which is due, and will accrue interest if not paid on time. Alcon must also pay the penalty amount due to OFAC in a timely manner and comply with all of the terms related to the OFAC Settlement Agreement.

OFAC Information: https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/CivPen/Documents/20160705_alcon.pdf

BIS Information: https://efoia.bis.doc.gov/index.php/component/docman/doc_download/1068-e2466?Itemid=