German industrial equipment company Aiotec GmbH has agreed to pay $14.55 million to settle potential civil liability arising from a conspiracy that caused a U.S. company to sell and supply an Australian polypropylene plant to Iran, according to a December 3 announcement from the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control ( “OFAC”).
It is alleged that between 2015 and 2019, Aiotec conspired to facilitate the indirect sale and supply of an Australian plant to Iran’s Petroleum Downstream Industries Development Company (PIDID) by a US company “and to remit payments for the polypropylene plant through US financial institutions”. Notice of execution.
The Berlin-based company falsely claimed the $9.7 million plant would be operated in Turkey while arranging for its transfer to Iran. From 2016 to 2017, Aiotec continued to conceal the fact that the plant was exported to PIDID, Iran, and repeatedly made false statements to the U.S. company when responding to subsequent inquiries from U.S. companies about the plant’s end users and destinations. The notice explains that Turkish companies are the end users.
OFAC determined that Aiotec’s violations were “extremely serious” and that it failed to disclose them voluntarily.
The agency found multiple aggravating factors, including that “Aiotec’s senior management facilitated the conspiracy and made multiple false statements to U.S. companies over four years with the express purpose of defrauding U.S. companies.”
The company said it will withhold $9.55 million of the settlement until Aiotec has satisfactorily completed its compliance commitments, which include implementing a sanctions compliance program and hiring a dedicated compliance officer.
Leave a Reply Cancel reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.