Skip to main content
Menu Icon
Close

InfoBytes Blog

Financial Services Law Insights and Observations

OFAC sanctions key ISIS-K financial facilitator

Financial Crimes OFAC Department of Treasury OFAC Designations OFAC Sanctions SDN List Department of State

Financial Crimes

On November 22, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13224, as amended, against an individual it claims is acting as a financial facilitator for the Islamic State’s Khorasan Province (ISIS-K). According to OFAC, ISIS-K was previously designated as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under E.O. 13224, and as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the Department of State in 2016. The designated individual, OFAC stated, has provided support to ISIS-K’s Afghani operations “by facilitating international financial transactions that fund human trafficking networks and facilitating the movement of foreign fighters who seek to escalate tensions in Afghanistan and the region.” According to OFAC Director Andrea Gacki, this designation “underscores the United States’ determination to prevent ISIS-K and its members from exploiting the international financial system to support terrorist acts in Afghanistan and beyond.” OFAC’s action was handled in coordination with the Department of State, which designated three individuals as Specially Designated Global Terrorists for their roles as leaders of ISIS-K.

As a result, all property and interests in property belonging to the designated individual subject to U.S. jurisdiction are blocked, and any “entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more by them, individually, or with other blocked persons, that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons must be blocked and report to OFAC.” U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with the designated individual unless authorized by a general or specific OFAC license or otherwise exempt. OFAC warned that the agency “can prohibit or impose strict conditions on the opening or maintaining in the United State[s] of a correspondent account or a payable-through account by a foreign financial institution that either knowingly conducted or facilitated any significant transaction on behalf of a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.” OFAC further noted that that engaging in certain transactions with the designated individual “entails risk of secondary sanctions pursuant to E.O. 13224, as amended.”