OFAC Criminal Referral

When OFAC sends a willful sanctions violation to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution rather than settling it as a civil matter.

TL;DR

TL;DR: A criminal referral moves a willful violation from OFAC civil enforcement to DOJ prosecution. Most OFAC actions stay civil, where penalties start at $356,000 per violation.

Civil Versus Criminal

Most OFAC enforcement is civil. Civil penalties start at $356,000 per violation, and because OFAC applies strict liability, intent is not required for a civil case. A criminal referral is different: it involves willful conduct that OFAC escalates to the Department of Justice for prosecution.

What Triggers a Referral

Referrals generally follow deliberate, knowing conduct such as structuring to evade screening, concealment of a designated party, or continued transactions after explicit notice. Criminal penalties can include fines and imprisonment beyond what civil enforcement imposes.

Why Agents Should Care

An automated payment system that is configured to skip screening, or that an operator uses deliberately to route around a flagged counterparty, can turn an accidental compliance gap into evidence of willfulness. The distinction between an oversight and a referral is often the presence of a documented screening step.

Practical Guidance

• Keep screening on by default and log every decision.
• Treat a flagged match as a stop, never a manual override without review.
• Maintain records showing the agent screened before it paid.