OFAC Criminal Referral Glossary Part 1
Core terms for how OFAC refers willful sanctions violations for criminal prosecution.
TL;DR
TL;DR: A criminal referral happens when OFAC sends a willful sanctions violation to the Department of Justice for prosecution. Criminal cases add prison and larger fines on top of civil penalties.
What a criminal referral is
A criminal referral occurs when OFAC determines that a sanctions violation was willful, meaning the party knew the conduct was prohibited and did it anyway, and then refers the case to the Department of Justice. Unlike a civil penalty, which applies under strict liability regardless of intent, criminal prosecution requires willfulness. Criminal sanctions can include imprisonment and fines far above the civil penalty floor of $356,000 per violation, and individuals as well as companies can be charged.
Why it matters for agent payments
An agent that screens its counterparties and blocks flagged payments is unlikely to trigger a criminal referral, because the willful element is missing. The danger arises when a system knowingly routes around a flag or skips screening to close a deal. Embedding a clean equals ALLOW, flagged equals BLOCK check keeps the agent on the civil and criminal safe side. The sanctionsai.dev API provides that check in one HTTP call under 100 ms.
Terms covered in Part 1
- Willfulness: acting with knowledge that conduct is prohibited.
- Department of Justice: the agency that prosecutes criminal cases.
- Referral: the handoff of a case for criminal review.