Sanctions Evasion Detection

Recognizing deliberate attempts to hide a counterparty's true identity or jurisdiction before an automated payment settles is the core job of evasion detection.

TL;DR

TL;DR: Evasion detection looks for patterns such as structuring, layering, and concealment that suggest a party is trying to slip around OFAC rules. Automated screening should flag and block, not guess.

What Sanctions Evasion Looks Like

Sanctions evasion is a deliberate effort to avoid detection by US Treasury screening. Detection is the practice of spotting the telltale patterns before money moves. OFAC applies strict liability, so intent is not required and even an accidental connection to a blocked party carries risk.

Common Evasion Patterns

• Structuring: splitting a payment into small pieces to stay under review thresholds.
• Layering: routing funds through intermediaries or multiple wallets.
• Concealment: hiding ownership behind shells, nominees, or mixed-use addresses.

Why It Matters for Agent Payments

An AI agent that pays without screening is exactly the channel an evader exploits. Money movers such as x402, AP2, ACP, and Coinbase AgentKit transfer funds but do not screen, so evasion patterns pass through unnoticed unless a screening step is added.

The Control

Screen the counterparty before the agent pays. sanctionsai.dev checks against 947 OFAC-listed crypto wallets and 19,218 SDN names in one HTTP call under 100 ms, returning clean equals ALLOW and flagged equals BLOCK. The risk_score and kya_verify tools add a second look when a match is unclear.