Glossary
A legal standard under OFAC regulations where intent and knowledge are not required for a violation to occur.
Strict liability means that if your AI agent processes a payment to an OFAC-sanctioned wallet, the legal violation exists even if neither you nor the agent had any way to know the wallet was sanctioned. The defense of we didnt know does not apply.
OFAC violations are strict liability offenses. The government generally does not need to prove that the violator knew or intended to violate sanctions. The mere fact that a prohibited transaction occurred is sufficient for a civil penalty.
Strict liability applies to all US persons and entities, including their AI agents. Non-US persons are also subject to strict liability for certain sanctions programs.
This is the most important legal concept for agent deployers to understand. Your agent does not need intent to violate sanctions. A single API call to agentmail before each payment is the difference between a documented compliance program and a strict liability violation.
agentmail screens every transaction against the current OFAC SDN List. The timestamped audit trail demonstrates a documented compliance program, which OFAC considers a mitigating factor in penalty calculations.
No. OFAC considers multiple factors including whether there was a documented compliance program, voluntary self-disclosure, and cooperation. agentmail provides the screening evidence OFAC expects to see.
For 2024, the maximum civil penalty is $330,944 per violation or twice the transaction value, whichever is greater. For willful violations, criminal penalties can include fines up to $1,000,000 and up to 20 years imprisonment.
OFACs Enforcement Guidelines state that a compliance program at the time of the violation is a mitigating factor. Having a pre-payment screening system like agentmail in place demonstrates good faith.