OFAC is an agency that works under the United States Department of the Treasury. It stands for the Office of Foreign Assets Control. This agency works to administer a list of persons & organizations engaged in activities of terrorism and detrimental to United States. OFAC maintains that list that carries all names and details of such persons and organizations which is called OFAC SDN List. SDN here stands for Specially Designated National. The list having names and details of such persons may be individuals or corporate bodies/ entities. The evidence in support of OFAC’s decision is often unavailable to those who seek removal. Many times, one finds themselves on the SDN list and they have no idea as to what they have done wrong and why they have been added to this list. Having a name listed in SDN list by OFAC is a serious matter. If a person is designated in the list that there can be crippling effects; how! Let’s understand! A designated person not only will lose access to its assets under U.S. jurisdiction but will also be denied to access the U.S. financial systems. And, US citizens will not be able to engage in any kind of transaction with a SDN listed person. And, if someone is found not following these sanctions, the person doing so will be placed in the list as well can have consequences such as multi-million dollar fines and up to twenty years in imprisonment.
Mistakenly,
or unfortunately is anyone
has been placed on
the SDN list, they then need to seek legal assistance to get their name removed
from the list. And, often, most of them are confused as how to challenge the
designation. There is no doubt that the procedure is typically complex and
situation is extremely serious! Many people even do not have basic knowledge
about OFAC related matters such as what the sanctions are, who is responsible
to issue or impose them, and who enforces them etc.
The best and only way to get SDN list removal is to approach and hire professional attorneys or lawyers for legal assistance. The process of challenging such designations can be long and arduous as well. So better to leave work on attorneys or lawyers to handle in the best possible way and get the name removed from SDN list. A client needs to be true to his lawyer or attorney! A client needs to share every, even tiniest information with lawyer or attorney! A client needs to be patient because such legal matters may take long to longer and longest time to get resolved! The process involves:
The best and only way to get SDN list removal is to approach and hire professional attorneys or lawyers for legal assistance. The process of challenging such designations can be long and arduous as well. So better to leave work on attorneys or lawyers to handle in the best possible way and get the name removed from SDN list. A client needs to be true to his lawyer or attorney! A client needs to share every, even tiniest information with lawyer or attorney! A client needs to be patient because such legal matters may take long to longer and longest time to get resolved! The process involves:
- Counsel must understand and learn every aspect of the designated person’s financial activities and his/her business relationships.
- Then comes, a discovery process required to uncover evidence to support the arguments as to why the designated person should be removed.
- Then Petition for Review which is also known as a Request for Reconsideration.
