the tech company Microsoft Corporation agreed to pay a fine of more than three million dollars by acknowledging that it violated the sanctions imposed by the Government of USA against various countries, including Cuba.
A document issued by the Treasury Department and reviewed by the newspaper The Wall Street Journal identifies more than 1,300 violations by the multinational owner of the famous Windows operating system, which occurred between July 2012 and April 2019.
US after Microsoft for selling services to Iran, Russia, Cuba and Syria https://t.co/6SqmH14fmW#USA #Technology #Microsoft #Cuba #Syria #Russia #Iran pic.twitter.com/u9uB5vum2j
— Al Mayadeen Spanish (@almayadeen_es) April 8, 2023
Both the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as the United States Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), agencies in charge of enforcing export control sanctions, reached an agreement with Microsoft to voluntarily acknowledge the facts, the publication refers.
The document acknowledges that most of the violations identified involved entities of Russia blacklisted by the US, especially from the Crimea region. However, others were related to Cuban companiesIran and Syria that also appear on that list, but no further details about these operations were withdrawn.
The Treasury Department’s allegations allege that Microsoft also violated regulations that seek to block sensitive technologies from ending up in the hands of countries the US administration considers among its adversaries.
“Microsoft takes export control and sanctions compliance very seriously, so after learning of detection failures and violations by some employees, we voluntarily disclosed them to the proper authorities,” a company spokesperson was quoted as saying. in the middle last week.
The aforementioned violations occurred in the context of Microsoft’s third-party resale and distribution programs, which according to OFAC, used an indirect resale model in Russia to develop sales opportunities and negotiate wholesale sales with end customers.
For its part, the company announced that employees “involved in the misconduct have been subject to disciplinary action, which may include dismissal,” the publication said.
In all, Microsoft sold more than $12 million worth of products and services to blacklisted parties, according to information released by OFAC.
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The company’s export control violations occurred between December 2016 and December 2017, according to the Bureau of Trade Safety and Industry.
On seven occasions, between December 2016 and the same month in 2017, employees of a Microsoft subsidiary in Russia caused another company subsidiary to sell software to two restricted entities, the US Bureau of Trade and Industry Security added.
