AdminMicrosoft has agreed to pay more than $3 million to settle potential civil liability for alleged 1,339 sanctions violations that resulted in it selling products and services to individuals and businesses in countries such as Russia.
More than 1,300 cases occurred between July 2012 and April 2019, involving Microsoft’s alleged sale of software licenses, activated software licenses and related services from its servers in the US and Ireland to “Specially Designated Citizens” and blocked users in Cuba, Iran, Syria, Russia and Crimea in Ukraine.
After the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) entered into a $624,013 settlement, Microsoft and its subsidiaries in Ireland and Russia have agreed to a $2.98 million settlement with the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC (opens in a new tab)) US Treasury Department. BIS later granted a $276,382 credit, bringing Microsoft’s net settlement to nearly $3.3 million for both bodies.
Microsoft sells to banned Russian companies
In nearly seven years, the tech giant has reportedly sold $12.1 million worth of services to banned customers.
Almost 94% of all cases accounted for 1,252 sales in Russia. There were also 54 more in Cuba, 30 in Iran and 3 in Syria.
Despite the maximum fine of over $404.6 million, OFAC decided that less than 1% of that amount was sufficient, given Microsoft’s voluntary disclosure of obvious violations and the non-egregious nature of the case despite its “reckless disregard for US sanctions.” “.
It is unclear whether Microsoft has rethought its business practices after Russia invaded Ukraine, but Russian media claimed that Microsoft (and Intel) had resumed some operations in the country earlier this year.
a Microsoft spokesman said TechRadar Pro:
“Microsoft takes export controls and sanctions compliance very seriously, so after learning about control failures and misconduct by several employees, we voluntarily disclosed them to the appropriate authorities. We have fully cooperated with their investigation and are pleased with the settlement.”
