Amazon hit with fine over US sanction violations
Fine could have exceeded $1B
Walmart is set to launch its online retail program later in July in competition with Amazon Prime.
Amazon will pay $134,523 after violating U.S. sanctions by selling goods to people in Crimea, Iran and Syria, although the low penalty amount reflects "that Amazon’s apparent violations were non-egregious and voluntarily self-disclosed," the Treasury Department said Wednesday.
JEFF BEZOS' NET WORTH HITS RECORD
Amazon agreed to settle with the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control after selling goods to sanctioned individuals, individuals located in or employed by the foreign missions of Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria and failing to report several hundred transactions in a timely manner.
The violations took place between 2011 and 2018.
Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and Blue Origin, speaks during the JFK Space Summit, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, June 19, 2019. (REUTERS/Katherine Taylor)
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMZN | AMAZON.COM INC. | 202.61 | -8.87 | -4.19% |
The Treasury Department said Amazon has already taken steps to fix its automated system that flags possible sanctions violations. The monetary penalty could have exceeded $1 billion.
"In some instances, orders specifically referenced a sanctioned jurisdiction, a city within a sanctioned jurisdiction, or a common alternative spelling of a sanctioned jurisdiction, yet Amazon’s screening processes did not flag the transactions for review," the Treasury Department said in a release. "For example, Amazon’s screening processes did not flag orders with address fields containing an address in 'Yalta, Krimea.'"
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Read the full enforcement release here.
FOX Business' inquiry to Amazon was not immediately returned.