U.S. says Exxon under Tillerson violated Russia sanctions in 2014

christiefan915

christiefan915

Catalyst
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And THIS is our secretary of state. Not a clean hand in the trump administration.

WASHINGTON/HOUSTON (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday admonished Exxon Mobil Corp for "reckless disregard" of U.S. sanctions in dealings with Russia in 2014 when Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was the global oil company's chief executive, and fined it $2 million.

ExxonMobil said the decision was "fundamentally unfair," and sued the U.S. government in Texas in an effort to overturn the decision.

The fine came after a U.S. review of deals Exxon signed with top Russian oil producer Rosneft weeks after Washington imposed sanctions on Moscow for annexing Ukraine's Crimea region. Between May 14 and May 23, 2014, top U.S.-based ExxonMobil executives signed eight documents with Igor Sechin, the head of state-run Rosneft, the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said in a statement on its website.

ExxonMobil had "demonstrated reckless disregard for U.S. sanctions requirements" by signing the deals with Sechin just weeks after the United States blacklisted him, OFAC said in an unusually lengthy three-page statement laying out its reasoning. (For the Treasury statement, see: bit.ly/2vnvQf2)

The Treasury announced sanctions on Sechin in April 2014 as part of measures to pressure Russia over its intervention in Ukraine, saying Sechin had shown "utter loyalty" to Russia's President Vladimir Putin. The sanctions prohibit U.S. citizens or those located in the United States from dealing with those on the blacklist, such as Sechin. Rosneft itself is subject to narrower U.S. sanctions that still allow Americans to deal with the company on some transactions.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-exxon-mobil-usa-ukraine-idUSKBN1A51UH
 
Can't say I am shocked.
Well, this is the company who's own scientists knew in the 1970s that burning oil would contribute to global warming, but they hushed it up and funded climate deniers for three decades. So this sounds like par for the course.

On a tangent, there are a lot of decent, ethical people in the oil industry. But, I was shocked to hear people, in unguarded moments, actually hoping for war and military conflict in Iraq, because it would drive up oil prices. So, as with any industry or organization, there the most foul and unethical sides of humanity can show themselves. It's always tied to money and profit, isn't it?
 
ExxonMobil had fully complied with guidance from Democratic former President Barack Obama's administration that ongoing oil and gas business activities with Rosneft were permitted, Exxon spokesman Alan Jeffers said in a statement.

The Treasury Department "is trying to retroactively enforce a new interpretation of an executive order" inconsistent with its prior guidance, Jeffers said.

"OFAC's action is fundamentally unfair," he said.
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seems it's not cut and dry
 
Cypress said:
Can't say I am shocked.
Well, this is the company who's own scientists knew in the 1970s that burning oil would contribute to global warming, but they hushed it up and funded climate deniers for three decades. So this sounds like par for the course.

On a tangent, there are a lot of decent, ethical people in the oil industry. But, I was shocked to hear people, in unguarded moments, actually hoping for war and military conflict in Iraq, because it would drive up oil prices. So, as with any industry or organization, there the most foul and unethical sides of humanity can show themselves. It's always tied to money and profit, isn't it?
Click to expand...

Always money and profit, no matter what patriotic or virtuous slogans are used to justify war and conflict. It's why I've always said this about Islamic terrorism, they don't give a crap about converting people to the religion but only care about accumulating wealth and power.
 
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