WASHINGTON – The Treasury Department announced yesterday that United Nations FCU agreed to pay a $500,000 fine to settle claims it violated the Office of Foreign Asset Control sanctions on Cuba.
Treasury said the $1.5 billion credit union dealt in property in which Cuba or a Cuban national had an interest in violation of the Cuban Assets Control Regulations by engaging in unauthorized financial transactions on behalf of its members/account holders who were blocked by the sanctions.
Treasury said the credit union faced a fine of as much as $5 million but the penalty was reduced because of its cooperation and actions to remedy the violations. The violations were not voluntarily self-disclosed by UN FCU and were non-egregious in nature.
The credit union has not violated OFAC sanctions before.
Officials at UN FCU were unavailable to comment last night.
