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Exxon Mobil Fined for Violating Sanctions on Russia Under Tillerson
By ALAN RAPPEPORTJULY 20, 2017

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department has fined Exxon Mobil $2 million for violating sanctions that the United States imposed on Russia in 2014 while Rex W. Tillerson, now the secretary of state, was chief executive of the oil company.

“Exxon Mobil demonstrated reckless disregard for U.S. sanctions requirements,” the Treasury said in a report announcing the penalty.

According to the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, Exxon Mobil violated the sanctions when the presidents of its American subsidiaries did business with an individual whose assets were blocked. They did so by signing legal documents related to oil and gas projects in Russia with Igor Sechin, the president of Rosneft OAO, and an another person.

Exxon did not voluntarily disclose the signings, according to the Treasury, which called the infractions “an egregious case.”

Exxon called the penalty “fundamentally unfair” in a statement on Thursday. The company said that it adhered to clear guidance from the White House and the Treasury and that its representatives did nothing wrong by signing documents related to ongoing business with Rosneft, which was not blocked by sanctions.

Mr. Sechin was acting in an official capacity, Exxon said, not a personal one.

The penalty comes as Mr. Tillerson has faced questions over his dealings with Russia while running Exxon Mobil. This month he was the only person to join President Trump when he met with Russian President Vladimir V. Putin at the Group of 20 summit meeting in Germany last week.

In April, Exxon asked the Treasury for a waiver from sanctions on Russia so it could drill in the Black Sea in a venture with Rosneft, the Russian state oil company. The request was denied.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/20/us/politics/exxon-mobil-fined-russia-tillerson-sanctions.html?