AIRBNB FINED BY OFAC FOR VIOLATIONS OF U.S. EMBARGO ON CUBA; PARTIES AGREE TO $91,179.29 SETTLEMENT
February 24, 2022
On Monday, January 3, 2022, vacation Rental Company, Airbnb, and the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) came to a settlement after OFAC fined Airbnb for alleged violations of U.S. sanctions on Cuba.
The alleged violations were brought to the attention of OFAC after a forensic review conducted by Airbnb Payments determined that Airbnb Payments had processed payments related to 3,464 “Stays” transactions in Cuba that were made by guests traveling to Cuba for purposes outside the 12 authorized categories during the period between September 28, 2015 and March 1, 2020, and also processed payments related to 3,076 “Experiences” transactions for which Airbnb had failed to keep required records in accordance with OFAC regulations. Given the results of the review, OFAC accused Airbnb of allegedly accepting reservations from guests planning to travel to Cuba for purposes outside of the 12 authorized categories set forth under § 15.560(a) including travel for family visits, official business of the U.S. government or other foreign governments, journalistic activity, professional research, educational activity, humanitarian projects, etc., and failing to keep certain required records associated with “Cuba-related transactions.”
Originally, Airbnb faced a potential maximum civil penalty of just over $600 million, but because the company disclosed the potential violations, cooperated with the OFAC, and had an excellent prior compliance record, the agency agreed to mitigation of the penalty and lowered the fine. Therefore, OFAC and Airbnb agreed that the company would pay $91,172.29 to settle the case against it.
If you have any questions, please contact Evelyn Sahr (esahr@eckertseamans.com 202-659-6622) or Drew Derco (dderco@eckertseamans.com 202-659-6665).
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