Apple Subsidiary Fined Over $500,000 for Breaching Russian Sanctions

[MacRumors]

Apple's Irish subsidiary has been fined £390,000 ($516,110) by the UK government for making payments to a sanctioned Russian streaming platform in 2022.

The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) said that Apple Distribution International Ltd. (ADI), the Republic of Ireland-based entity Apple uses to pay App Store developers, made two payments totaling £635,618 to Okko LLC, a Russian video streaming platform, in June and July 2022, at a time when Okko was subject to UK sanctions following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The payments were routed through UK banks.

ADI voluntarily disclosed the payments to OFSI, and the agency confirmed that no breach had been attributed to Apple Inc. itself, only to the subsidiary. In a statement, Apple said:

We follow the laws in the countries where we operate and take sanctions compliance extremely seriously. After identifying two payments to a developer that days earlier had become affiliated with a sanctioned entity, we promptly and proactively reported our finding to the UK government. We are constantly working to enhance our already robust compliance protocols, which are consistent with industry standards.

OFSI said Apple had relied on corporate affiliates to handle payment processing, sanctions screening, and due diligence, but that companies are ultimately responsible for ensuring their own compliance with financial sanctions rules.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Apple Subsidiary Fined Over $500,000 for Breaching Russian Sanctions

 

[The_Gream]

🤷

Huh! So the Apple subsidiary, makes a payment to a recently sanctioned company, realize they messed up and reports themselves and the fine is like ~50% of the amount they sent.

I know there needs to be some sort of punishment for the mistake, but a 50% fine?

Wall Street and Big banks have done way more harm to the lives of people because of greed and they get a slap on the wrist.

 

[Robert.Walter]

Fines like that are more like an invitation than a punishment.

 

[Spock]

So, to a trillion dollar company that is like what, 5 cents? 😳

 

[StuBeck]

🤷

Huh! So the Apple subsidiary, makes a payment to a recently sanctioned company, realize they messed up and reports themselves and the fine is like ~50% of the amount they sent.

I know there needs to be some sort of punishment for the mistake, but a 50% fine?

Wall Street and Big banks have done way more harm to the lives of people because of greed and they get a slap on the wrist.

This is a slap on the wrist for what they did. If banks are found to be in violation of this, they will be fined a lot more and, more importantly for them, punished substantially more in how they act.

 

[neuropsychguy]

This is a slap on the wrist for what they did. If banks are found to be in violation of this, they will be fined a lot more and, more importantly for them, punished substantially more in how they act.

I think you're missing the context of the Apple subsidiary's intent behind this. The Apple subsidiary made an accident and self-reported it. In turn it was hit with a 50% fine on the two transactions. In contrast, when Wall Street or big banks violate sanctions, it is often systemic, hidden, and done over the course of years. Even if slapped with billion-dollar fines, it pales in comparison to the profits they made moving that money. The initial commenter's point is that this amounted to an honest, self-reported mistake. The penalty appears to be rather large, especially compared to what willful bad actors get.

 

[neuropsychguy]

So, to a trillion dollar company that is like what, 5 cents? 😳

The overall size of the company doesn't change the size of the mistake. If two businesses are late paying the exact same $500,000 regulation fee, should one get a massive penalty just because their total revenue is, let's say, 10X higher than the other company's?

 

[The_Gream]

I think you're missing the context of the intent behind this. The Apple subsidiary made an accident and self-reported it. In turn it was hit with a 50% fine on the two transactions. In contrast, when Wall Street or big banks violate sanctions, it is often systemic, hidden, and done over the course of years. Even if slapped with billion-dollar fines, it pales in comparison to the profits they made moving that money. The initial commenter's point is that this amounted to an honest, self-reported mistake. The penalty appears to be rather large, especially compared to what willful bad actors get.

Thank you. I had to get in to work, and after a little more thought, I realized I didn’t really make my thoughts clear.

Question, with Apple being an international business, and with governments seeming to be Willy Nilly in tossing out sanctions

What happens if/when Russia (or non-allies) sanction USA and their ‘Allies’?

The current crap show going on the Middle East, has any country sanctioned the USA (Trump) and Israel for messing up the entire global economy?

 

[Spock]

The overall size of the company doesn't change the size of the mistake. If two businesses are late paying the exact same $500,000 regulation fee, should one get a massive penalty just because their total revenue is, let's say, 10X higher than the other company's?

You are taking my joke way to seriously... But yes, I think the fines should be more based on company worth. A $500,000 fine could potentially damage a smaller business while Apple could do the same thing and receive the same fine that would be the equivalent of me buying you a cup of coffee.

 

[StuBeck]

I think you're missing the context of the Apple subsidiary's intent behind this. The Apple subsidiary made an accident and self-reported it. In turn it was hit with a 50% fine on the two transactions. In contrast, when Wall Street or big banks violate sanctions, it is often systemic, hidden, and done over the course of years. Even if slapped with billion-dollar fines, it pales in comparison to the profits they made moving that money. The initial commenter's point is that this amounted to an honest, self-reported mistake. The penalty appears to be rather large, especially compared to what willful bad actors get.

Not missing anything. This also took years to get through the system, as the payment happened in 2022 and this is now 2026 when the penalty was issued. Thats why the penalty was so low.

 

[AngstyKylo]

If the fine wasn't hefty, companies would happily just take the hit.

 

[StuBeck]

Thank you. I had to get in to work, and after a little more thought, I realized I didn’t really make my thoughts clear.

Question, with Apple being an international business, and with governments seeming to be Willy Nilly in tossing out sanctions

What happens if/when Russia (or non-allies) sanction USA and their ‘Allies’?

The current crap show going on the Middle East, has any country sanctioned the USA (Trump) and Israel for messing up the entire global economy?

Yes they have. And it also doesn't really effect us because we already supposedly have sanctions on them, so limit what they can buy from us.

 

[roklanhavok]

I think the fine is high for someone who accidentally did something (relatively minor) twice and then self reported. Everyone else here wants Apple to go out of business over it.

 

[The_Gream]

Yes they have. And it also doesn't really effect us because we already supposedly have sanctions on them, so limit what they can buy from us.

Yeah. For the little people, we just don’t realize all the crap being tossed back and forth. 🤣

Seeing as many of us our struggling to keep our heads above the filth in our own little world.

 

[Kirkster]

I think the fine is high for someone who accidentally did something (relatively minor) twice and then self reported. Everyone else here wants Apple to go out of business over it.

Welcome to the comment section as of the last few years. And yes the fine was high. Now if they tried to hide it and it got discovered, well then the fine would be appropriate.

 

[Hajj.david]

Sanctions are evil and unjust and do nothing but make the average person suffer.

 

[BaldiMac]

If two businesses are late paying the exact same $500,000 regulation fee, should one get a massive penalty just because their total revenue is, let's say, 10X higher than the other company's?

Yes! Absolutely. If the point of the fine is deterrence, than it should absolutely be tied to the size of the company being fined. Otherwise, they’re just paying to get to break the law.

 

[Pezimak]

Good! NO excuse for this, sanctions are listed and available from, and provided by the government, it is on your onus to ensure you are compliant and the punishment for not being so are clearly laid out. Apple is not above this more the anyone else is not.

 

[sw1tcher]

🤷

Huh! So the Apple subsidiary, makes a payment to a recently sanctioned company, realize they messed up and reports themselves and the fine is like ~50% of the amount they sent.

I know there needs to be some sort of punishment for the mistake, but a 50% fine?

Wall Street and Big banks have done way more harm to the lives of people because of greed and they get a slap on the wrist.

It's because Tim Cook didn't give Keir Starmer a custom-designed glass plaque with a 24-karat gold base. 😂

While the fine amount of $516,110 might seem like a big number, it's not big for Apple.

Fiscal 2025 net profit was $112.01 billion. The fine is less than what Apple made in a day ($306,876,712.33). It's less than what Apple made per hour ($12,786,529.68)

If my math is correct, the fine of $516,110 is what Apple made approximately every 2.42 minutes.

 

[Hajj.david]

Good! NO excuse for this, sanctions are listed and available from, and provided by the government, it is on your onus to ensure you are compliant and the punishment for not being so are clearly laid out. Apple is not above this more the anyone else is not.

Yes lets blindly obey governments who want to starve out poor people. Shame on anyone who just wants to live normally right!

 

[Pezimak]

Yes lets blindly obey governments who want to starve out poor people. Shame on anyone who just wants to live normally right!

Yes why the hell should ANYONE obey trading laws? Consumer laws? ANY law? Why should anyone follow sanctions eh? I mean I think it would be a fantastic idea for American arms manufactures to sell their weapons to Russia, I think EU companies should be able to sell chemicals used to build weapons too Russia to and use them against those in Ukraine.....

See how ridiculous your comment and opinion is? Or would you rather NATO went to war with Russia and WW3 occurs? Sanctions exist for a reason, they control sales of dangerous goods to nations they should not be sold to, they also limit funding that can be used by said nations for weapons and wars. If this company was on the sanctions list it was for a reason, hence the punishment for Apple not abiding by the law.

 

[PJWilkin]

If the subsidiary is wholly owned by Apple
Then Apple themselves should have been fined

 

[SpotOnT]

Sanctions are evil and unjust and do nothing but make the average person suffer.

It is all about context.

Say a country decides to dump nuclear waste in the rivers, or invades it’s neighboring countries for more territory, etc., what options do other countries have to deal with this “bad actor”?

They can invade the bad actor? They can nuke/eliminate the bad actor? They can refuse to trade with the bad actor?

Of those options, sanctions is usually the least extreme.

 

[sw1tcher]

It is all about context.

Say a country decides to dump nuclear waste in the rivers, or invades it’s neighboring countries for more territory, etc., what options do other countries have to deal with this “bad actor”?

They can invade the bad actor? They can nuke/eliminate the bad actor? They can refuse to trade with the bad actor?

Of those options, sanctions is usually the least extreme.

You left an option out: Give the bad actor a custom-designed glass plaque with a 24-karat gold base

 

[subjonas]

I could be wrong, but wasn't that "light treason"?