Apple Accepts $467Mln Fine For Buying Software From Slovenian Drug Trafficker - Treasury

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th November, 2019) The US computer giant Apple agreed to a nearly half-billion-dollar penalty to settle charges that it contracted with a Slovenian software company ATR.SIS d.o.o. that had been sanctioned for drug trafficking, the Treasury Department said in a press release on Monday.

"On July 18, 2008, Apple entered into an app development agreement with SIS, a software company located at 19 Spruha, Trzin 1236, Slovenia," the release said.

On February 24, 2015, Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated SIS and Savo Stjepanovic ("Stjepanovic"), a director and majority owner of SIS, pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act... and added them to the SDN [Specially Designated Nationals] list," the release said.

Apple said it failed to identify SIS as a sanctioned company, claiming the oversight resulted from a failure by Apple's in-house sanctions screening tool, the release said.

The $466,912 settlement with Apple settles the company's potential civil liability for violating the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Sanctions Regulations, the release added.

SIS was sanctioned for trafficking in steroids, according to the release.