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.
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