OFAC

Is the short-form term for the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. This office administers and enforces the economic sanctions programs mainly against countries and groups of individuals; examples of these individuals could be terrorists and narcotics traffickers.

The sanctions of the OFAC can be either comprehensive or selective. They use the blocking of assets and trade restrictions to accomplish foreign policy and national security goals. Prohibited transactions by the OFAC are trade or financial transactions and other dealings in which U.S. persons may not engage unless authorized by OFAC or expressly exempted by statute.

Because each program is based on different foreign policy and national security goals, prohibitions vary. The OFAC blocks transactions as a way to control targeted property. The blocking imposed by the OFAC immediately sets a universal prohibition against transfers or dealings of any kind with regard to the property being blocked.