Microsoft to pay $3 million for violations of U.S. sanctions
The United States and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) reached a settlement on Thursday over the tech firm's apparent violations of sanctions and export controls, which it disclosed voluntarily, the government and the company said.
Microsoft has agreed to remit about $3 million to settle its potential civil liability for more than 1,300 apparent sanctions violations in relation to restrictions on Cuba, Iran, Syria and Russia involving the export of services or software from the U.S. to sanctioned jurisdictions, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement, Reuters reported.
The Treasury Department added that Microsoft's conduct was "non-egregious and voluntarily self-disclosed."
A majority of the violations, which took place between 2012 and 2019, involved blocked Russian entities or persons located in the Crimea region of Ukraine, and occurred as a result of Microsoft's failure to identify and prevent the use of its products by prohibited parties, the Treasury Department said.
The causes of sanctions violations included a lack of complete or accurate information on the identities of the end customers for Microsoft products, the Treasury Department said, adding that there were shortcomings in Microsoft's restricted-party screening.