Important Screening Tip: When screening foreign trading partners against the U.S. Department of Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Specially Designated Nationals List you MUST always screen by company name AND any/all owners of the foreign company who hold 50% or greater ownership in the company. Even if the company is NOT listed on the SDN list, if in fact an individual that is listed has a 50% ownership stake in the company than it would be an OFAC sanctions violations for you to do business with the company in question. Doing deep drilling with your due diligence and screening is critical. Lesson being, if all you do is screen company names that is not enough. It may seem awkward but when dealing with new foreign customers ask for a list of names of all owners with a 50% ownership position in the company and then screen both by company name and key owners names.
