(Reuters) – PayPal, the electronic payments firm, agreed to pay $7.7 million to settle charges by the U.S. Treasury Department that it violated numerous sanctions programs against countries that include Iran, Cuba and Sudan, Treasury said on Wednesday.
PayPal, owned by EBay Inc (EBAY.O), did not adequately screen its transactions for U.S. sanctions targets for several years through 2013, resulting in 486 apparent violations of U.S. law, Treasury said in a statement. (1.usa.gov/19lyHIK)
PayPal also dismissed alerts and processed about $7,000 worth of payments for Kursud Zafer Cire, a Turkish national on the sanctions blacklist tied to proliferators of weapons of mass destruction, according to the statement.
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U.S. companies are not allowed to do business with people on the list, who are considered enemies of the United States. But PayPal agents dismissed six alerts that flagged Cire as a potential match to the blacklist.
Treasury said the apparent violations of the sanctions related to weapons of mass destruction “constitute an egregious case.”
Treasury said PayPal implemented better screening procedures in April 2013, hired new management in its compliance division, and cooperated with the investigation.
EBay is planning to split off PayPal from its marketplace division later this year.
