Sanctions & OFAC
Levin & Associates advises high-net-worth individuals, executives, financial institutions, and international businesses on U.S. economic sanctions administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). These matters are rarely academic. They present as blocked funds, account freezes, disrupted cross-border payments, correspondent-banking pressure, supply-chain interruption, reputational exposure, and—often—parallel regulatory or criminal investigative risk.
The firm’s sanctions practice is led by Duncan Levin, a former federal prosecutor and former Chief of Asset Forfeiture in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Mr. Levin’s background is concentrated in modern financial enforcement—where OFAC authority, bank controls, payment rails, and “follow-the-money” investigative tools converge. In senior government roles, Mr. Levin served as the U.S. Department of Justice liaison in major sanctions matters, including oversight of the forfeiture of $1.9 billion in the HSBC OFAC sanctions case and $350 million in the Standard Chartered OFAC sanctions case. He also worked on significant OFAC/AML matters involving BNP Paribas and ING.
How OFAC authority actually works: statutes, Executive Orders, and programs
OFAC sanctions are built on statutory emergency authorities—principally the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and, in legacy contexts, the Trading With the Enemy Act (TWEA)—implemented through country- and conduct-based programs created by Executive Order and regulation. In practice, the legal analysis turns on the specific program architecture: blocking vs. non-blocking restrictions; sectoral sanctions vs. full blocking; facilitation and “causing” theories; ownership and control (including OFAC’s 50 Percent Rule); and the licensing framework that can authorize otherwise prohibited activity.
Levin & Associates routinely handles matters arising under—and across—major OFAC frameworks and Executive Orders, including (by way of example) counterterrorism authorities (E.O. 13224), Russia and Ukraine-related authorities (including E.O. 13660, 13661, 13662 and E.O. 14024 and related directives), Global Magnitsky-style authorities (E.O. 13818), and other program-specific authorities affecting Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, Syria, cyber-enabled activity, and transnational corruption, as well as statute-driven sanctions regimes such as CAATSA and related secondary sanctions exposure. The firm’s focus is not reciting a list; it is applying the governing authority to real-world fact patterns involving banks, intermediaries, and cross-border counterparties.
Core OFAC work: what clients hire Levin & Associates to do
- Blocked funds and banking disruption: strategy when funds are blocked or rejected; return-to-originator issues; comfort letters and bank engagement; documentation packages designed for compliance review
- Licensing strategy: specific license applications (and responses to RFIs); structuring transactions to fit within existing general licenses; drafting narrowly tailored narratives and supporting exhibits that anticipate OFAC questions
- SDN and designation-related matters: risk assessment for designation exposure; compliance posture for listed parties; delisting strategy where appropriate (including evidentiary record development)
- Sanctions compliance program design and enhancement: screening protocols; escalation procedures; interdiction and payment-filter rules; governance and training; high-risk jurisdiction controls
- Enhanced due diligence: beneficial ownership and control analysis; counterparty vetting; intermediary risk; red-flag review tied to high-risk geographies and sectors
- Regulatory inquiries and enforcement defense: responding to OFAC subpoenas and inquiries; parallel AML/BSA or fraud/corruption exposure; privilege-aware internal investigations and remediation strategy
- Transactional and advisory work: sanctions clauses, representations, and covenants; export/payment pathway risk; board-level briefings and “go/no-go” guidance for sensitive counterparties
Enforcement realism: sanctions risk is often driven by intermediaries
In many sanctions matters, the decisive facts are not found in a single contract. They are found in payment chains, correspondent-banking documentation, screening hits, communications records, shipping and trade documentation, and third-party diligence files. Levin & Associates approaches OFAC matters with enforcement realism—building a record that is accurate, defensible, and calibrated to how banks, regulators, and investigators evaluate sanctions risk.
The firm is frequently engaged at moments when discretion matters most: when a bank has escalated or frozen activity; when an internal compliance issue risks becoming an external referral; or when clients need rapid, senior-level guidance to keep business moving while reducing enforcement exposure.
