OFAC Fines Interactive Brokers LLC US$11.8 Million For Violations Multiple Countries, Including Cuba. Potential Fine Could Have Been US$5.2 Billion.
/Enforcement Release: July 15, 2025
Interactive Brokers LLC Settles with OFAC for $11,832,136 Related to Apparent Violations of Multiple Sanctions Regulations
Interactive Brokers LLC (IB), a Greenwich, Connecticut-based global electronic broker-dealer providing brokerage and investment services to millions of customers worldwide through its online brokerage platform, has agreed to pay the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) $11,832,136 to settle its potential civil liability for apparent violations of multiple OFAC sanctions programs. From July 15, 2016 to January 31, 2024, IB provided brokerage and investment services to persons in Iran, Cuba, Syria, and the Crimea region of Ukraine (“Crimea”), processed trades in securities subject to the Chinese Military-Industrial Complex program, conducted transactions involving blocked persons under OFAC’s Russia, Global Magnitsky, Venezuela, and Syria sanctions programs, and engaged in new investment in the Russian Federation. The settlement amount reflects OFAC’s determination that the apparent violations were non-egregious and voluntarily self-disclosed. The settlement amount further reflects the significant remedial measures IB implemented upon discovery of the apparent violations and the substantial cooperation IB provided over the course of an extensive, multi-year OFAC investigation.
