How long has OFAC been around?
The Treasury Department has a long history of dealing with sanctions. Dating back prior to the War of 1812, Secretary of the Treasury Gallatin administered sanctions imposed against Great Britain for the harassment of American sailors. During the Civil War, Congress approved a law which prohibited transactions with the Confederacy, called for the forfeiture of goods involved in such transactions, and provided a licensing regime under rules and regulations administered by Treasury. OFAC is the successor to the Office of Foreign Funds Control (the “FFC”), which was established at the advent of World War II following the German invasion of Norway in 1940. The FFC program was administered by the Secretary of the Treasury throughout the war. The FFC’s initial purpose was to prevent Nazi use of the occupied countries’ holdings of foreign exchange and securities and to prevent forced repatriation of funds belonging to nationals of those countries. These controls were later extended to prote
The Treasury Department has a long history of dealing with sanctions. Prior to the War of 1812, Secretary of the Treasury Gallatin administered sanctions imposed against Great Britain for the harassment of American sailors. In 1861, during the Civil War, Congress passed a “Trading With the Enemy Act,” which prohibited transactions with the Confederacy, called for the forfeiture of goods involved in such trade, and provided a licensing regime under rules and regulations administered by Treasury. The Trading With the Enemy Act of 1917 (“TWEA”) made that Civil War legislation “modern” for World War I. OFAC is the successor organization to the Office of Foreign Funds Control (the “OFFC”), which was established at the advent of World War II following the German invasion of Norway in 1940. The OFFC’s initial objective in acting under TWEA was to prevent Nazi use of occupied countries’ holdings of foreign exchange and to prevent forced repatriation of funds belonging to nationals of those cou
