UK Fines Apple Subsidiary £390,000 Over Sanctions

LONDON: (Web Desk) – The UK government has imposed a £390,000 ($516,000) fine on an Apple subsidiary for breaching Russian financial sanctions, officials announced Monday.

Ireland-based Apple Distribution International (ADI), which handles payments to software developers via the App Store, was penalized for transferring funds in 2022 to a Russian company under sanctions following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) confirmed the penalty was issued on March 19, noting that ADI had no intent or reason to suspect the payments would violate sanctions. The parent company, Apple, was found not to have committed any breach.

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In June and July 2022, ADI instructed a UK bank to make two payments totaling nearly £635,619 to Okko, a Russian online video streaming service owned by a sanctioned entity.

Apple told AFP that it takes sanctions compliance “extremely seriously” and reported the issue to UK authorities immediately after discovering that the payments had been made to a developer recently affiliated with a sanctioned organization.