US OFAC Specially Designated Nationals (SDN)
The OFAC SDN is the primary sanctions list published by the US Treasury Department.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is an office of the US Treasury Department and is primarily responsible for administering economic and trade sanctions. The SDN is the main sanctions list published by OFAC, and includes non country-specific sanctions targeting foreign individuals, organizations and regimes associated with terrorism, money laundering, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, narcotics and human trafficking, and more.
US law requires that the assets and accounts of an SDN sanction target be blocked, and US entities are generally prohibited from conducting business with them.
Failure to comply with OFAC guidelines, including violations of SDN regulations, can result in a civil penalty up to $250,000 per violation and an evaluation of the compliance program in place within the institution responsible for OFAC sanction compliance.
Organizations in scope for OFAC sanctions compliance include banks, holding companies, nonbank subsidiaries, insurers, money transmitters and more.
The OFAC SDN is updated frequently, but there is no predetermined schedule for updates.