What would “Made in America” Sam Walton say about the latest civil penalty levied against his company by Uncle Sam? According to a Corporate Crime Reporter press release dated April 14, Wal-Mart was fined $50,000 for trading with the enemy — Cuba to be exact. 59 red, white and blue companies settled charges brought against them by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. The Corporate Crime Reporter claims that the OFAC refused to release any of the settlements, but after they were sued under the Freedom of Information Act, they released heavily deleted memos and a one line chart of the settlements. The one line chart for Wal-Mart indicates only that it settled for a $50,000 fine, and it was not a voluntary disclosure. The CCR asked the Treasury to put out a press release about the wrong doing by companies like Wal-Mart. “Let the sun shine in,” said CCR. “To deter future corporate wrong-doing, OFAC must stop protecting major American companies from the glare of adverse publicity.” As of today, the specifics of the Wal-Mart case have still not been revealed, other than the fact that Wal-Mart was trading with Cuba in violation of federal law.
Will we find a press release about this penalty on Wal-Mart’s website newsroom? What exactly was Wal-Mart trading with Cuba? How long were the violations going on, and how much money was involved? Obviously, a $50,000 fine is like coffee money to Wal-Mart, so don’t expect any repercussions from this illegal activity in Bentonville.
