It’s a four-letter word that drug lords and dictators alike fear across the globe: Ofac. The abbreviation stands for the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Department of the Treasury. Neither the American Federal Police FBI nor the anti-drug agency DEA cause such terror in the underworld as this small department, which only has a few hundred people working for in Washington.
The reputation comes from the fact that Ofac can remove from the game all those who are influenced by the USA be viewed as hostile. And it can hit them where it particularly hurts: money. Ofac is responsible for enforcing US sanctions and is therefore responsible for one of the government’s strongest foreign policy instruments of pressure in Washington. Anyone who ends up on one of the Ofac lists as an individual will have great difficulty continuing their economic life as before – regardless of which country they live in. For smaller companies, one entry is often the end.