UK fines Apple subsidiary £390,000 for breaching Russia sanctions

The United Kingdom has imposed a £390,000 ($516,000) fine on Irish company Apple Distribution International Limited (ADI), a subsidiary of US tech giant Apple, for violating sanctions against Russia, the government announced on its official website.

The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) found that in 2022, ADI transferred £635,618 to Russian streaming service Okko LLC. ADI voluntarily notified the agency about the payments, which were processed through UK banks.

Both transactions, carried out in June and July 2022, involved Okko, which was already under UK sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

OFSI noted that Apple had depended on corporate affiliates to manage payment procedures, sanctions screening, and due diligence. Apple responded to the fine by stating that it takes “sanctions compliance extremely seriously.”

“After identifying two payments to a developer that days earlier had become affiliated with a sanctioned entity, we promptly and proactively reported our finding to the UK government,” it added.

By Jeyhun Aghazada