Microsoft fined millions for selling software to Russian firms

Date:
Mon, 10 Apr 2023 09:22:32 +0000

Description:
Over $12 million in banned sales, including over 1,200 in Russia, has landed Microsoft with a $3 million punishment.

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Microsoft has agreed to pay in excess of $3 million to settle a potential civil liability for a believed 1,339 sanction violations that saw it sell products and services to individuals and companies in countries like Russia.

The more than 1,300 cases took place between July 2012 and April 2019 and saw Microsoft allegedly selling software licenses, activated software licenses, and related services from its US and Ireland servers to Specially Designated Nationals and blocked users in Cuba, Iran, Syria, Russia, and the Crimea region of Ukraine.

Following a Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) settlement of $624,013, Microsoft and its Ireland and Russia subsidiaries agreed to a settlement
worth $2.98 million with The Office of Foreign Assets Control ( OFAC ) of the US Department of the Treasury. BIS later issued a $276,382 credit, bringing Microsofts net settlement to almost $3.3 million for both bodies. Microsoft selling to banned Russian companies

Over the course of nearly seven years, the tech giant reportedly sold $12.1 million worth of services to banned customers.

Accounting for almost 94% of all instances were the 1,252 Russian sales. A further 54 in Cuba, 30 in Iran, and 3 in Syria also occurred. Read more

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Despite a maximum fine of more than $404.6 million, the OFAC decided that
less than 1% of this would be sufficient given Microsofts voluntary self-disclosure of the apparent violations and the non-egregious nature of
the case despite the reckless disregard for US sanctions.

Its unclear whether Microsoft has reconsidered its business practices following Russias invasion of Ukraine, however Russian media alleged that Microsoft (and Intel) had resumed some business in the country earlier this year.

TechRadar Pro has asked Microsoft for further comment on the seven-year
case, and for more information regarding its current operations in Russia. Check out the best productivity tools around today



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/news/microsoft-fined-millions-for-selling-software-t o-russian-firms


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