Apple's European division fined for violating sanctions against Russia / Photo: pio3 / Shutterstock
Apple's European division, Apple Distribution International (ADI), which is responsible for product sales in Europe and the Middle East, has been fined £390,000 (about $516,000) by a British regulator for transfers in 2022 to a sanctioned Russian company, the Financial Times reports.
ADI transferred £635,618.75 (about $786k) to Russian online video streaming platform Okko through a bank in the UK in two tranches in 2022, shortly after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began. Based in Cork, Ireland, ADI is also responsible for the App Store and payments to developers in the UK and EU.
According to the UK's Office of Financial Sanctions Enforcement (OFSI), ADI "voluntarily disclosed these payments to OFSI" in October 2022. Representatives of the regulator stated that such a payment "on the balance of probabilities" was a violation of sanctions against Russia.
According to the OFSI, the maximum fine for Apple could have been £1 million ($1.32 million), but it was reduced to reflect voluntary disclosure and the application of a settlement discount as part of the agreement.
"Neither the fine nor the findings of violation were applied to Apple," OFSI also added, referring to Silicon Valley-based Apple's U.S. parent company.
Apple did not respond to the newspaper's requests for comment.
Initially, the Russian streaming service Okko came under US sanctions in spring 2022 due to its connection with the Russian bank Sber. Later, in May 2022, Sber's structures announced their withdrawal from Okko's capital - the online cinema was sold to the little-known New Opportunities JSC (it was established in March 2022). In June 2022, the UK imposed sanctions against it as well. Industry representatives noted that the deal to sell Okko to a new owner "probably [was] needed solely to circumvent the sanctions".
This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor
