Office of Foreign Assets Control

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The Office of Foreign Assets Control (or OFAC) is an office of the United States Department of the Treasury that administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions based on U.S. foreign policy and national security goals against targeted foreign countries, terrorists, international narcotics traffickers, and those engaged in activities related to the unapproved proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. OFAC acts under presidential wartime and national emergency powers, as well as authority granted by specific legislation, to impose controls on transactions and freeze foreign assets under U.S. jurisdiction. Many of the sanctions are based on United Nations and other international mandates which are multilateral in scope, and involve close cooperation with allied governments; others, such as the sanctions against Cuba based on the Helms-Burton Act, have been condemned by such multilateral institutions as the European Union. The Specially Designated Nationals list provides financial and other institutions with the names of those individuals and organizations which are currently prohibited from engaging in financial transactions.