ExxonMobil ‐ a favorite whipping boy of the left ‐ found itself back in the deep state’s crosshairs this week.The Treasury Department’s Office of Financial Asset Control, a haven for burrowed bureaucrats, announced it has fined the energy giant $2 million for purportedly violating sanctions by dealing with a Russian businessman who had been placed economically off limits to Americans because of his involvement with Russia’s effective takeover of Ukraine.
In March 2014, President Obama issued an executive order that gave the Secretary of the Treasury the power to designate Russian officials viewed as contributing to the Ukraine problem and block them from acquiring property or interests or dealing in property or interests with anyone so designated.
P
On April 28, Igor Sechin was so designated, but Rosneft OAO, the Russian energy conglomerate of which he is president, was not.
So, on May 8, according to the Treasury Department, ExxonMobil signed eight legal documents related to oil and gas deals in Russia with Sechin in his capacity as president of Rosneft OAO.
ExxonMobil said in a challenge to the fines filed in U.S. District Court in Dallas that signing the deals does not constitute a violation of the sanctions because the sanctions applied to Sechin individually and not in his capacity as president of Rosneft OAO.
...
It’s clear what is going on here. The Deep State within the Treasury Department is striking back at a company associated with President Trump, fining it for actions taken while Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was at the helm.
...