- Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) says it will sue the U.S. government to stop a $2M penalty over alleged violations of Ukraine-related sanctions, arguing that the Treasury Department based the penalty on a retroactive re-interpretation of the sanctions law that did not align with previously issued guidance.
- XOM says it was following "authoritative and specific guidance" from the Obama administration that the sanctions barred Americans from dealing with individuals but not Russian government-owned oil companies, and that now the DoT was trying to change the rules a year later.
- The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control - which accuses XOM of behaving with “reckless disregard” for violating sanctions while current Sec. of State Rex Tillerson was the company's CEO in May 2014 - says the plain language of the sanctions statute did not distinguish between “personal” and “professional” roles.
- Now read: Exxon Mobil: Buy Now
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