UK fines Apple unit for breaching Russian sanctions

The UK government has fined an Apple subsidiary £390,000 ($516,000) after the U.S. technology giant breached Russian financial sanctions, an official statement revealed Monday.

Ireland-based Apple Distribution International (ADI), which instructs payments to software developers who use the App Store, was fined for paying a sanctioned Russian company in 2022 following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, it added.

The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said the penalty was imposed on March 19.

OFSI pointed out that despite the fine, “ADI had neither intent, knowledge nor cause to actually suspect that these payments would be in breach of financial sanctions”.

The office added that it found no breach made by parent company Apple.

ADI instructed a UK-based bank to make two payments, in June and July 2022, totalling almost £635,619 to Okko, a Russian online video streaming service owned by a company under British sanctions.

In an emailed response to AFP, Apple said it takes “sanctions compliance extremely seriously”.

“After identifying two payments to a developer that days earlier had become affiliated with a sanctioned entity, we promptly and proactively reported our finding to the UK government.”