
OFAC/USA Patriot Act Software
Compliance Database
Status Current
Last Update 1/20/2020

What is OFAC?

What is OFAC?

What is OFAC and what does it do?


How long has OFAC been around?

The Treasury Department has a long history of dealing with sanctions. Prior to the War of 1812, Secretary of the Treasury Gallatin administered sanctions imposed against Great Britain for the harassment of American sailors. In 1861, during the Civil War, Congress passed a "Trading With the Enemy Act," which prohibited transactions with the Confederacy, called for the forfeiture of goods involved in such trade, and provided a licensing regime under rules and regulations administered by Treasury. The Trading With the Enemy Act of 1917 ("TWEA") made that Civil War legislation "modern" for World War I.

OFAC is the successor organization to the Office of Foreign Funds Control (the "OFFC"), which was established at the advent of World War II following the German invasion of Norway in 1940. The OFFC's initial objective in acting under TWEA was to prevent Nazi use of occupied countries' holdings of foreign exchange and to prevent forced repatriation of funds belonging to nationals of those countries. These controls were later extended to protect assets of other invaded countries. After the United States formally entered World War II, the OFFC became the major American program of economic warfare against the Axis powers, blocking enemy assets and prohibiting foreign trade and financial transactions. Those assets would also serve as a future source of war reparations.

The OFFC program was administered by the Secretary of the Treasury throughout the war. After the cessation of hostilities, most foreign property subject to protective blocking was gradually released by licenses under the Foreign Funds Control Regulations. Most enemy property was vested by the U.S. Government during and immediately after the war. Responsibility for administering the FFC Regulations was transferred to the Attorney General (Office of Alien Property), effective October 1, 1948. All matters relating to the World War II vesting program remain at the Justice Department under the supervision of the Office of Alien Property Custodian. OFAC itself was formally created in December 1950, following the entry of China into the Korean War, when President Truman declared a national emergency under TWEA and blocked all Chinese and North Korean assets subject to U.S. jurisdiction.

