Company owned by Washington Post publisher Jeff Bezos publicly admits it sold goods to Iranian government owned groups or individuals in violation of US law from 2012 to 2016. Didn't incur penalties from Obama admin. but says it may be penalized in future-Bloomberg, 2/10/17 (Two Americas: One for elites like Jeff Bezos, his Washington Post and Amazon.com and another for peasants)

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"Amazon, under the Post’s new owner, Jeff Bezos, recently secured a $600 million contract from the CIA"...12/19/2013, "Amazon, ‘The Washington Post’ and That $600 Million CIA Contract," The Nation, Greg Mitchell
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2/10/17, "Amazon Discloses Iranian Business Ties, Warns of Penalties," Bloomberg, Shelly Hagan

"Company sold products to individual, groups linked to Iran. Amazon reported the transactions to the U.S. government."

"Amazon.com Inc. on Friday disclosed Iranian business ties that may have violated U.S. sanctions, warning that it may be penalized after a regulatory review of the activities.

The company said in a regulatory filing that from 2012 to 2016 it “processed and delivered orders of consumer products for certain individuals and entities located outside Iran covered by the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act (ITRA).”

Amazon said it reported the transactions to the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security. The world’s biggest e-commerce retailer said it will cooperate with a review by the agencies, and added that this could result in “penalties,” according to the filing.

In 2012, President Barack Obama signed the ITRA to strengthen trade restrictions on Iran and try to persuade the country to stop its nuclear activities. This law imposes civil penalties and takes other action against foreign subsidiaries of U.S. companies engaging in transactions with Iran. In January 2016, the U.S. lifted some of the economic sanctions tied to the nuclear program.

Amazon said Friday it sold a variety of consumer products to individuals and unspecified groups controlled or owned by the Iranian government. The goods ranged from apparel to software to pet products and cost $50 to about $2,400, according to the filing. 

Amazon said it doesn’t plan to sell to these accounts in the future.

“Our review is ongoing and we are enhancing our processes designed to identify transactions associated with individuals and entities covered by the ITRA,” Amazon said."

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Added: "Why come clean now, and disclose violations that took place as far back as 2012?"

""The consumer products included books, other media, apparel, home and kitchen, jewelry, office, toys, consumer electronics, software, health and beauty, pet products, and lawn and patio."

The company also said that is was "unable accurately to calculate the net profit attributable to these transactions" and said it does "not plan to continue selling to these accounts in the future."

The statement concludes with Amazon's declaration that its "review is ongoing and we are enhancing our processes designed to identify transactions associated with individuals and entities covered by the ITRA." 

Why come clean now, and disclose violations that took place as far back as 2012?

Perhaps because Amazon, along with many other tech companies, was a key catalyst behind the recent successful lawsuit against the Trump administration's immigration executive order. While it is unknown if AG Sessions (or Trump himself) will retaliate against said companies, Jeff Bezos, who has a long "history" with Trump, decided not to take the chance."

2/11/17, "Amazon Discloses Iranian Transactions That May Have Violated US Sanctions, Warns It May Be "Penalized"," zero hedge, durden 




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