UK Fines Apple Subsidiary £390,000 for Russia Sanctions Breach

The UK's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation has fined Apple Distribution International, an Ireland-based subsidiary of Apple Inc., £390,000 for breaching sanctions related to Russia by making two payments totaling £635,618 to a sanctioned Russian entity in 2022.

The payments, processed through a UK bank account held by the subsidiary, went to Okko, a Russian video streaming platform, in June and July 2022. These transactions represented revenue from customers who had purchased Okko's services via Apple's App Store. Under Apple's payment system, the company collects funds from users and distributes them to developers, retaining a fee. The subsidiary handles such distributions in Europe and the Middle East.

Okko was originally acquired by Sberbank, Russia's largest bank, in 2018. Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Sberbank was among the first Russian entities added to the UK's sanctions list. In May 2022, Sberbank sold Okko and other digital assets to JSC New Opportunities, a Moscow-based firm established in March 2022 with minimal authorized capital of 10,000 rubles, or about £175 at the time. The UK sanctioned JSC New Opportunities in...