The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) says organizations that assist victims to make ransom payments are facing sanctions risks. OFAC’s advisory comes after the FBI said in February 2020 that, based on its analysis of collected ransomware bitcoin wallets and ransom notes, ransomware victims have paid to their attackers at least $140 million between January 2013 and July 2019. OFAC may impose civil penalties for sanctions violations based on strict liability, meaning that a person subject to U.-S. jurisdiction may be held civilly liable even if it did not know or have reason to know it was engaging in a transaction with a person that is prohibited under sanctions laws.
Source: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/us-govt-warns-of-sanction-risks-for-facilitating-ransomware-payments/