Exxon fined for sanctions violations during Tillerson’s tenure

UPDATE: Exxon Mobil filed suit against the U.S. government Thursday over a $2 million fine it calls “unfair.” The company said its subsidiaries signed deals with Russian oil giant Rosneft only after Treasury Department representatives said U.S. sanctions barred them from direct dealings with Rosneft chairman Igor Sechin, not companies he controlled.

OUR EARLIER REPORT (11:40 a.m.): The U.S. Treasury Department has fined oil company Exxon Mobil Corp. $2 million for violating sanctions against Russia in 2014. According to government officials, two Exxon subsidiaries signed deals with Igor Sechin, chairman of Russian oil giant Rosneft, even though they knew he was on a U.S. blacklist over Russia's actions in Ukraine. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson served as Exxon’s CEO at the time. He previously said the company didn’t support sanctions because it found them ineffective. The government accuses Exxon of “reckless disregard” that caused “significant damage” to the sanctions program. Exxon had sought a waiver for the Black Sea project and called today’s fine “fundamentally unfair” and an attempt to “retroactively enforce a new interpretation” of a executive order.