A small Puerto Rican bank was found to have violated U.S. sanctions against Venezuela by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for allowing three unlicensed transactions on a blocked account.

Nodus International Bank engaged in three transactions totaling $50,271 with blocked accounts controlled by a person added to OFAC’s List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons in 2017, according to the agency’s enforcement release published Tuesday. The transactions were completed by Nodus without receiving a license from OFAC to deal in blocked accounts, as required. The bank’s sanctions compliance officer notified senior bank officials of this requirement, but the advice was not heeded, OFAC said.

Aaron Nicodemus is the Editor-in-Chief of Compliance Week. He previously worked as a reporter for Bloomberg Law and as business editor at the Telegram & Gazette in Worcester, Mass. Email: aaron.nicodemus@complianceweek.com LinkedIn:...