Kudos to OFAC

Hopefully, this will be the beginning of greater scrutiny -- and not just an isolated case.

From The Miami Herald:

U.S. company suspends Cuba tours

One of the first travel companies to jump into the Cuba trips allowed by a new Obama administration policy has suspended the tours amid questions that trouble both opponents and supporters of increased travel to the island.

The luxury travel firm Abercrombie & Kent advertised its tours for non-Cuban Americans, which included salsa dancing and rum-laced mojitos, under the "people to people" travel policy unveiled Jan. 28.

It quickly sold out 13 tours organized in conjunction with the Foundation for Caribbean Studies, holder of one of the licenses to organize people to people trips issued by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Controls (OFAC).

But an OFAC statement on July 25 pointed at problems with A&K's arrangement with the Foundation, and sparked questions about the California-based group.

As a result of the OFAC statement, the company "suspended all Cuba-related travel bookings until it can ensure it is fully compliant with this new guidance," A&K media relations manager Jean Fawcett wrote in an email to El Nuevo Herald [...]

Without naming names, OFAC’s July statement noted that companies that do not have a license to organize Cuba trips cannot use another firm’s license. Fawcett confirmed A&K does not have an OFAC license.