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On December 22, 1997, the Commerce Department imposed a $298,000 civil penalty on Grove Europe Limited ("Grove Europe"), a controlled-in-fact foreign affiliate of a U.S. company located in Sunderland, England, to settle allegations that Grove Europe furnished information about its and other companies’ business relationships with or in Israel or with companies known or believed to blacklisted. Also, the Department alleged that Grove Europe agreed to comply with the Arab boycott of Israel in connection with exports of U.S.-origin parts to Libya.
On July 24, 1997, the Commerce Department’s Acting Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement, Frank Deliberti, imposed a $23,000 civil penalty on the New York branch of The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited of Hong Kong to settle allegations that the bank confirmed a letter of credit from the United Arab Emirates that contained a request for a certification that shipped goods were not of Israeli origin. The Department also alleged that, in connection with three other letters of credit from Qatar, the bank agreed to refuse to do business with banks on the Arab boycott list or agreed to require other persons to refuse to do business with companies on the Arab boycott list, and failed to report, or failed to report in a timely manner, boycott-related requests it received from Jordan, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
On February 27, 1997, the Commerce Department reached settlements with the United States Air Force, an Air Force officer, the United States Department of Justice and one of its employees, and a government contractor, CACI Inc. - Commercial, and one of it employees, for alleged violations of the antiboycott provisions of the Export Administration Regulations.
During 1991 and early 1992, the U.S. Air Force and the Justice Department were involved in defending a lawsuit brought against the Air Force by a defense contractor. The Justice Department hired CACI Inc. - Commercial to provide litigation support services, including sending a team to Saudi Arabia for several months to microfilm documents. The Department alleged that, in a November 1991 meeting conducted by Air Force officers, representatives of the Justice Department and CACI were told that Jews or people with Jewish surnames could not go to Saudi Arabia as part of the microfilming team. In preparing for the microfilming project, CACI drafted and the Justice Department employee edited an "operations plan" which included the following "Screening/Selection Process" requirement:
"... No Jews or Jewish surnamed personnel will be sent as part of the Document Acquisition Team because of the cultural differences between Moslems and Jews in the Region. ... No Israeli stamped passport, as per Saudi rules."
BIS had no evidence that the restriction was specifically requested by, was required by, or was even known by the Government of Saudi Arabia.
In following the operations plan, Justice Department and CACI employees screened, interviewed, and selected people to go to Saudi Arabia. Eventually, a team was sent to Saudi Arabia. At least one U.S. person was refused a place on the team based on religion or national origin. In late 1995, the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith informed Export Enforcement's Office of Antiboycott Compliance (OAC) of a complaint it had received alleging religious discrimination in connection with a litigation support project carried out in Saudi Arabia by CACI. Based on that lead, OAC conducted an investigation lasting nearly eighteen months.
As part of settlement agreements with the Department, both the U.S. Air Force and the Justice Department, in separate letters, agreed to institute measures to prevent a similar event from happening again.
Air Force Colonel Michael J. Hoover, then Chief of the Air Force litigation team, agreed to settle two allegations that he violated the antiboycott provisions of the Export Administration Regulations by requiring or knowingly agreeing to require the Justice Department and CACI Inc. - Commercial to discriminate against individuals based on religion.
Jane Hadden Alperson, Office of Litigation Support, Civil Division, Justice Department, the case manager involved in the microfilming project, agreed to settle two allegations that she violated the antiboycott provisions by agreeing to discriminate against individuals based on religion or national origin, and subsequently taking a boycott-based discriminatory action against a U.S. person on the basis of religion.
CACI Inc. - Commercial, an Arlington, Virginia contractor and David Andrew, the senior CACI employee involved in the microfilming project, each agreed to settle three allegations that each violated the antiboycott provisions by knowingly agreeing to discriminate against individuals based on religion or national origin, taking a boycott-based discriminatory action against a U.S. person on the basis of religion, and, with respect to one particular individual, discriminating based on religion or national origin.