Regulator says payments totaling £635K reached entity owned and controlled by a designated person

The UK government has fined an Apple subsidiary £390,000 for breaching sanctions on Russia after it sent more than £600,000 to a developer linked to a designated entity.

The penalty, issued by the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), targets Apple Distribution International (ADI), the iGiant's Irish arm responsible for moving products and payments around Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The watchdog said ADI used a UK bank to make two payments in 2022, totaling £635,618.75, to Okko LLC, a Russian app developer linked to a sanctioned party.

The app maker operates a popular Russian-language video streaming service, which was previously available on the Apple App Store and Google Play. Apple and Google routinely collect payments for subscriptions and in-app purchases from users in their respective platforms, keeping a fee before giving the rest of the money to developers. In this case, the issue ...