WASHINGTON (AP) – Exxon Mobil is suing the U.S. government to stop a $2 million fine on the oil giant for violating U.S. sanctions on Russia.
Exxon is being fined for signing contracts with a Russian oil mogul who was on a U.S. blacklist. The company is pointing to comments from Treasury Department representatives who had said that the sanctions barred Americans from dealing with the oil mogul himself and not the Russian government-owned oil company he ran.
The Texas-based company says it was following “authoritative and specific guidance” from the Obama administration and that now the Treasury Department is trying to change the rules “retroactively” a year later.
Exxon is suing the Treasury Department and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
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