Where the data comes from
Every “Sanctions List Updates” notice OFAC published between 19 January 2001 and 30 July 2026 — 1,891 of them — was downloaded and parsed into its individual named targets: people, companies, government bodies, vessels, aircraft and crypto wallets.
Each target was matched to the Executive Order or statute behind it, the country its OFAC entry places it in, and, where Treasury or State issued a same-day press release, the stated reason it was sanctioned.
How the “why” is produced
OFAC’s list notices say what was done, not why. The reason lives in the press release issued the same day. Every release was captured — including several hundred recovered from the Internet Archive after Treasury retired its older URLs — and a reason attached to each target. Text is quoted or closely paraphrased from the government source; nothing is invented.
| Basis | What it means | Share |
|---|---|---|
| A | The target (or its parent company) is named in the release; its sentence is quoted. | 48% |
| B | The release did not name this target individually — typical of mass designations — so the reason given is the stated reason for the action as a whole. | 32% |
| C | No usable press release; the reason is derived from the OFAC program, Executive Order and any linked entity. | 20% |
Accuracy check
Cross-referenced against OFAC’s current SDN and Consolidated list files: 99.6% of the current SDN list and 91.1% of the Consolidated list are reflected here. The remainder is explained — not unexplained — below.
Known limitations
The archive starts in January 2001. Anyone designated earlier and never removed has no addition notice here — mostly older Cuba entries and 1990s Colombian narcotics cases. They appear only if they are later removed, with a blank designation date.
Some non-SDN lists were published in bulk. Most notably the Non-SDN Palestinian Legislative Council list, issued as a standalone list in 2006 rather than through these notices.
Names change. OFAC restyles names over time (for example KHIN HLAING becoming HLAING, Khin). Such entries are in the database under the name used at designation.
Duplicate historical entries. Until roughly 2008 OFAC published each alias as its own line, so one person could appear several times in a single notice; those were collapsed to one record.
Country means jurisdiction of record — the address in the OFAC entry, or a vessel’s registered flag, or failing that nationality or place of birth. It is not necessarily nationality.