Red Bull Squeezed Over Skateboard Video Shot In Havana

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), one of whose duties it is to protect the United States against the threat posed by free-lance journalists reporting from Cuba, has come down on Red Bull North America, Inc., the energy drink manufacturer. Bryan Cave attorneys George Murphy and Clif Burns note that OFAC was not specific in its announcement of what precipitated the charge, but referred generally to a “film documentary” that the company had made without OFAC approval in 2009. The reference apparently was to a video the company had produced to promote its product, featuring skateboarding legend Ryan Sheckler doing his acrobatics in Havana. In setting the penalty, OFAC said it took into account that Red Bull North America had attempted to conceal the transaction, an observation that the writers find odd considering that Red Bull posted information about it on the internet, as well as – in mitigation – that the company was not a repeat offender and that the infraction was “non-egregious.” OFAC balanced it out at a modest $89,775 – a settlement amount that could be good news, the writers opine, for other companies that get caught in the OFAC dragnet for a similar infraction, as it might be invoked as a precedent.