This is awkward
The U.S. Treasury Department has fined ExxonMobil for violating Russia sanctions while current Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was the CEO of Exxon.
Exxon violated the sanctions imposed after the invasion of Ukraine by doing business with the Russian state oil company Rosneft.
Between May 14 and May 23, 2014, top U.S.-based ExxonMobil executives signed eight documents with Igor Sechin, the head of state-run Rosneft, the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said in a statement on its website.
ExxonMobil had "demonstrated reckless disregard for U.S. sanctions requirements" by signing the deals with Sechin just weeks after the United States blacklisted him, OFAC said in an unusually lengthy three-page statement laying out its reasoning.
Exxon has now filed a lawsuit against the Treasury Department, calling the fine "fundamentally unfair."
Exxon filed their lawsuit in Texas, of course, where they'll probably be able to find a friendly judge who will at least get them to the next level.