WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Biden administration is proposing to raise to $5 million the maximum fine it can impose for violating rules and agreements made with CFIUS, a powerful U.S. committee that screens foreign investments in the United States for national security risks, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The penalty ceiling currently stands at $250,000.
The Treasury Department, which leads CFIUS, announced plans to increase the upward limit in a press release on Thursday but did not disclose the new maximum. Axios was first to report the change in dollar amount.
Many foreign purchasers of stakes in U.S. companies are required by CFIUS to ink so-called “mitigation agreements” to assuage national security concerns posed by the deals. CFIUS is then tasked with ensuring compliance with those agreements.
The committee has been increasingly focused on enforcement, issuing enforcement guidelines in late 2022 and its first ever publicly announced penalties of $1 million in 2018 and $750,000 in 2019.
If finalized, the new rules would also allow CFIUS to issue subpoenas to more entities, including third parties not involved in CFIUS-reviewed transactions.
(Reporting by Alexandra Alper; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
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