Bazzi v. United States Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control

CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedSeptember 23, 2020
DocketCivil Action No. 2019-0484
StatusPublished

This text of Bazzi v. United States Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (Bazzi v. United States Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bazzi v. United States Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control, (D.D.C. 2020).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

MOHAMMAD IBRAHIM BAZZI,

Plaintiff, No. 19-cv-484 (RDM) v.

ANDREA M. GACKI, et al.,

Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

Plaintiff Mohammad Ibrahim Bazzi seeks to supplement the administrative record of the

proceeding that led the Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) to designate him as a

Specially Designated Global Terrorist (“SDGT”) pursuant to Executive Order 13224. After

OFAC initially designated him, Plaintiff wrote to the office seeking to strike a deal—he would

take certain remedial actions if OFAC would agree to remove his name from the Specially

Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List. OFAC rejected that request. Later, after this

litigation was underway, OFAC discovered technical errors in the original administrative record.

To correct those errors, OFAC decided to re-designate Plaintiff through a new agency

proceeding. Plaintiff now contends that his letter to OFAC, which included what he alleges is

exculpatory information pertaining to his designation, should be part of the administrative record

for his re-designation because it was before the agency at the time of the re-designation.

Upon consideration of Plaintiff’s motion to supplement the administrative record, Dkt.

28, Defendants’ opposition, Dkt. 29, and Plaintiff’s reply, Dkt. 30, the Court will DENY

Plaintiff’s motion. I. BACKGROUND

On May 17, 2018, OFAC designated Plaintiff as an SDGT, pursuant to Executive Order

13224, for “assisting in, sponsoring, or providing financial, material, or technological support

for, or financial or other services to or in support of, Hizballah.” Dkt. 29 at 7; Dkt. 1-1 at 1–2

(Ex. A) (Press Release, “Treasury Targets Key Hizballah Financing Network and Iranian

Conduit”). The office therefore placed Plaintiff on its Specially Designated Nationals and

Blocked Persons List. Dkt. 23 at 7 (2d Amd. Compl. ¶ 23); see also Notice of OFAC Sanctions

Action, 83 Fed. Reg. 23,997 (May 23, 2018). Plaintiff’s property and interests in property

subject to U.S. jurisdiction were blocked, and U.S. persons are prohibited from dealing with

either Plaintiff or his companies. Dkt. 28-1 at 6.

On November 29, 2018, Plaintiff’s counsel met with OFAC to request a “terms of

removal agreement”—that is, “an agreement by which Bazzi would undertake certain steps to

negate the basis of his designation in exchange for a delisting.” Dkt. 23 at 10 (2d Amd. Compl. ¶

38). After the meeting, Plaintiff’s counsel sent a letter to OFAC, which reiterated his request for

a terms of removal agreement and identified “countervailing information” challenging the

allegations underlying OFAC’s designation. Id. at 10–11 (2d Amd. Compl. ¶ 39). The letter, for

instance, argued that Plaintiff’s relationship with Abdallah Safi-Al Din, with whom OFAC had

accused Plaintiff of associating in a press release announcing his designation, Dkt. 1-1 at 1–2

(Ex. A), had ended in 2006 or 2007. Dkt. 28-2 at 7. Plaintiff’s counsel was “clear,” however,

that the letter did not constitute “a request for administrative reconsideration under 31 C.F.R. §

501.807,” and that “neither this letter nor any of its representations should be included in any

record being developed with respect to an administrative reconsideration of Bazzi’s designation.”

Id. at 3. Rather, the letter was “simply” intended to memorialize the parties’ conversation at the

2 meeting and to “facilitate further discussion with the agency about resolving this matter without

litigation.” Id. On February 6, 2019, OFAC responded by letter and denied Plaintiff’s request

for a terms of removal agreement. Dkt. 28-3 at 2.

Plaintiff filed this lawsuit on February 26, 2019, challenging his designation. Dkt. 1. On

June 12, 2019, OFAC filed the certified index of the administrative record, with substantial

redactions. Dkt. 8-1. As part of the administrative record, OFAC provided Plaintiff with an

“evidentiary memorandum” from case “SDGT-12644,” which set forth OFAC’s reasons for

designating Bazzi, again with substantial redactions. Id.; Dkt. 28-4. Plaintiff then filed an

amended complaint, alleging that OFAC had not given him sufficient notice of the basis for his

designation. Dkt. 9 at 8–9 (Amd. Compl. ¶¶ 32–36). The parties cross-moved for summary

judgment. Dkt. 10; Dkt. 11.

In preparing the unredacted version of the administrative record for the Court’s ex parte,

in camera review, OFAC discovered “an apparent administrative error in the processing of two

exhibits prior to this litigation.” Dkt. 29 at 8. “Specifically, two exhibits to the evidentiary

memorandum contained certain discrete pieces of information that should not have been

included.” Id. To remedy this error, OFAC re-designated Plaintiff in a new agency proceeding

with a new administrative record. See Dkt. 18 at 2; Dkt. 19 at 1.

On November 25, 2019, OFAC re-designated Plaintiff in a new evidentiary memorandum

pursuant to Executive Order 13224, which had been amended since Plaintiff’s first designation.

Dkt. 19 at 1; Dkt. 23 at 8 (2d Amd. Compl. ¶ 28). On December 6, 2019, OFAC filed a certified

index of the new administrative record from Plaintiff’s re-designation. Dkt. 20-1. The updated

administrative record included a new evidentiary memorandum with a new case number,

“SDGT-17144.” Dkt. 28-1 at 11. The new administrative record “is very similar to the

3 administrative record supporting [Plaintiff’s] initial designation,” again with substantial

redactions. Dkt. 23 at 8 (2d Amd. Compl. ¶ 30). On January 10, 2020, Plaintiff filed a second

amended complaint, challenging both his re-designation and the agency’s denial of his request

for a terms of removal agreement. Dkt. 23.

Plaintiff now moves to complete, or, in the alternative, to supplement the administrative

record pertaining to his re-designation with (1) his letter requesting a terms of removal

agreement; (2) the agency’s response to that letter; and (3) the evidentiary memorandum and

exhibit list for case SDGT-12644. Dkt. 28; Dkt. 30. OFAC opposes the motion. Dkt. 29.

II. ANALYSIS

Courts review agency action based on “the whole record or those parts of it cited by a

party.” 5 U.S.C. § 706. This means that “review is to be based on the full administrative record

that was before the [agency] at the time [of its] decision.” Citizens to Preserve Overton Park,

Inc. v. Volpe, 401 U.S. 402, 420 (1971). The administrative record includes “all materials

compiled by the agency” that were “before the agency at the time the decision was made.”

James Madison Ltd. by Hecht v. Ludwig, 82 F.3d 1085, 1095 (D.C. Cir. 1996) (internal

quotations and citations omitted); see also Am. Wildlands v. Kempthorne, 530 F.3d 991, 1002

(D.C. Cir. 2008). The Court “should have before it neither more nor less information than did

the agency when it made its decision.” Walter O. Boswell Mem’l Hosp. v. Heckler, 749 F.2d

788, 792 (D.C. Cir. 1984).

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