16 Companies May Violate U.S. Ban on Trade With Terror States.

From The Blotter:

Royal Dutch Shell, Nokia and Credit Suisse are among 16 companies publicly traded in the United States that may be violating a U.S. ban on doing business with Sudan, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The ban grows out of an effort by the United States to stop the government of Sudan from carrying out policies that have led to human rights violations and genocide in Darfur and from continuing support for international terrorism.

The SEC compiled a list of the companies in a new effort to publicly identify multinational corporations that report business dealings with countries identified by the U.S. as "state sponsors of terrorism." In addition to Sudan, trade with Iran, Syria, North Korea and Cuba is also banned.

An examination of the SEC filings of some of the most prominent companies on the list reveal the multinational corporations are well aware of the U.S. sanctions and possible legal problems.

The list of 16 companies identified by the SEC as reporting business dealings with Sudan in SEC filings are:

1. Air France-KLM
2. Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Limited
3. Baker Hughes Inc.4. Celanese Corporation
5. Credit Suisse
6. Deutsche Bank
7. Euroseas Ltd.
8. Dresser-Rand Group Inc
9. Mindray Medical International Limited
10. Nokia Corporation
11. Royal Dutch Shell
12. SR Telecom Inc.
13. SEACOR Holdings Inc.
14. Siemens AG
15. Syntroleum Corp.
16. Total S.A.

And it makes me wonder how many of these companies have top leaders here including our President and Vice President are or were silent partners or currently have shares.