II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4858 

To require the imposition of sanctions with respect to financial institutions 

of countries of concern that clear, verify, or settle transactions with 

other financial institutions of such countries. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 30, 2024 

Mr. RUBIO introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To require the imposition of sanctions with respect to financial institutions of countries of concern that clear, verify, 

or settle transactions with other financial institutions 

of such countries. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Sanctions Evasion Pre5 vention And Mitigation Act of 2024’’ or the ‘‘SEPAM Act 

6 of 2024’’. 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 4858 IS

1 SEC. 2. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO CER2 TAIN FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS OF COUN3 TRIES OF CONCERN. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The President shall impose one 

5 or more of the sanctions described in subsection (b) with 

6 respect to each covered financial institution that uses the 

7 Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (commonly re8 ferred to as ‘‘CIPS’’), the System for Transfer of Finan9 cial Messages (commonly referred to as ‘‘SPFS’’), or the 

10 System for Electronic Payment Messaging (commonly re11 ferred to as ‘‘SEPAM’’) to clear, verify, settle, or other12 wise conduct transactions with any other covered financial 

13 institution. 

14 (b) SANCTIONS DESCRIBED.—The sanctions de15 scribed in this subsection are the following: 

16 (1) PROPERTY BLOCKING.—The exercise of ex17 ercise all of the powers granted by the International 

18 Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 

19 et seq.) to the extent necessary to block and prohibit 

20 all transactions in all property and interests in prop21 erty of a covered financial institution subject to sub22 section (a) if such property and interests in property 

23 are in the United States, come within the United 

24 States, or are or come within the possession or con25 trol of a United States person. 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 4858 IS

1 (2) RESTRICTIONS ON CORRESPONDENT AND

2 PAYABLE-THROUGH ACCOUNTS.—A prohibition on 

3 the opening or maintaining in the United States of 

4 a correspondent account or a payable-through ac5 count by a covered financial institution subject to 

6 subsection (a). 

7 (3) EXECUTIVE OFFICERS INADMISSIBLE FOR

8 VISAS, ADMISSION, OR PAROLE.— 

9 (A) VISAS, ADMISSION, OR PAROLE.—An 

10 executive officer of a covered financial institu11 tion subject to subsection (a) who is an alien 

12 is— 

13 (i) inadmissible to the United States; 

14 (ii) ineligible to receive a visa or other 

15 documentation to enter the United States; 

16 and 

17 (iii) otherwise ineligible to be admitted 

18 or paroled into the United States or to re19 ceive any other benefit under the Immigra20 tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et 

21 seq.). 

22 (B) CURRENT VISAS REVOKED.— 

23 (i) IN GENERAL.—The visa or other 

24 entry documentation of an alien described 

25 in subparagraph (A) shall be revoked, reVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:32 Aug 29, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4858.IS S4858

ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 4858 IS

1 gardless of when such visa or other entry 

2 documentation was issued. 

3 (ii) IMMEDIATE EFFECT.—A revoca4 tion under clause (i) shall— 

5 (I) take effect immediately; and 

6 (II) automatically cancel any 

7 other valid visa or entry documenta8 tion that is in the alien’s possession. 

9 (c) EXCEPTIONS.— 

10 (1) EXCEPTION FOR INTELLIGENCE ACTIVI11 TIES.—This section shall not apply with respect to 

12 activities subject to the reporting requirements 

13 under title V of the National Security Act of 1947 

14 (50 U.S.C. 3091 et seq.) or any authorized intel15 ligence activities of the United States. 

16 (2) COMPLIANCE WITH UNITED NATIONS HEAD17 QUARTERS AGREEMENT.—Subsection (b)(3) shall 

18 not apply with respect to the admission of an alien 

19 to the United States if such admission is necessary 

20 to permit the United States to comply with the 

21 Agreement regarding the Headquarters of the 

22 United Nations, signed at Lake Success, June 26, 

23 1947, and entered into force, November 21, 1947, 

24 between the United Nations and the United States. 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 4858 IS

1 (3) EXCEPTION RELATING TO IMPORTATION OF

2 GOODS.— 

3 (A) IN GENERAL.—The authority to block 

4 and prohibit all transactions in all property and 

5 interests in property under subsection (b)(1) 

6 shall not include the authority or a requirement 

7 to impose sanctions on the importation of 

8 goods. 

9 (B) GOOD.—In this paragraph, the term 

10 ‘‘good’’ means any article, natural or manmade 

11 substance, material, supply or manufactured 

12 product, including inspection and test equip13 ment, and excluding technical data. 

14 (d) IMPLEMENTATION; PENALTIES.— 

15 (1) IMPLEMENTATION.—The President may ex16 ercise all authorities provided under sections 203 

17 and 205 of the International Emergency Economic 

18 Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702 and 1704) to carry out 

19 this section. 

20 (2) PENALTIES.—A person that violates, at21 tempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a 

22 violation of this section or any regulation, license, or 

23 order issued to carry out this section shall be subject 

24 to the penalties set forth in subsections (b) and (c) 

25 of section 206 of the International Emergency EcoVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:32 Aug 29, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4858.IS S4858

ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 4858 IS

1 nomic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) to the same ex2 tent as a person that commits an unlawful act de3 scribed in subsection (a) of that section. 

4 (e) DELEGATION.—Not later than 90 days after the 

5 date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall— 

6 (1) make a determination with respect to if and 

7 how the President will delegate the requirements 

8 and authorities under this section; and 

9 (2) notify the appropriate congressional com10 mittees of that determination. 

11 (f) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 90 days after the 

12 date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall pre13 scribe such regulations as are necessary to carry out this 

14 section. 

15 (g) REPORT REQUIRED.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

17 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

18 President shall submit to the appropriate congres19 sional committees a report— 

20 (A) describing the scope and usage of 

21 CIPS, SPFS, or SEPAM around the world, in22 cluding usage rates by country; 

23 (B) assessing the risks that widespread 

24 adoption of CIPS, SPFS, or SEPAM poses to 

25 the national security of the United States; 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
7 

•S 4858 IS

1 (C) assessing the ability of CIPS, SPFS, 

2 and SEPAM in helping countries of concern 

3 circumvent United States and international 

4 sanctions; and 

5 (D) making recommendations to further 

6 preserve and strengthen the influence of the 

7 United States in the global financial system. 

8 (2) FORM.—Each report required by paragraph 

9 (1) shall be submitted in unclassified form but may 

10 include a classified annex. 

11 (h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

12 (1) ACCOUNT; CORRESPONDENT ACCOUNT; PAY13 ABLE-THROUGH ACCOUNT.—The terms ‘‘account’’, 

14 ‘‘correspondent account’’, and ‘‘payable-through ac15 count’’ have the meanings given those terms in sec16 tion 5318A of title 31, United States Code. 

17 (2) ADMISSION; ADMITTED; ALIEN.—The terms 

18 ‘‘admission’’, ‘‘admitted’’, and ‘‘alien’’ have the 

19 meanings given those terms in section 101 of the 

20 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101). 

21 (3) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT22 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com23 mittees’’ means— 

24 (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations, 

25 the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
8 

•S 4858 IS

1 Urban Affairs, and the Select Committee on In2 telligence of the Senate; and 

3 (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 

4 Committee on Financial Services, and the Per5 manent Select Committee on Intelligence of the 

6 House of Representatives. 

7 (4) COVERED FINANCIAL INSTITUTION.—The 

8 term ‘‘covered financial institution’’ means a finan9 cial institution— 

10 (A) located in— 

11 (i) a country of concern; or 

12 (ii) territory controlled by an entity 

13 holding itself out to be the government of 

14 the Republic of South Ossetia, the State of 

15 Alania, the Donetsk People’s Republic, the 

16 Luhansk People’s Republic, the Republic 

17 of Abkhazia, or the Pridnestrovian 

18 Moldavian Republic; 

19 (B) organized under the laws of a country 

20 of concern, any jurisdiction within a country of 

21 concern, or an entity described in subparagraph 

22 (A)(ii), including a foreign branch of such an 

23 institution; 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
9 

•S 4858 IS

1 (C) wherever located, owned or controlled 

2 by the government of a country of concern or 

3 an entity described in subparagraph (A)(ii); or 

4 (D) wherever located, owned or controlled 

5 by a financial institution described in subpara6 graph (A), (B), or (C). 

7 (5) COUNTRY OF CONCERN.—The term ‘‘coun8 try of concern’’— 

9 (A) has the meaning given the term ‘‘for10 eign adversary’’ in section 8(c)(2) of the Secure 

11 and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 

12 2019 (47 U.S.C. 1607(c)(2)); and 

13 (B) includes— 

14 (i) the People’s Republic of China (in15 cluding the Special Administrative Regions 

16 of China, including Hong Kong and 

17 Macau); 

18 (ii) the Russian Federation; 

19 (iii) Iran; 

20 (iv) North Korea; 

21 (v) Cuba; and 

22 (vi) Venezuela under the regime of 

23 Nicola ́s Maduro. 

24 (6) FINANCIAL INSTITUTION.—The term ‘‘fi25 nancial institution’’ means a financial institution 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
10 

•S 4858 IS

1 specified in subparagraph (A), (B), (C), (D), (E), 

2 (F), (G), (H), (I), (J), (M), or (Y) of section 

3 5312(a)(2) of title 31, United States Code. 

Æ 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS