The SDN List is maintained by OFAC and identifies individuals and entities whose assets are blocked and with whom US persons are prohibited from dealing.
Also known as: SDN List, OFAC SDN List, Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List
The Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDN List) is the primary sanctions list published by the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). It identifies individuals, companies, vessels, and aircraft that are subject to US economic sanctions, requiring that their assets within US jurisdiction be frozen and that US persons refrain from any dealings with them.
The SDN List contains over 12,000 entries spanning individuals, corporate entities, vessels, and aircraft associated with sanctioned regimes, terrorist organizations, narcotics trafficking, weapons proliferation, and other designated activities. Each entry includes identifying information such as names, aliases, dates of birth, nationalities, passport numbers, and addresses.
OFAC updates the SDN List frequently — often multiple times per month — through additions, modifications, and removals. When a new entity is designated, the prohibition on dealings takes effect immediately. Businesses must be able to screen against the current list state at all times, making real-time access to updated list data a critical operational requirement.
The list uses a specific data format that includes primary names, alternate names (AKAs), and associated identification documents. Many entries include multiple aliases in different scripts and transliterations. For example, a single individual might have entries in Latin script, Arabic script, and Cyrillic script, along with phonetic variations of each.
Compliance requires screening not just against exact name matches but also against phonetic equivalents, partial matches, and variations that account for transliteration differences. OFAC's "50 Percent Rule" further expands the scope — any entity owned 50% or more by one or more SDN-listed persons is itself treated as blocked, even if the entity does not appear on the list directly.
Dealing with an SDN-listed party — even unknowingly — constitutes a sanctions violation under US law. OFAC enforces strict liability, meaning that the absence of intent or knowledge does not provide a defense. Penalties for violations can reach hundreds of thousands of dollars per transaction, with willful violations carrying criminal penalties.
The SDN List's impact extends globally through the US dollar clearing system. Any transaction denominated in US dollars or routed through US correspondent banks is subject to OFAC jurisdiction, regardless of where the parties are located. This gives the SDN List effective global reach and makes screening a requirement for banks, payment companies, and exporters worldwide.
For compliance teams, the SDN List's frequent updates and complex entry formats create ongoing operational challenges. Maintaining accurate screening against the current list state requires automated systems that can ingest list updates promptly and apply sophisticated matching logic.
APIVult's SanctionShield AI maintains an always-current copy of the SDN List alongside other global sanctions databases. The API abstracts away the complexity of list parsing, update tracking, and multi-script name matching, providing a clean interface for real-time screening.
When you submit a name or entity to SanctionShield AI, the API applies fuzzy matching algorithms optimized for the SDN List's specific data patterns — handling alias variants, transliterations, and the 50 Percent Rule. Results include the specific list entry matched, the confidence score, and all available identifying information for efficient analyst review.