Square Canada has a Cuban coffee issue
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Re: Square Canada has a Cuban coffee issue
#2Square should definitely set this right ASAP she's not doing anything against. I wonder if she had named her stand Canada Beans, would this have happened? The nerve
Re: Square Canada has a Cuban coffee issue
#3I believe Stripe and/or has the same issue. One of the roasters I like to buy from in Toronto has beans from Cuba, but can't sell them online.
Re: Square Canada has a Cuban coffee issue
#4The vendor claims to buy beans from a Canadian distributor. It's not immediately obvious how to get from "bought beans in Montreal, sold Coffee in Toronto" to "funds frozen for doing business with Cuba." The devil must be in the details of the embargo.
Re: Square Canada has a Cuban coffee issue
#5If the US government forcibly projects its demented foreign policy agenda onto transactions in entirely unrelated countries, it will be a free bonus to non-US companies competing with the US tech incumbents.
Re: Square Canada has a Cuban coffee issue
#6The vendor claims to buy beans from a Canadian distributor. It's not immediately obvious how to get from "bought beans in Montreal, sold Coffee in Toronto" to "funds frozen for doing business with Cuba." The devil must be in the details of the embargo.
Once something gets flagged as a potential violation, it turns into a guilty until proven innocent situation. Square has much more to lose than just some bad PR or the spread on $14K so they’re fine with freezing the money until they get a clear ruling from the US regulators that could put them in a proverbially vice. The name “Havana” probably tipped off something and now it’ll be stuck like that until a high enough exec decides to take the heat for cutting it loose.
If you want to try this out yourself (don’t do this...), send money to a friend via Venmo or equivalent, put something blatantly criminal in the description like “Heroin” or “ISIS tuition”, and see what happens.
Re: Square Canada has a Cuban coffee issue
#7The vendor claims to buy beans from a Canadian distributor. It's not immediately obvious how to get from "bought beans in Montreal, sold Coffee in Toronto" to "funds frozen for doing business with Cuba." The devil must be in the details of the embargo.
From my understanding of the article, they are Cuban beans.
TL:DR - Funds routed through the US are subject to US laws and regulation, no matter if the origin, and terminating point consider the act legal.
Long: If they held the funds, it's because someone at the ACH saw the business name, and automatically assumed that there was a potential liability (that happens, it's rare, but they will shut you out until you talk to them to prove your innocence).
If they were the more enterprising type, the person who made the call looked up their web site and read how they purchase their beans from Cuba. While fully legal in Canada, if the funds are routed through the US(I can almost guarantee it), JP Morgan can be held liable, and as such they would like to avoid the repercussions of the US government.
Re: Square Canada has a Cuban coffee issue
#8Square should definitely set this right ASAP she's not doing anything against. I wonder if she had named her stand Canada Beans, would this have happened? The nerve
A couple of my friends went to a restaurant together in the US. One of them paid with card, the other friend paid the first friend back by sending him a transfer by PayPal or Venmo, I cannot remember which. The amount was around $10-$20. The description said Persian restaurant or Iranian restaurant, because that's the kind of restaurant they had gone to. The transfer was blocked and the transfer amount remained in frozen state for over a year.
Ask anyone from one of the countries sanctioned by the US, like Cuba or Iran. This kind of experience is not new and it is not an exception. I no longer get surprised, just more and more disappointed.
Re: Square Canada has a Cuban coffee issue
#9Square should definitely set this right ASAP she's not doing anything against. I wonder if she had named her stand Canada Beans, would this have happened? The nerve
A couple of my friends went to a restaurant together in the US. One of them paid with card, the other friend paid the first friend back by sending him a transfer by PayPal or Venmo, I cannot remember which. The amount was around $10-$20. The description said Persian restaurant or Iranian restaurant , because that's the kind of restaurant they had gone to. The transfer was blocked and the transfer amount remained in f…
OFAC lists are no joke, you will go to jail for disregarding it.
Re: Square Canada has a Cuban coffee issue
#10I used to (nearly 20 years ago) roast coffee in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory Canada, and folks from Alaska would often stop in the shop. People that bought Cuban coffee often requested it be rebagged and just labelled “coffee” for about the same reason.