OFAC SDN Name Watchlist & Change Monitor

Buyer: compliance operations and vendor/customer review teams that already have a controlled list of names to screen against the official U.S. Treasury SDN publication.

Result: typed NEW_SANCTIONS_MATCH rows for first-seen normalized name-term matches and SOURCE_CORRECTION rows when a tracked OFAC record changes materially. Events include the SDN UID, primary name, parsed aliases, programs, exact OFAC details page, and source fingerprint.

Official source: the OFAC Sanctions List Service SDN XML publication and OFAC's sanctionssearch.ofac.treas.gov/Details.aspx?id=<uid> record pages.

First useful run: the Store prefill checks the exact normalized term Vladimir Putin, emits at most one event, returns at most 10 matches, and caps event charges at $0.08. An unchanged replay emits nothing and costs $0.00.

This Actor is a source-linked screening aid—not a complete sanctions-screening program, legal determination, fuzzy-matching engine, or substitute for counsel and risk controls.

Source-backed example

Verified against OFAC's SDN publication on November 3, 2026: UID 35096 is PUTIN, Vladimir Vladimirovich, an individual associated with program RUSSIA-EO14024. The exact official details page is:

https://sanctionssearch.ofac.treas.gov/Details.aspx?id=35096

The Actor's input term Vladimir Putin matches after case/punctuation normalization. It also checks parsed OFAC alias names. It does not apply phonetic, edit-distance, transliteration, date-of-birth, address, or identity-resolution logic.

60-second quick start

{
  "watchlistId": "ofac-vladimir-putin-preview",
  "nameTerms": ["Vladimir Putin"],
  "baselineMode": "emit_matches",
  "maxEvents": 1,
  "maxTotalChargeUsd": 0.08,
  "maxSourceRecords": 10,
  "stateStoreName": "ofac-vladimir-putin-preview",
  "resetState": false,
  "qualityTestMode": false
}

For production, use a private, controlled watchlist and run baselineMode: "silent" once under a stable state-store name. Then schedule the same terms to receive only later additions or source corrections.

Matching contract

• each nameTerms value is lowercased and reduced to alphanumeric tokens;
• the normalized term is checked as a substring of the normalized OFAC primary name and parsed alias names;
• sdnType is output context and is deliberately not searchable, avoiding accidental matches against every Individual or Entity record;
• no fuzzy score or identity confidence is invented;
• every result links to OFAC's exact UID details page.

Events and pricing

• NEW_SANCTIONS_MATCH / sanctions-match-new — $0.08
• SOURCE_CORRECTION / ofac-sdn-delta-source-correction — $0.01

maxEvents and maxTotalChargeUsd bound each run. Cap-deferred matches remain pending for a later run rather than being marked delivered. Unchanged, empty, failed-source, and silent-baseline runs produce zero paid events.

Illustrative output shape

Illustrative — not a run receipt. The source-backed example above identifies a real official record; this shape documents the typed event contract.

{
  "eventType": "NEW_SANCTIONS_MATCH",
  "sourceId": "35096",
  "title": "Vladimir Vladimirovich PUTIN Individual",
  "metadata": {
    "programs": ["RUSSIA-EO14024"],
    "sdnType": "Individual",
    "akaNames": []
  },
  "sourceDataset": "OFAC Sanctions List Service SDN XML",
  "sourceRecordUrl": "https://sanctionssearch.ofac.treas.gov/Details.aspx?id=35096",
  "sourceFingerprint": "sha256:…"
}

Recommended workflow

1. inspect the bounded public example and output contract;
2. create a private production watchlist with approved names only;
3. run a silent baseline once;
4. schedule daily or according to your policy;
5. route matches to trained reviewers with source evidence;
6. resolve identity using your own identifiers, aliases, dates, addresses, ownership rules, and escalation policy;
7. document the final decision outside this Actor.

Limitations

• exact normalized substring matching can create false positives and false negatives.
• the Actor does not screen non-SDN OFAC lists, ownership under the 50 Percent Rule, vessels/aircraft beyond published names, or related entities unless they are present in matched SDN records.
• aliases are only those parsable from the supplied OFAC XML record.
• maxSourceRecords caps matching records returned, not the size of the official XML publication downloaded and scanned.
• list publication availability and OFAC site behavior apply.
• a returned row is not a finding that your subject is the designated party.

Buyer bundle

Use this Actor as one evidence-producing step inside a sanctions compliance workflow: it supplies repeatable name-term deltas and exact source records; your screening policy, identity resolution, legal review, and audit trail determine action.