Treasury fines Exxon $2M for 'reckless disregard' of Russia sanctions under Rex Tillerson

The U.S. Treasury Department fined oil giant Exxon Mobil $2 million on Thursday for alleged violations of Russian sanctions while President Trump's secretary of State was serving as the company's CEO.

Although financially insignificant for a global company, the fine reflects another thorny development for the Trump administration as it seeks to downplay its political entanglement with Russia, which is accused of using a hacking campaign to help Trump get elected.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was CEO of Exxon when the company "demonstrated reckless disregard for U.S. sanctions" on Russia's involvement in Ukraine, Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said in a civil penalty document.

The company signed eight documents in May 2014 for energy deals with Russian oil giant Rosneft's president, Igor Sechin, who was subject to sanctions at the time, according to the enforcement action. 

Exxon said it "followed the clear guidance" from the Obama administration that it was allowed to sign deals with sanctioned executives as long as the counterparties were signing on behalf of their companies and not for themselves. The company filed a lawsuit against the Treasury Department in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas seeking to reverse the action.

"OFAC is trying to retroactively enforce a new interpretation of an executive order that is inconsistent with the explicit and unambiguous guidance from the White House and Treasury issued before the relevant conduct and still publicly available today," Exxon said in a statement.

A State Department spokesman referred questions to Exxon and Treasury.

Follow USA TODAY reporter Nathan Bomey on Twitter @NathanBomey.