Sanctions screening

OFAC API — screen against the official SDN list

Check identifiers against the official US Treasury OFAC Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list, refreshed every 15 minutes, with a bearer token and a GET request. Every match links to the official OFAC source record.

Get your free API key Read the documentation

GET /api/v1/screen/email/{email}

curl https://api.compliapi.com/api/v1/screen/email/timur.bukanov@gmail.com \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $COMPLIAPI_TOKEN"

import requests

resp = requests.get(
    "https://api.compliapi.com/api/v1/screen/email/timur.bukanov@gmail.com",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {COMPLIAPI_TOKEN}"},
)
print(resp.json())

const resp = await fetch(
  "https://api.compliapi.com/api/v1/screen/email/timur.bukanov@gmail.com",
  { headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.COMPLIAPI_TOKEN}` } },
);
console.log(await resp.json());

Response

{
  "value": "timur.bukanov@gmail.com",
  "flagged": true,
  "sanctioned": true,
  "lists_checked": ["ofac", "us_fbi_lazarus_crypto", "il_mod_crypto", "fr_tresor", "jp_mof_sanctions", "uk_fcdo_sanctions"],
  "matches": [
    {
      "list": "ofac",
      "list_name": "US OFAC SDN",
      "list_type": "sanctions",
      "match": "exact",
      "value": "timur.bukanov@gmail.com",
      "source_url": "https://sanctionssearch.ofac.treas.gov/Details.aspx?id=..."
    }
  ]
}

Official US Treasury data

Screening runs against OFAC's published SDN data, ingested directly from the official Treasury source — never a third-party mirror.

Refreshed every 15 minutes

OFAC's change feed is checked four times an hour and new publications are ingested immediately.

Source record included

Every match links to the official OFAC entry, so your team can review the underlying record.

Delistings tracked

Entities removed from the SDN list are tracked too, so results reflect the current list — not a stale copy.

Request logging

Every API call is recorded for your organization, giving you a trail of what was screened and when.

Official OFAC data, refreshed every 15 minutes

There is no official OFAC-run API: the US Treasury publishes the SDN list as downloadable data files and a search website. CompliAPI ingests those official files straight from Treasury systems, checking OFAC's change feed every 15 minutes and ingesting new publications the moment they appear — so a designation made this morning is screenable within minutes, not on tomorrow's batch.

Each run reconciles rather than replaces: new identifiers are added, identifiers that disappear from the list are marked as delisted (and published on the delistings page), and every stored identifier keeps a link to its official record on OFAC's Sanctions List Search.

Coverage is the SDN and Blocked Persons list, OFAC's Non-SDN Consolidated Sanctions List (SSI, NS-CMIC, CAPTA and similar — ingested from the same publication stream), and OFAC's country-level sanctions programs, curated into a screenable country list.

Live identifiers on the OFAC SDN list right now

Next OFAC refresh in –:––

993

Crypto addresses

375

Email addresses

2,161

Websites

17,101

Government IDs

Delistings are tracked too — 96 entities removed from the SDN list.

How we ingest the OFAC SDN list →SDN vs Non-SDN, explained →Tracked SDN delistings →

OFAC sanctions list API documentation

Every endpoint is documented in an interactive OpenAPI reference you can call from the browser: screening endpoints for crypto addresses, emails, websites, government IDs and countries, plus list metadata, live stats and delisted entities.

The quickstart takes you from signup to your first screening response in a few minutes with a free API key.

Screening API reference →Quickstart guide →

Beyond OFAC: more sanctions lists, one call

Every /screen request is a sanctions API across all enabled lists in a single call — the UK Sanctions List (FCDO), the EU consolidated financial sanctions list, the French Trésor asset-freeze register, Japan MOF sanctions, FBI-published Lazarus Group addresses and Israel NBCTF seizure orders — with each match naming the list that produced it. A ?lists=ofac filter narrows screening to OFAC alone when that is what your policy requires.

Companion endpoints cover the access-control side of sanctions compliance: IP geolocation with a sanctioned-country flag, and VPN detection to judge how much to trust a location signal.

All screening data sources →EU consolidated sanctions →Crypto geofencing API →VPN detection API →

Pricing

Start free: every account includes a monthly screening quota and an API token you can create in the dashboard — no credit card required. Paid plans scale the quota for production volumes, and every plan screens against the same data with the same endpoints.

See plans and pricing →

Skip building an SDN pipeline yourself

Screening against OFAC data in-house means downloading and parsing the SDN XML or CSV files on a schedule, normalizing tens of thousands of identifiers, building exact and similarity matching, tracking delistings, and keeping the whole pipeline within minutes of what OFAC publishes — unglamorous work that becomes compliance exposure the moment it drifts.

CompliAPI handles ingestion, normalization, matching and refresh. Your application makes one authenticated GET request per check — at onboarding, before a payment, or wherever a screening decision belongs in your workflow — and receives a structured result it can act on.

CompliAPI is a screening data layer, not a compliance program. It does not verify identity, monitor transactions, or decide your policy — your team defines what happens when a check returns a match.

How it works

Send an identifier
Pass an email, website, government ID, crypto address, or country name to the matching endpoint.
CompliAPI checks current SDN data
Exact lookups for most identifier types; for government IDs, partial values surface candidate matches ranked by similarity.
Receive a structured result
JSON with a sanctioned flag, the match type, and the official OFAC source record for any match — ready for your application logic.

What you can screen

Crypto addresses (including ENS names)
Email addresses
Websites and domains
Government-issued IDs — passports, tax IDs, registration numbers (fuzzy matched)
Countries and regions under OFAC sanctions programs
IP geolocation and VPN detection via companion endpoints

Where teams use it

Account onboarding

Screen the email address and government ID a new user submits before activating their account.

Pre-payment counterparty checks

Check a counterparty's website, email or wallet address before releasing a payment or payout.

User-generated content and listings

Screen websites and emails submitted to your marketplace or platform before they go live.

Escalation queues with context

Route matches to a review queue with the official OFAC source record attached, so reviewers see the underlying entry.

Scheduled re-screening

Re-run checks on stored identifiers on your own schedule to pick up list changes between user interactions.

Scope and limitations

CompliAPI screens identifiers for direct appearance in the supported OFAC data. Knowing what it does not do is as important as what it does:

Official lists only

Screening covers the US Treasury OFAC SDN list, OFAC's Non-SDN Consolidated Sanctions List, and country sanction designations, plus additional official sources via the multi-list endpoints: the EU consolidated list, the UK Sanctions List, the French Trésor asset-freeze register, Japan MOF sanctions, and FBI-published Lazarus Group addresses. UN regimes are not covered directly (though UN-derived designations appear via the national lists).

Not adverse-media screening

PEP screening is available via the /screen/pep endpoint (powered by the OpenSanctions politically-exposed-persons dataset), but CompliAPI does not screen negative news coverage.

Not identity verification

CompliAPI checks identifiers against OFAC data; it does not verify that a person is who they claim to be. Pair it with your KYC provider.

Data, not policy

A match result is input to your compliance process. Your organization decides thresholds, escalation and blocking behavior.

Frequently asked questions

Is there an official OFAC API?

No — OFAC itself publishes the SDN list as downloadable data files and a public search website, not as an API. CompliAPI ingests those official US Treasury files every 15 minutes and serves the data as a REST API, and every match links back to the entity's record on OFAC's own Sanctions List Search so you can verify the underlying designation.

How often is the OFAC SDN list updated?

OFAC publishes changes irregularly — some weeks bring several updates, others none. CompliAPI checks OFAC's change feed every 15 minutes and ingests new publications immediately, so screening reflects the current list within minutes of a change. Delistings are applied on the same cycle.

Does the OFAC API cover the Non-SDN lists?

Yes. Screening covers the SDN and Blocked Persons list, OFAC's Non-SDN Consolidated Sanctions List (SSI, NS-CMIC, CAPTA and similar — same publication stream, ingested every 15 minutes), and OFAC's country-level sanctions programs. Every call also checks official lists from other jurisdictions — the UK, EU, France and Japan among them — with each match naming the list that produced it.

Can I screen crypto wallets against OFAC?

Yes. GET /api/v1/screen/crypto/{address} checks any address format OFAC publishes in SDN records — ETH, BTC, XMR, USDT and more — and ENS names are resolved on Ethereum mainnet before screening. The wallet screening page covers chain and coverage details.

What does a match response include?

Matches return the matched value, a match type of "exact" or "partial", a sanctioned flag, and a source_url linking to the official OFAC record. Non-matches return sanctioned: false.

Can I use the API during onboarding?

Yes. Each check is a single authenticated GET request that returns in real time, so it fits inline in signup, KYC hand-off, or payment flows. Requests are metered against your organization's monthly quota.

Does using the API guarantee compliance?

No. Screening results are inputs to your compliance process, not a legal determination. Your organization decides how results map to obligations, ideally with qualified counsel.

Sanctions screening

Wallet screening API for crypto compliance

Screen crypto wallets against OFAC and global sanctions lists in one GET request.

Access controls

Crypto geofencing API

Geolocate requests, flag sanctioned countries automatically, and apply jurisdiction rules in your crypto app.

AI infrastructure

OFAC MCP server for AI agents

Give AI agents sanctions screening tools over the Model Context Protocol.

Use case

Sanctions screening for crypto exchanges

OFAC wallet screening for exchanges: check deposit and withdrawal addresses against the SDN list, screen users at onboarding, and apply jurisdiction rules per session.