Amex agrees to $5.2 million settlement over Cuba travel violations

Fifty years after politics brought an end to travel from the United States to Cuba, the regulations are easing, the curiosity is growing, and the visitors are coming.

As the business grows, so does the temptation to skirt the rules.

American Express this week agreed to pay $5.2 million to settle violations involving more than 14,000 tickets issued to corporate clients for travel to Cuba.

The U.S. Treasury Department found that foreign branch offices and subsidiaries of American Express issued the tickets in violation of the Cuban Assets Control Regulations.

U.S. citizens are prohibited from traveling to Cuba as tourists, but they can travel for religious, educational or cultural visits if granted a specific license by the Treasury Department.

Such "people-to-people" travel was reinstated by the Obama administration in 2011, and it’s a growing business.

The American Express bookings in question, though, were never approved by the federal government.

American Express said in a written statement that it "voluntarily self-disclosed these bookings to OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control), and put in place robust controls to ensure it would not recur."

But federal officials said American Express showed "reckless disregard" for the regulations.

"The apparent violations caused significant harm to U.S. sanctions program objectives regarding Cuba," the Treasury Department said in announcing the settlement.

American Express was investigated in 1995 and 1996 for similar violations committed by a subsidiary that had recently been acquired, and never kept its promise to implement remedial measures, Treasury said.

American Express is one of the largest travel service providers for authorized Cuba travel, according to the Treasury Department.

Meanwhile, two companies, Insight Cuba and Tauck, this month received two-year licenses from the U.S. government to operate people-to-people programs to Cuba.

Insight Cuba, in partnership with General Tours World Traveler, has 150 scheduled tours for 2014.

Itineraries range from a three-night Weekend in Havana to an 11-night Undiscovered Cuba. Travel agents earn a referral fee on all bookings.

Globus has two new itineraries on its 2014 schedule. "Examples of people-to-people activities," it says, include visiting a tobacco farm and visiting with the farmer in his home, meeting the musicians after a jazz performance, having dinner at a family-owned paladar, visiting with sculptor Martha Jimenez, and interacting with Cuban children at a day-care center.

This week Island Travel & Tours announced it will add a third weekly flight from Tampa International Airport to Cuba on Friday nights, to accommodate travelers going for the weekend. ABC Charters Inc. of Miami also offers two flights a week on the route.

By Cheryl Rosen