Fine goes back to 2014 when Tillerson was in charge.
Exxon Mobil - with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson at the helm - signed joint venture deals with Russia Rosneft back in 2014. Rosneft is Russia's largest oil producer.
The problem is that the US imposed sanctions against dealing with Igor Sechin, the head of the state run Rosneft for showing "utter loyalty" to Russian president Putin. Putin was intervening militarily in Ukraine at the time and Sechin (as an individual) was blacklisted by the US. His firm (which he was the head), was not.
The US contends that Exxon, who was under the leadership of Tillerson at the time, "recklessly disregarded" the US sanctions and as such fined them the maximum of 2 million dollars (which is a joke anyway). Exxon made 7.8 billion of profits last year.
Exxon feels that the principal of the fine is worth the minimum cost of the fine and legal fees to defend their name (and perhaps that of the Secretary of State Tillerson). They have blasted the US fine as being "unlawful" and "capricious" and have sued the US government. They contend that Sechin "was subject to sanctions only in his individual capacity" and the Obama administration implied that the sanctions 'applied only to 'personal assets' of the sanctioned indivduals".
The courts will figure it out and it is not a huge deal I guess, but it is another grey area that members of the Trump team seem to get themselves into. No big deal, but.....
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