Did a bit of research, as this blew my mind. Alas, this is, in fact, for real. Just researched the bills themselves.
Thunderian is right in that there has been penalties for boycotting American allies- namely Israel- in effect for some time. These were put into law in 1979, a bill called the
Export Administration Act of 1979. Reading through the bill however, one sees this, my emphasis added:
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(c) CIVIL PENALTIES; ADMINISTRATIVE SANCTIONS.—(1) The head of
any department or agency exercising any functions under this Act, or
any officer or employee of such department or agency specifically
designated by the head thereof,
may impose a civil penalty not to
exceed $10,000 for each violation of this Act or any regulation, order,
or license issued under this Act, either in addition to or in lieu of any
other liability or penalty which may be imposed.
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So at that time 10k was the max you'd be charged for the specific offense so far as I can see, and that could be in addition to other fees, such as if the state is awarded costs, or you've committed other crimes, etc.
The new bill,
The Israel Anti-Boycott Act, proposes extensive amendments- as in changes- to the existing bill, including, my emphasis added:
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(2) by adding at the end the following:
“(j) Violations of section 8(a).—Whoever knowingly violates
or conspires to or attempts to violate any provision of section 8(a) or any regulation, order, or license issued thereunder
shall be fined in accordance with section 206 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705).”.
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The inclusion of 'or conspires to' makes any 'boycott Israel!' facebook groups you might have going rather dangerous, so take note of that, folks. If you
go to that act, you will indeed find this there:
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(b) Civil penalty
A civil penalty may be imposed on any person who commits an unlawful act described in subsection (a) in an amount not to exceed the greater of-
(1) $250,000; or
(2) an amount that is twice the amount of the transaction that is the basis of the violation with respect to which the penalty is imposed.
(c) Criminal penalty
A person who willfully commits, willfully attempts to commit, or willfully conspires to commit, or aids or abets in the commission of, an unlawful act described in subsection (a) shall, upon conviction, be fined not more than $1,000,000, or if a natural person, may be imprisoned for not more than 20 years, or both.
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Which does indeed confirm the possible gravity of the fines involved. A small balm to this madness however is that the $250k fine is a maximum civil penalty, not a minimum one, so it would be at a judge's discretion. Cross your fingers!