Trump administration quietly eased sanctions against Israeli mining magnate Gertler
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Sunday
February 05, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 05, 2023
Trump administration quietly eased sanctions against Israeli mining magnate Gertler

World+Biz

Reuters
25 January, 2021, 08:50 pm
Last modified: 25 January, 2021, 08:53 pm

Related News

  • US allows seized Russian money to go to Ukraine aid: report
  • 6th officer fired after beating death of Tyre Nichols
  • From China to big sky: the balloon that unnerved The White House
  • Bangladesh's Nur Khan among winners of US's Global Human Rights Defender Award
  • Biden says no F-16s for Ukraine as Russia claims gains

Trump administration quietly eased sanctions against Israeli mining magnate Gertler

Gertler has always denied any wrongdoing and argued that his investments in Congo contributed significantly to the country’s development

Reuters
25 January, 2021, 08:50 pm
Last modified: 25 January, 2021, 08:53 pm
Photo: Reuters
Photo: Reuters

In its final week in office, former US President Donald Trump's administration eased sanctions against Israeli mining magnate Dan Gertler that were imposed for alleged corruption in Congo, according to a license issued by the Treasury Department.

The license, which was not announced publicly, was issued by Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), according to a Jan. 15 letter to Gertler's lawyers that was obtained by The Sentry, a Washington DC-based anti-corruption group, and seen by Reuters.

It was not clear why the license was issued. Treasury did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment on Sunday and Monday.

A spokesman for Gertler welcomed the move but anti-graft campaigners urged President Joe Biden's Treasury to revoke the license.

Treasury imposed the sanctions in December 2017 and June 2018, accusing Gertler of using his friendship with Democratic Republic of Congo's former President Joseph Kabila to secure sweetheart mining deals worth more than a billion dollars.

The sanctions prohibited Gertler from doing business with US citizens, companies or banks, effectively barring him from doing transactions in dollars.

Gertler has always denied any wrongdoing and argued that his investments in Congo contributed significantly to the country's development.

While the license does not remove Gertler, an associate and more than 30 of his companies from the sanctions list, it authorises, until Jan. 31, 2022, "all transactions and activities" otherwise prohibited by sanctions against them.

It also requires them to submit detailed reports to OFAC every 90 days about their financial activities.

"Mr. Gertler is grateful to OFAC for issuing a license that will enable him to operate his businesses and philanthropic activities," a spokesman said in a statement.

"He welcomes the reporting requirements and, with the oversight of a distinguished compliance team, looks forward to demonstrating that all of his activities fully comply with the letter and the spirit of the OFAC license and the law."

Brad Brooks-Rubin, The Sentry's managing director and a former Treasury official, said in a statement that the license served "no discernible geostrategic or national security purpose."

"Unlike the pardons and regulatory changes done openly, or any of Treasury's normal methods for undoing sanctions, this was done behind closed doors not only to the public but many professionals in the government as well," he said.

The Sentry called on Biden's Treasury Department to revoke the license.

One of the lawyers who lobbied OFAC on Gertler's behalf was Alan Dershowitz, who represented Trump in his first impeachment trial before the Senate last year, according to a disclosure form filed with Congress in 2018.

Dershowitz did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

USA / Trump administration

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • ICB to withdraw Padma Bank investment as return eludes
    ICB to withdraw Padma Bank investment as return eludes
  • Some tough tasks on the plate for Bangladesh Bank!
    Some tough tasks on the plate for Bangladesh Bank!
  • Influentials thwart Bangladesh's reform attempts: Economists
    Influentials thwart Bangladesh's reform attempts: Economists

MOST VIEWED

  • Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi and Foreign Ministers of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), including East Timor's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Adaljiza Magno prepare to pose for group photos during the 32nd ASEAN Coordinating Council (ACC) meeting at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, Indonesia, February 3, 2023. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan
    ASEAN chair Indonesia to intensify talks on code for South China Sea
  • Photo: Collected
    Google invests almost $400M in ChatGPT rival Anthropic
  • FILE PHOTO: Crude oil tanker Advantage Angel sails in the Bosphorus, on its way to the Mediterranean Sea, in Istanbul, Turkey December 12, 2022. REUTERS/Yoruk Isik
    US warns Turkey on exports seen to boost Russia's war
  • FILE PHOTO: Brazilian aircraft carrier Sao Paulo is seen in this handout picture, June 7, 2011. Brazilian Navy/Handout via REUTERS
    Brazil sinks rusting old aircraft carrier in Atlantic despite pollution risk
  • Israeli forces kill unarmed Palestinian man in occupied West Bank
    Israeli forces kill unarmed Palestinian man in occupied West Bank
  • Photo: Collected
    Indian ministry reviews Adani Group financial statements

Related News

  • US allows seized Russian money to go to Ukraine aid: report
  • 6th officer fired after beating death of Tyre Nichols
  • From China to big sky: the balloon that unnerved The White House
  • Bangladesh's Nur Khan among winners of US's Global Human Rights Defender Award
  • Biden says no F-16s for Ukraine as Russia claims gains

Features

Sketch: TBS

Say 'Salud' before your salad main course

14h | Food
Coots running. Photo: Enam Ul Haque

Cute Coot of Baikka Beel: 'And yet he was as bald as a coot'

8h | Panorama
With only one government run specialised cancer hospital in the capital — the National Institute Of Cancer Research and Hospital (NICRH) in Mohakhali — patients have no option but to resort to private hospitals. Photo: Noor A Alam.

Cancer care: Medical treatment and beyond

15h | Panorama
Andy Mukherjee. Sketch: TBS

What makes India's billionaires' support special for Adani

1d | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Prioritise medical equipment, raw material imports over luxury items

Prioritise medical equipment, raw material imports over luxury items

6h | TBS Round Table
Adani row rocks India’s parliament

Adani row rocks India’s parliament

5h | TBS World
Concord launches new plant to produce environment friendly bricks

Concord launches new plant to produce environment friendly bricks

10h | TBS Stories
How Asif Khan would invest his fresh funds right now

How Asif Khan would invest his fresh funds right now

11h | TBS Markets

Most Read

1
Leepu realised his love for cars from a young age and for the last 40 years, he has transformed, designed and customised hundreds of cars. Photo: Collected
Panorama

'I am not crazy about cars anymore': Nizamuddin Awlia Leepu

2
Photo: Collected
Energy

8 Ctg power plants out of production

3
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington, U.S., September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File Photo
Economy

IMF approves $4.7 billion loan for Bangladesh, calls for ambitious reforms

4
Fund cut as Dhaka's fast-track transit projects on slow spending lane
Infrastructure

Fund cut as Dhaka's fast-track transit projects on slow spending lane

5
Photo: Collected
Court

Japanese mother gets guardianship of daughters, free to leave country

6
Belal Ahmed new acting chairman of SIBL
Banking

Belal Ahmed new acting chairman of SIBL

EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]