President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order ("E.O.")
authorizing the imposition of sanctions on persons who
"operate corruptly" in Venezuela's gold sector
"or in any other sector of the Venezuelan economy as may be
determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with
the Secretary of State."
The new sanctions authorizations are broad and are a response to
actions by the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro
and associated persons, who are alleged to have "plunder[ed]
Venezuela's wealth for their own corrupt purposes." In a
set of FAQs, the U.S. Treasury Department Office of
Foreign Assets Control indicated that it expects to use its discretion to
"target in particular those who operate corruptly in the gold
or other identified sectors of the Venezuela[n] economy, and not
those who are operating legitimately in such sectors."
