Biden Re-imposes Sanctions on Diamond Billionaire Gertler
March 10, 21
(IDEX Online) - The new Biden administration has bowed to pressure and re-imposed sanctions on Israeli diamond billionaire Dan Gertler.
It reverses a decision by former President Trump, who unfroze his US assets barely a month ago, during his final days in office.
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That move infuriated human rights groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo, who claim he looted the nation's mineral wealth and propped up a corrupt regime.
The Treasury Department has now revoked a special year-long license exempting Gertler's business activities from the sanctions.
It has previously accused him of striking "opaque and corrupt mining deals" with the then-Congolese president Joseph Kabila that deprived the nation of $1.4 bn in tax revenues. Gertler, 47, worth $1.2bn according to Forbes, has denied all accusations.
Washington's U-turn follows representations form 30 civil society organizations in the United States and Congo, as well as Democrats senators Benjamin Cardin, Dick Durbin and Cory Booker.
Gertler (pictured) began trading diamonds in the late 1990s when Congo was in the middle of a bloody civil war.