Note: This op-ed originally appeared in Haaretz and was written by Sasha Lezhnev, Deputy Director of Policy at The Sentry, and John Prendergast, Co-Founder of The Sentry.
When the United States places sanctions on a rogue businessman or corrupt corporation, the expectation is that significant financial consequences will result. Some targets of those sanctions, however, are devising tactics to skirt the measures and continue with their dirty business as usual.
Today, these evasion schemes are both putting global banks at risk for money laundering and sanctions busting, and endangering the United States’ most important foreign policy tool: targeted sanctions.
A textbook example is Israeli tycoon Dan Gertler, sanctioned by the United States for his involvement in grand corruption. An aggressive yet charming businessman who is said to be the inspiration for the movie “Blood Diamond,” Gertler has claimed that he should get the Nobel Prize for his supposed investment in Congo. His record says otherwise…
Click here to read the full op-ed.