U.S. Imposes Sweeping Economic Sanctions against Venezuela Government

The August 5 Executive Order represents a major escalation in U.S. sanctions against Venezuela. The move comes six months after the imposition of sanctions on Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (“PdVSA”), the country’s state-owned oil company, and follows scores of designations targeting individuals and companies associated with Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his regime. The Executive Order is designed to exert even greater pressure on the Maduro regime, and also authorizes additional sanctions against his backers, including those in Russia, China and elsewhere. While the Executive Order does not formally impose a comprehensive embargo on trade and other dealings with the entire country, the heavy involvement of the Government of Venezuela in the country’s economy should give financial institutions and companies serious pause before engaging in further transactions, absent a clear authorization to do so.

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