Rubio said the US was sanctioning Albanese for directly engaging with the #ICC in its efforts to prosecute American or Israeli nationals, accusing her of being unfit for service as a #UN Special Rapporteur.

The sanctions are likely to prevent Albanese from travelling to the US & would block any assets she has in the country.

The task force had coordinated investigations across agencies, leading to high-profile seizures of luxury yachts, real estate & private jets. The #DOJ recently established a task force with a similar structure to focus on Hamas, according to Andrew Adams, the former head of #KleptoCapture.

The DOJ declined to comment on the closure of the task force.

A #State Dept spox said that the delisting was “independent from our ongoing efforts to advance a negotiated end to the war,” but that it was “unable to comment on the specifics of this delisting.”

In Feb, the #DOJ shuttered the #KleptoCapture task force, a unit formed in 2022 under the #Biden admin to identify & seize assets belonging to #RussianOligarchs around the world who were under #sanctions.

The announcement, buried at the bottom of a routine bulletin published in April, provided no explanation for Ms. Rotenberg’s removal from the #sanctions list. It was an unusual deletion. Ms. Rotenberg, a US citizen, was among the first Russian nationals to face sanctions after the Russian invasion.

The Rotenbergs did not respond to requests for comment. The #Treasury Dept declined to comment, & instead referred questions to the #State Dept.

By contrast, the #Trump admin has eased some restrictions on #Russia.

In April, the #Treasury Dept, which is responsible for administering & enforcing #sanctions, quietly lifted limits that had been placed on Karina Rotenberg, the wife of a #RussianOligarch. Ms. Rotenberg’s husband, Boris, made a fortune in construction & energy, & as a childhood friend of #Putin’s he has been a central figure in the Russian president’s inner circle for decades.

#Trump has used #sanctions aggressively elsewhere, the data shows. Trump has imposed more than 280 new restrictions on #Iran in the past 6 months, targeting people involved in terror financing. He has also penalized #judges at the #ICC for investigating potential #Israel #WarCrimes. And he has used sanctions to crack down on narcotics trafficking & cyber-criminal groups.

Several companies in the network have sent restricted components to #Russia in violation of #US export controls, trade data, online listings & corporate registration records show.

A representative for Carbon Fiber Global denied that the company or ChipsX had sold restricted goods to Russia but declined to address questions about other companies in the network.

A review of trade records, online listings & corporate filings identified >130 companies in mainland #China & #HongKong that are advertising immediate sales of restricted computer chips to #Russia. None of the companies is under #sanctions.

If one company is targeted w/restrictions, many others are ready to take its place.

In total, the #Biden admin imposed >6,200 blocks on individuals, companies, vessels & aircraft linked to #Russia. In Biden’s final weeks in office, the #US ramped up pressure even further, issuing nearly 3 times the monthly average, acc/to an analysis of data from the #Treasury Dept.

The effects of that pressure are already beginning to erode.