US imposes sanctions on 14 entities connected with Israeli billionaire

Washington, June 16 (IANS) The US Treasury has announced that it has imposed sanctions on 14 entities for their connections with an already designated Israeli billionaire, accusing them of human rights abuse and corruption.

The punished 14 companies were affiliated with Dan Gertler, an Israeli businessman whom the Treasury claimed had amassed his fortune through "opaque and corrupt mining and oil deals in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)", Xinhua reported.

"Treasury is sanctioning companies that have enabled Dan Gertler to access the international financial system and profit from corruption and misconduct," Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Sigal Mandelker said in a statement on Friday.

The sanctions would freeze assets of blacklisted entities under U.S. jurisdiction and ban any U.S. individuals or companies from making business deals with them.

Gertler himself was blacklisted by the U.S. Treasury last December.

The Treasury also said on Friday that the entities were punished under the Global Magnitsky Act, under which 73 individuals and entities have had their assets blocked so far.

(This story has not been edited by Social News XYZ staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)