At the beginning of his term, President Joe Biden named fighting corruption as a core U.S. national security interest, and his administration was quick to propose a new strategy and implement powerful new rules aimed at cracking down on corrupt financial practices. But now it appears the administration is walking back its commitment. After originally reinstating sanctions for engaging in “extensive public corruption” in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) against Israeli businessman Dan Gertler in March 2021, which had been lifted in the final days of the Trump administration, it appears the Biden administration may soon lift the sanctions against the mining tycoon, apparently in order to secure U.S. access to precious metals in the DRC.
For years, corruption accusations have plagued Gertler, stemming from deals he struck with former leaders of the DRC. His dealings and mining operations reportedly deprived the Congolese people of $1.36 billion in revenue, and his actions are emblematic of how disadvantaged communities are disproportionately impacted by inadequate corruption laws, as unchecked corruption further deepens economic inequalities. In December 2017, former President Donald Trump moved forward with instituting sanctions against Gertler for major corruption in his dealings to obtain rights to mine minerals in the DRC. The sanctions cut off Gertler’s access to international banking systems and his assets held in U.S. banks.
Lifting the sanctions would not only grant Gertler access to his assets, but also significantly undermine U.S. efforts at combating transnational corruption. Corrupt financial facilitators are uniquely adept at moving and hiding the proceeds of political corruption, which in turn harms society and contributes to economic instability. At a time when targeting global corruption requires a full press commitment and vigilant oversight, the United States cannot risk lifting sanctions against Gertler. Doing so would undercut the integrity of the U.S. sanctions program and threaten the United States’ own national security and economic interests.
Recent reports indicate that the United States views lifting sanctions as one step towards securing access to metals within the DRC. The move would allow Gertler to “sell off his remaining stakes in three giant copper and cobalt mining operations in Congo,” with the intention that companies will invest in the DRC. While such actions may increase the supply of cobalt to the United States, which needs the resource for batteries for electric vehicles, among other uses, that outcome is by no means certain. And even if it were successful, it comes at a high cost, jeopardizing the United States’ ability to combat transnational corruption.
Shortly before leaving office, officials from the Trump administration lifted sanctions against Gertler by granting him a controversial broad-based license without any public justification – a decision that “stunned and angered American diplomats in Washington and Africa and government officials and human rights activists in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” according to a February 2021 New York Times report. The move was also condemned as a possible violation of the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, which addresses human rights abuses and corruption by targeting human rights violators and freezing their assets and banning them from entering the United States.
It also raised questions about the role that top former Trump administration officials played in the decision to lift the sanctions after it was reported Dan Gertler hired lawyers closely associated with Trump to plead his case and spent more than a year lobbying the administration. In response to these actions, my organization, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, sued for records and filed a complaint calling for an investigation into whether former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo violated the law by lifting sanctions against Gertler.
However, by March 2021, Biden’s administration reinstated the economic sanctions against Gertler, after determining that the license was inconsistent with America’s strong interest in combating corruption around the world. The move was celebrated by policymakers and activists in the United States and DRC alike, stating that they hoped the “action would mean continued progress to combat corrupt deals that shortchanged people there.”
Three years later, it appears as though the Biden administration is walking back its previous statements and gearing up to lift sanctions against Gertler. Senior administration officials are now reportedly considering granting Gertler a broad-based license that would essentially operate as a delisting. Such an action would run counter to the United States’ efforts to counter corruption and promote stability in the DRC. The Biden administration has failed to deliver any evidence that any of the necessary conditions for lifting sanctions against Gertler under the law have been met, such as Gertler paying restitution to the people of the DRC. If the conditions are not met, the Biden administration will run the risk of possibly violating the law in the same ways that the previous administration did.
In May 2024, the congressional co-chairs and ranking members of the Helsinki Commission sent a bipartisan letter about the sanctions to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, following reports of the possible lifting of sanctions on Gertler. The letter urged both departments to “maintain sanctions on Dan Gertler and thereby also the strength and consistency of the Global Magnitsky sanctions program.” If the United States wants to live up to its word on challenging global corruption while strengthening its national security, it cannot lift its sanctions against Gertler.
For years, Dan Gertler enriched himself at the expense of some of the poorest people in the world. By failing to enforce the consequences for his actions, lifting sanctions would fail not only the victims of his schemes, but also undermine the United States’ commitment to rooting out global corruption. It indicates to bad actors across the globe that U.S. anti-corruption mechanisms can be corrupted for the right price and materials.