The reversal by the Treasury Department during the administration’s final days came after an appeal by lobbyists with close ties to the former president.
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration quietly moved in its final days to ease sanctions imposed in late 2017 on an Israeli billionaire who had been punished by the Treasury Department for corrupt and abusive mining practices in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The reversal by the Treasury came after an appeal by lobbyistswith close ties to former President Donald J. Trump who were hired by Dan Gertler, the Israeli billionaire, including the lawyer Alan M. Dershowitz, who helped represent Mr. Trump during his first impeachment, and Louis J. Freeh, a former F.B.I. director.
Mr. Gertler was accused in 2017 by the Trump-era Treasury Department of using his connections to the former Congolese president, Joseph Kabila, to arrange “opaque and corrupt mining and oil deals” that cost the citizens of Congo more than a billion dollars in lost revenue. Continue reading.