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US Drops Sanctions on Daughter of Prominent Myanmar Businessman Thein Win Zaw

Is Theint Win Htet’s removal from the Treasury Department’s blacklist a sign of a looming rapprochement between Washington and Naypyidaw?

The U.S. government has lifted sanctions on the daughter of a Myanmar businessman accused of supporting the country’s military, after she filed two lawsuits seeking her removal from the Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Nationals List (SDN List).

According to a Reuters report, Theint Win Htet’s name was removed from the website of the Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Friday. OFAC confirmed the deletion of her name from the SDN List in a statement the following day.

Theint Win Htet was added to the SDN List in January 2024 alongside her father Thein Win Zaw and his Shwe Byain Phyu Group of Companies. The Treasury Department said at the time that the company “has developed a historic relationship with Burma’s military to import and distribute petroleum,” including on behalf of Myanma Economic Holdings Public Company Limited (MEHL), a sanctioned military-linked conglomerate with tentacles in numerous sectors of Myanmar’s economy.

The listing announcement also stated that Thein Win Zaw has “provided fuel to Burma’s navy while using his companies to import petroleum and share profits with MEHL” and that he and his family members “own at least 20 companies in various sectors of the Burmese economy and are also closely associated with the regime.”

The following May, Theint Win Htet filed a lawsuit seeking her removal from the SDN List, claiming that President Joe Biden exceeded his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act by listing the adult children of a designated individual. She also said that it had breached due process by not permitting her to contest her inclusion on the SDN List. Her case was dismissed in February 2025.

Theint Win Htet then filed a new complaint in July of this year, arguing that she has no active role in her father’s business affairs and that the sanctions had interrupted her studies in the United States. In the complaint, Reuters reported, Thein Win Htet stated that her “U.S. credit cards have been blocked, her foreign bank accounts have been restricted, closed, or refused, and she has been ​unable to complete her university studies.”

Her removal from the SDN List comes after the news agency reported that the U.S. had engaged in direct talks with the military-backed government for the first time since the February 2021 coup. According to the report, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research........

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