On December 17, 2024, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned 20 individuals and entities, located across seven countries, for their involvement in the international trafficking of illegal drugs. The sanctions target European drug traffickers, including Lithuania-based Rokas Karpavicius who has been arrested in various jurisdictions on drug related charges since the 1990s for trafficking cocaine and methamphetamine and engaging in money laundering and acts of corruption, including bribery, in Lithuania and other jurisdictions. OFAC also designated two of Karpavicius’s associates, David Jonathan Thackray of Australia and Ho Kai Leung of New Zealand, and a New Zealand-based entity owned by Leung. OFAC also designated European financial networks that allegedly support drug traffickers, including Karpis AG and Dragon Secure GMBH based in Switzerland both of which Karpavicius is the majority owner. OFAC also designated five Colombia-based cocaine traffickers.
The designations were imposed pursuant to EO 14059 which targets persons involved in the international proliferation of illicit drugs or their means of production. As a result of the designations, all property and interests in property of the designated persons within the United States or within the possession or control of a U.S. person are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions involving a designated person. Entities owned 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked.
U.S. Department of Treasury Press Release | Global Narcotics Drug Flow Chart