The US Treasury on Friday removed Theint Win Htet, the daughter of a Myanmar businessman accused of supporting the military-installed government, from its sanctions list, according to information on the department's website. The decision followed a lawsuit she filed in July.
The move comes days after Reuters reported that the administration of US President Donald Trump had opened negotiations with Myanmar's government, a shift from Washington's long-standing policy of sanctioning the generals responsible for the 2021 coup that toppled Myanmar's democratically elected government.
In January 2024, under former President Joe Biden, the Treasury targeted Shwe Byain Phyu Group, founded by Theint Win Htet's father, Thein Win Zaw, and his family. The department said the company supplied fuel to the military and owned at least 20 businesses with close ties to the military leadership.
Theint Win Htet initially sought removal from the list in a lawsuit against the Biden administration. That case was dismissed last year. She then filed a second suit in July, arguing that she played no role in her father's business dealings.
The sanctions blocked her US credit cards, restricted her foreign bank accounts and forced her to give up a master's degree at Columbia University in New York. She now lives in Thailand with her mother, who was removed from the US sanctions list last year.
Her lawyer, Erich Ferrari, a Washington, DC-based sanctions specialist, filed a notice with a federal court in the US capital on Friday to voluntarily withdraw the lawsuit after she was removed from the list.
'Reprehensible'
The group Justice For Myanmar condemned the Treasury's decision, saying Myanmar's military is stepping up attacks on civilians.
"It is reprehensible that the US government continues to remove the names of Myanmar's cronies and their family members, who finance the military regime's reign of terror," the group said.
The Biden administration imposed sanctions on military officers and companies after the 2021 coup, which sparked a civil war that has killed about 100,000 people and displaced more than 3.5 million.
Washington lifted sanctions in July last year on several other Myanmar citizens and a company accused of supporting the military.
