US sanctions Lebanese brothers who sold ‘compromised fuel’

By FATIMA HUSSEIN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Treasury Department is sanctioning two Lebanese brothers accused of selling “dangerously compromised fuel” to Lebanon’s state utility company. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control blocked Raymond Zina Rahme and Teddy Zina Rahme from accessing U.S. bank accounts and the larger U.S. financial system. The brothers allegedly used their role as government subcontractors to import tainted fuel that caused “significant harm to Lebanese power plants.” Since late 2019, Lebanon has fallen into the worst economic crisis in its modern history.