US Lifts Sanctions on Daughter of Myanmar Businessman Thein Win Zaw

Theint Win Htet's name disappeared from the Office of Foreign Assets Control's website on Friday, and the agency confirmed the deletion from the Specially Designated Nationals List the following day, according to a Reuters report. She is the daughter of Thein Win Zaw, a Myanmar businessman the Treasury Department has accused of backing the country's military. Her removal followed two lawsuits she filed seeking to be taken off the list.

Theint Win Htet was designated in January 2024 together with her father and his Shwe Byain Phyu Group of Companies. Treasury said at the time that the firm had built a long-standing relationship with Burma's military to import and distribute petroleum, including work on behalf of Myanma Economic Holdings Public Company Limited, a sanctioned military-linked conglomerate. The listing announcement also said Thein Win Zaw supplied fuel to the navy, shared petroleum profits with MEHL, and that he and his family owned at least 20 companies across the Burmese economy while maintaining close ties to the regime.

She first sued in May 2024, arguing that President Joe Biden had exceeded his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act by designating an adult child of a sanctioned person, and that she had been denied due process. That case was dismissed in February 2025. In a new complaint filed in July, she said she played no active role in her father's business and that the sanctions had derailed her education in the United States, leaving her credit cards blocked and her foreign bank accounts restricted or closed, Reuters reported. She was represented by Erich Ferrari, a Washington lawyer who specializes in economic sanctions and export controls.

The delisting came shortly after Reuters reported that Washington had held direct talks with Myanmar's military-backed government for the first time since the February 2021 coup. Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research Michael Vance joined discussions with coup leader-turned-president Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyidaw on September 15-16, with sources saying the talks aimed to secure the release of detained American businessman Adam Castillo while also opening the door to further engagement. Whether Theint Win Htet's removal is connected to a broader diplomatic thaw is unclear. A State Department spokesperson told Reuters only that the decision reflected the administration's judgment that the designation no longer effectively supports U.S. policy objectives related to Burma.

It is not the first time since the coup that a Myanmar individual or entity has been dropped from the SDN List. In July 2025, the U.S. lifted sanctions on three Myanmar companies and associated individuals, among them KT Services & Logistics and its founder Jonathan Myo Kyaw Thaung, who were sanctioned in 2022 over the leasing of Yangon's port from MEHL. Theint Win Htet's mother, Tin Latt Min, was also on that list. OFAC gave no reason for those deletions either, though The Irrawaddy noted they followed a letter in which Min Aung Hlaing praised President Donald Trump over tariff threats and commended him for shutting down U.S.-funded media outlets covering the conflict; Trump administration officials said there was no connection between the decisions and the letter.