The Trump administration has escalated pressure on Florida oil magnate and Republican Party donor Harry Sargeant III to divest from Venezuela operations. According to reports from Business Standard, the Treasury Department froze assets of Sargeant's offshore company on Friday, citing violations of a 2018 executive order designed to block property of entities deemed to have supported the former Venezuelan government. The department simultaneously issued a license allowing Sargeant to unwind his interests in the firm, as reported by people familiar with the measure who declined to speak publicly about the action. The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control specifically penalized Sargeant's Bluewave Properties Ltd., a British Virgin Islands-based company that participates in Venezuelan oil-producing ventures.
Bluewave Properties Ltd., a British Virgin Islands-based company, owns a minority stake in North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP), which is the second-largest private-sector oil producer in Venezuela after Chevron Corp. As reported by Business Standard, some of the Venezuelan oil NABEP produces is converted into asphalt for paving US streets. The company was not listed on Treasury's sanctions list as of Saturday morning, but it is operating under the assumption that it is sanctioned, according to people familiar with the matter. The department can use a variety of measures to block financial transactions with entities that run afoul of US foreign policy, and the people familiar with the actions described them as sanctions.
Sargeant served as a vital back channel between Washington and Caracas during years of deep hostility, accumulating outsized influence on both sides. According to reports from Business Standard, the former US Marine pilot later drew White House enmity as the Trump administration took control of resource-rich Venezuela under a new US-backed president in Caracas. Sargeant moved seamlessly between President Donald Trump's Palm Beach golf course and Venezuela's presidential palace, where he regularly met with former President Nicolás Maduro — now in US custody — and other top officials, including current Acting President Delcy Rodríguez. The executive leveraged that rare access to convey messages back and forth between the two former adversaries, and helped free US hostages held in Venezuela in 2025.
A Trump administration official told Business Standard that US policy in Venezuela is guided by a three-phase approach that includes stabilization, recovery and transition. The administration will continue to promote responsible and transparent investment in Venezuela for the benefit of the US and Venezuelan people, the official said. Following a Wall Street Journal story about Sargeant's influence in Venezuela, Trump said on social media in February that he "has no authority, in any way, shape, or form, to act on behalf of the United States of America, nor does anyone else that is not approved by the State Department." Sargeant declined to comment, and the Treasury Department didn't reply to a request for comment.
