Biden sanctions Myanmar coup leader’s children, their businesses

The U.S. sanctioned the adult children of Myanmar coup leader Min Aung Hlaing along with their business holdings, saying they “have directly benefited from their father’s position and malign influence.”

The U.S. Treasury Department put the children—Aung Pyae Sone, 36, and Khin Thiri Thet Mon, 39—on a list that prohibits American citizens from doing business with them or their six businesses. Their operations include a restaurant, gyms, a gallery and a media production business.

“Treasury took these actions in response to the Burmese military’s coup against the democratically elected civilian government of Burma and its brutal killing of peaceful protesters,” the department said in a statement, referring to Myanmar’s former name.

President Joe Biden’s administration has taken the lead in trying to hit the coup makers financially after they seized power on Feb. 1, spawning near daily protests and boycotts from civil servants resisting the military regime. Authorities have used live bullets against demonstrators, killing more than 60 people in a bid to consolidate power.

The United Nations Security Council approved a presidential statement condemning the violence. Countries including Russia, India, China and Vietnam opposed stronger language against the Myanmar military that was in earlier drafts, according to diplomats who asked not to be identified.

The U.S. said Aung Pyae Sone won a 30-year permit in 2013 to lease land for his restaurant in Yangon without any competing bids, and over a five-year period paid less than 1% of the rental rate compared with other properties in the same township.