US Treasury sanctions Bluwaves Properties Limited, freezes assets of Florida billionaire’s offshore firm

The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control froze the assets of Bluewave Properties Ltd, an offshore company owned by Florida billionaire Harry Sargeant III, citing violations of a 2018 executive order tied to Venezuelan sanctions. On the same day the freeze took effect, Sargeant signed a $300 million deal to sell the company. The deal and the freeze OFAC’s action on August 8, 2026, came with an unusual wrinkle. Alongside the asset freeze, Treasury issued a specific license permitting Sargeant to divest his interests in Bluewave. He didn’t wait around to think it over. The $300 million sale agreement was signed that same day. The buyer: an entity affiliated with Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt, who serves as the controlling shareholder of North American Blue Energy Partners, or NABEP. NABEP is Venezuela’s second-largest private oil producer, churning out roughly 160,000 barrels per day. Bluewave held a minority stake in the company, which appears to be the core of Treasury’s concern. In a detail that underscores the murky legal terrain here, Bluewave had not yet appeared on OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals list as of mid-August. The company was nonetheless o...