Executive Order 13581

On July 24, 2011, President Barack Obama signed Executive Order 13581, “Blocking Property of Transnational Criminal Organizations.” In the order, the president found that “the activities of significant transnational criminal organizations [TCOs] … have reached such a scope and gravity that they threaten the stability of international political and economic systems.” Those organizations, defined in the order as persons or groups that engage in “an ongoing pattern of serious criminal activity involving the jurisdictions of at least two foreign states … that threatens the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States,” are determined to “constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy and economy of the United States,” making them subject to sanctions under the International Economic Emergency ...