Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the Karen National Army (KNA), a militia group in Burma, as a transnational criminal organization, along with the group’s leader Saw Chit Thu, and his two sons, Saw Htoo Eh Moo and Saw Chit Chit, for their role in facilitating cyber scams that harm U.S. citizens, human trafficking, and cross-border smuggling. The KNA-controlled region, located on the Thai-Burmese border, is home to multiple cyber scam syndicates, and the KNA has benefitted from its connection to Burma’s military in its criminal operations. Although statistics vary, American victims of cyber scams like the ones emanating from Burma have collectively lost billions of dollars over the last three years. The KNA is headquartered in Shwe Kokko, Myawaddy Township in Burma’s southeast Karen State along the border with Thailand. The KNA has leveraged its former role as a Border Guard Force (BGF) with Burma’s military to facilitate a transborder criminal empire; the majority of cyber scam syndicates in Karen State operate in the KNA-controlled border region. While the KNA (formerly known as the Karen Border Guard Force) changed its name in March 2024 in an effort to distance itself from Burma’s military regime, it has continued its cooperation with the Burmese military as recently as September 2024. The KNA profits from cyber scam schemes on an industrial scale by leasing land it controls to other organized crime groups, and providing support for human trafficking, smuggling, and the sale of utilities used to provide energy to scam operations. The KNA also provides security at scam compounds in Karen State. Survivors from KK Park—an infamous scam site—who were coerced into forced criminality to commit cyber scams have reported that the uniforms of soldiers guarding the compound bore the insignia of the KNA. As the leader of the KNA, Saw Chit Thu has emerged as one of the central figures in Burma’s scam economy, facilitating transnational crimes in a KNA-controlled zone along the border with Thailand. Under Saw Chit Thu’s leadership, the KNA has become a key enabler of scam operations in the region, providing security at compounds and leasing land to criminal organizations while profiting handsomely at the expense of scam victims and of the otherwise innocent people forced to carry out these crimes. Saw Chit Thu was sanctioned by the United Kingdom in 2023 and the European Union in 2024 for his involvement in scam compounds and with Burma’s military regime. Saw Chit Thu appointed his two sons, Saw Htoo Eh Moo and Saw Chit Chit, as officers in the KNA. Both have served in key roles in the KNA criminal enterprise. Saw Htoo Eh Moo has an interest in KNA-affiliated business ventures, including cyber scam centers. Saw Chit Chit is active in military operations alongside the military regime and has commanded KNA battalions fighting against anti-regime rebel groups. He also holds shares and directorships in several KNA-linked businesses.
On February 10, 2021, the President, invoking the authority of, inter alia, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701–1706) (IEEPA), issued Executive Order (E.O.) 14014 of February 10, 2021, “Blocking Property With Respect to the Situation in Burma” (86 FR 9429, February 12, 2021).
In E.O. 14014, the President determined that the situation in and in relation to Burma, and in particular the February 1, 2021 coup, in which the military overthrew the democratically elected civilian government of Burma and unjustly arrested and detained government leaders, politicians, human rights defenders, journalists, and religious leaders, thereby rejecting the will of the people of Burma as expressed in elections held in November 2020 and undermining the country's democratic transition and rule of law, constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States and declared a national emergency to deal with that threat.
OFAC is issuing the Burma Sanctions Regulations, 31 CFR part 525 (the “Regulations”), to implement E.O. 14014, pursuant to authorities delegated to the Secretary of the Treasury in E.O. 14014. A copy of E.O. 14014 appears in appendix A to this part.
The Regulations are being published in abbreviated form at this time for the purpose of providing immediate guidance to the public. OFAC intends to supplement this part 525 with a more comprehensive set of regulations, which may include additional interpretive and definitional guidance, general licenses, and other regulatory provisions. The appendix to the Regulations will be removed when OFAC supplements this part with a more comprehensive set of regulations.
