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Letter from Senators Wyden, Warren and Whitehouse to Bessent and Rubio

Senate Finance Committee Democrats · 2026-09-16

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September 16, 2026
The Honorable Scott Bessent
Secretary
Department of the Treasury
1500 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20220

The Honorable Marco Rubio
Secretary
Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520

Secretary Bessent and Secretary Rubio:

We write to seek transparency on the use and status of Venezuelan natural resources revenues
accruing in and being disbursed from U.S. government-controlled accounts. Public reporting
indicates that tens of billions of dollars in natural resource transactions—including at least $13
billion in revenue from Venezuelan oil sales alone—have been deposited into a custody account
at the Department of the Treasury. But for months, you have failed to explain where that money
has gone and whether any safeguards have been implemented to prevent misappropriation of
Venezuela’s funds or potential Trump Administration corruption in directing them to politically
favored insiders.

In January 2026, President Trump issued Executive Order (EO) 14373 and announced the
establishment of the Foreign Government Deposit Funds deposit account to be held under the
custody of the Treasury Department on behalf of the Venezuelan government and made up of
monetary payments “derived from either the sale of natural resources from, or the sale of diluents
to, the Government of Venezuela or its agencies or instrumentalities.”1 Pursuant to this executive
order, the Treasury Department is tasked with overseeing both transfers into and transfers out of
the Foreign Government Deposit Funds and is also required to clearly demarcate these funds as
sovereign property of the Venezuelan government that is held solely on a custodial basis. While
reportedly these funds were first held in a bank account in Qatar, according to subsequent public
reporting, the funds have since been moved to Treasury.

Treasury has also issued general licenses authorizing certain purchases of Venezuelan-origin
minerals, including gold, so long as relevant payments are “made into the Foreign Government
Deposit Funds,” indicating that the Administration is applying a similar approach to Venezuelan
resource revenues that extends beyond just oil revenues.2

1 Exec. Order No. 14373, 91 Fed. Reg. 10 (January 15, 2026):
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/01/15/2026-00831/safeguarding-venezuelan-oil-revenue-for-the-
good-of-the-american-and-venezuelan-people

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It does not appear that the United States is taking ownership or title to Venezuelan resource
revenues, beyond cargoes involved in certain seizure operations. Rather, as Secretary of State
Rubio testified, Venezuela retains ownership of the revenues but has granted the Administration
the ability to control and disburse funds. Secretary Rubio described an approach by which
Venezuelan authorities will make spending requests to the U.S. government, which would retain
discretion over uses of the funds.

This arrangement, particularly given the lack of transparency, raises concerns that the
Administration may use its control over the revenues to direct billions in funds without
congressional authorization or approval, whether by encouraging or coercing Venezuela to
request specific payments or purchases or by directly disbursing the funds. This creates
corruption and misappropriation risks. For example, it is unclear what constitutional or legal
barriers prevent U.S. government officials or employees from directing Venezuela’s revenues to
politically connected firms in the U.S. system or from forcing Venezuela to overpay for goods
from specific companies when there are less costly alternatives. There are also significant risks
of corruption and money laundering in the Venezuelan financial system, and it is unclear how
your Departments are conducting due diligence or otherwise taking preventive steps before
disbursing these funds. Nor is it clear that doing so is a priority after Treasury on July 27, 2026,
stated that it would not enforce U.S. anti-money laundering law for transactions involving
persons or entities in Venezuela for six months, framing this unprecedented step as a disaster
relief measure.

It has now been more than half a year since this account was established, yet the promised
transparency has not materialized. The Trump Administration in April 2026 declared that the
account would be audited on a quarterly basis and has awarded an $84 million contract to KPMG
to do so, but to date no audits have been made public, nor is it clear that any audits have occurred
at all.

The Treasury and State Departments have yet to provide key information on the U.S.
government’s management of Venezuela’s natural resources revenues. Please provide answers to
the following questions by October 5, 2026:

1. Do you agree that any effort by the United States to manage the economy of a foreign
country, including the vetting and approval of every payment of the country’s main
revenue source, should be exceptional and temporary?

2. Are you aware of any U.S. constitutional, statutory, or other legal constraint, not
including executive orders, on uses of funds not owned by the United States government
but over which the U.S. government exercises control? Please identify these constraints,
with specific references.

2 Office of Foreign Assets Control, “General License No. 51D Authorizing Certain Activities Involving
Venezuelan-Origin Coal or Minerals, Including Gold,” (September 2, 2026):
https://ofac.treasury.gov/media/936856/download?inline

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3. Have KPMG or any other U.S. public or private sector entities involved in disbursements
from the Treasury accounts flagged money laundering or other illicit finance concerns?
Please describe each such case and its resolution.

4. Please produce the complete Statement of Work (SOW) detailing KPMG’s role in
auditing.

5. What role, if any, did the Treasury Department play in selecting KPMG to audit the
account?

6. Has KPMG completed any audits, interim reports or other reviews? If so, please describe
the scope and status of each work product provided to the Treasury Department and
produce copies of each such work product.

7. Before U.S. government officials recommend that Venezuela pay any company or person
for goods and services purchased using Venezuelan resource revenues held in U.S.-
controlled accounts, please describe any specific measures your agencies have
implemented to ensure full and open competition.

8. How much money currently sits in the account(s) at Treasury holding Venezuela’s
resource revenues? Provide account statements for each month since February 2026.

9. In addition to account statements for Venezuela’s resource revenues, provide records of
each transaction, transfer, or other distribution funds from the account its opening. For
each transaction, transfer, or distribution, provide:
a. The date of the transaction.
b. The amount of funds spent, transferred, or used.
c. The specific purpose for which the funds were spent, transferred or used including
a description of how those funds were used to support the Venezuelan people.
d. The recipient of the funds, including the beneficial owner(s) of any legal entity
recipient.
e. The financial institution into which the funds were transmitted to the recipient.
f. Any prior spending request from the Government of Venezuela or Venezuelan
authorities that corresponds to the transaction.

10. Please provide a copy of each request the Venezuelan authorities have made regarding
spending of Venezuela’s resource revenues held in U.S. Treasury accounts.

11. Is Qatar National Bank (QNB) the only non-U.S. government financial institution into
which the Administration has directed buyers of Venezuelan oil to pay Venezuela? Have
all funds in QNB accounts resulting from such U.S. government direction now been
transferred to an account in the U.S. Treasury? If not, how many such funds remain in
QNB accounts? On what date was the account dissolved, if it has been closed? Provide
copies of all transaction records and records related to opening and closing the account.

12. Are any funds held in a Citi account, as press reporting has suggested?

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13. Under any proposed arrangement for the U.S. government to take equity stakes in a
Venezuelan oil company, would the purchasers of oil produced under such an
arrangement also be required to deposit payments into the Foreign Government Deposit
Funds account at Treasury?

14. Do funds derived from the sale of Venezuela-origin gold and other minerals get deposited
into the same account as funds derived from the sale of Venezuela-origin oil?

15. How does the Treasury Department collect and validate the monetary payments made
into the account?

16. How many firms have access to deposit instructions for the account? Please provide an
itemized list.

17. Please identify any and all companies that have requested or received disbursements from
the account as reimbursement for energy sector infrastructure investment.

Sincerely,

Ron Wyden Elizabeth Warren
United States Senator Ranking Member
Ranking Member, Committee Committee on Banking,
on Finance Housing, and Urban Affairs

Sheldon Whitehouse
United States Senator
Ranking Member
Committee on Environment
and Public Works