US Discussed New Sanctions on Moraes, FT Reports
Brazil · US Relations
Key Facts
- FT report: The Financial Times said on Sunday 16 August 2026 that the US government has discussed new sanctions on Justice Alexandre de Moraes.
- No decision: The FT report did not establish whether officials have reached a final decision, and no US agency has announced a step.
- Prior listing: Moraes was designated under the Global Magnitsky Act on 30 July 2025, and his wife in September 2025.
- Sanctions lifted: Both were removed from the list on Friday 12 December 2025, so he is not under US sanctions today.
- Reported trigger: The FT linked the discussion to police searches Moraes authorised in March 2026 against a Maranhao journalist, who denies wrongdoing.
- Censorship claim: US official Sarah B. Rogers said a Brazilian electoral rule behind an X algorithm change made Brazilian censorship explicit, according to Brazilian media translations of her post.
- Court silent: The STF declined to comment, per Valor, and no statement from Lula’s government on the FT report had been reported.
The Financial Times reported that Washington has discussed new measures against the STF justice — but no decision has been taken, and his 2025 listing was already removed.
The Financial Times reported on Sunday 16 August 2026 that the US government has discussed imposing new sanctions on Alexandre de Moraes, a justice of Brazil’s Supreme Court. Reuters carried the report. It did not establish whether officials have reached a final decision, or when any step might come.
What the Financial Times reported
The FT, citing people familiar with the matter, said the Trump administration has discussed reimposing sanctions on Moraes under the Global Magnitsky Act. The newspaper stressed that no decision has been made.
Valor Economico, summarising the FT, reported that sanctions could push relations to their lowest point in decades and cast a shadow over Brazil’s October elections.
According to Poder360’s account of the FT article, the measures under discussion include freezing assets held in the United States and barring US companies and citizens from doing business with those targeted. Neither the White House nor the US Treasury has announced any such step.
The case behind the report
The FT tied the renewed discussion to police searches that Moraes authorised in March 2026 against Luis Pablo Conceicao Almeida, a journalist in the northeastern state of Maranhão. The searches broke the journalist’s source confidentiality and stemmed from his reporting on the alleged irregular use of official cars by STF justice Flavio Dino and his relatives.
Moraes, who is handling the case at the STF, maintains that the information was obtained and published illegally. He also argues the reporting indicates its author used some state mechanism to identify the vehicles, improperly exposing officials’ security — accusations the journalist denies in full.
The breach led investigators to the journalist’s main source, Raimundo Cutrim, a former Maranhao state secretary for legislative affairs, Poder360 reported.
Moraes was sanctioned in 2025 — and taken off the list in December
This would not be a first. On 18 July 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered the immediate revocation of the US visas of Moraes and seven other STF justices, part of a wave that Poder360 counts as reaching at least 16 Brazilian officials.
On 30 July 2025, the US Treasury designated Moraes under the Global Magnitsky Act — the same day Trump signed an executive order declaring a national emergency with respect to Brazil. A second round in September 2025 reached his wife, the lawyer Viviane Barci de Moraes, and the couple’s Lex Institute.
All of those listings were lifted on Friday 12 December 2025, after talks that followed a meeting between President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Trump in Malaysia. Moraes is therefore not under US sanctions today — anything new would be a re-imposition rather than an extension of something still in force.
The 2025 measures followed the trial Moraes oversaw, which led to former president Jair Bolsonaro’s conviction in September 2025 for attempting a coup after losing the 2022 election. Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years and three months and imprisoned.
What a Magnitsky designation actually does
A Global Magnitsky designation puts a person on the US Treasury’s Specially Designated Nationals list, which is run by its Office of Foreign Assets Control. In plain terms, it freezes whatever they own in the United States and bars US citizens and companies, anywhere in the world, from dealing with them.
The practical effect is to cut the person off from the US financial system and from the dollar. The tool is meant for people accused of serious human rights abuses or large-scale corruption.
The knock-on effect is usually wider than the legal text. Banks outside the US — including Brazilian ones with US branches or dollar-clearing ties — often restrict or close a designated person’s accounts to protect themselves, even when they are not strictly obliged to.
A separate row over X and the election
Sarah B. Rogers, the US Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, criticised the Brazilian electoral rule behind the change on Sunday 16 August, Folha de S.Paulo reported. Her remarks reached Brazilian readers only in Portuguese translation, so we paraphrase rather than quote: she said the disclosure was the kind of transparency many regulators ask for, while also making Brazil’s censorship explicit.
The rule is TSE Resolution 23.610/2019, which requires platforms using recommendation systems to keep registered candidates’ official profiles and content out of those recommendations, except in paid promotion. X responded by publishing code containing a filter it named “Brazil2026ElectionFilter”.
The filter stops posts from candidates’ official accounts being recommended in the “For You” feed to users who do not follow them. It does not suspend accounts or delete posts — the content stays online — and X said it was acting in strict compliance with the resolution.
How Brazil responded — and what is at stake for investors
The STF declined to comment on the FT report, Valor said. No statement from Lula’s office or from Itamaraty, the foreign ministry, on the report itself had been reported by 17 August.
The government has spoken on the wider dispute. In a note on 29 July 2026 it repudiated Washington’s decision to extend the national emergency order by a year, saying it is “entirely unreasonable to characterise Brazil as a threat to the United States”.
Officials at the Planalto palace and Itamaraty told Poder360 on 28 July that they read that extension as political, with no immediate practical effect. They added that a fresh use of the Magnitsky Act remains on the radar, though it is considered unlikely at this moment.
The trade side of the quarrel has moved on. The 50% tariff imposed on Brazilian goods in July 2025 was struck down by the US Supreme Court, and Washington then moved via Section 301: a 25% tariff on Brazilian goods took effect on 22 July 2026, and a separate forced-labour duty can lift the stacked rate as high as 37.5%. Brazil has gone to the World Trade Organization.
For investors and expatriates, the thing to watch is less the headline than what compliance departments do with it — banks and payment firms tend to tighten access first and ask questions later. Any re-listing would land with the real near R$5.21 (~US$1) to the dollar and Brazil’s first round due on 4 October, so US-Brazil friction now carries both election-season and currency risk.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Alexandre de Moraes currently under US sanctions?
No. He and his wife were removed from the Global Magnitsky list on 12 December 2025. The FT reported that new sanctions have been discussed, but no decision has been reported.
What exactly did the Financial Times report?
The FT reported on 16 August 2026, citing people familiar with the matter, that the US government has discussed new sanctions on Moraes. The report did not establish whether officials have reached a final decision, or when any step might come.
What does a Global Magnitsky designation do?
It freezes the person’s assets in the United States and bars US citizens and companies from dealing with them, cutting them off from the US financial system and the dollar. Banks elsewhere often restrict their accounts too, to avoid US enforcement risk.
Why did X change its algorithm in Brazil?
X said it was complying with TSE Resolution 23.610/2019, adding a filter that stops candidates’ official posts being recommended to non-followers, without deleting posts or suspending accounts. US official Sarah B. Rogers criticised the rule, saying it made Brazilian censorship explicit, according to Brazilian media translations of her post.
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Sources: Reuters: US considers new sanctions on Brazilian judge; Reuters PT: EUA consideram novas sanções contra Moraes; WHBL: Full Reuters text; Valor: EUA discutem novas sanções contra Moraes; Poder360: EUA avaliam reimpor Lei Magnitsky contra Moraes; Folha: Autoridade do governo Trump acusa Brasil de censura; Folha: Governo Trump estuda novas sanções a Moraes; Reporter News: EUA removem Moraes e esposa da lista Magnitsky; Poder360: Governo Lula avalia risco de nova Magnitsky; G1: Brasil repudia prorrogação de sanções dos EUA
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