Published: August 29, 2026
Margibi County Senator Nathaniel F. McGill
MONROVIA — The U.S. Treasury Department rejected Sen. Nathaniel McGill’s bid to lift Global Magnitsky sanctions, finding that his election to Liberia’s Senate returned him to a position of public trust, from which he could engage in and benefit from corruption, and that he failed to produce the promised records regarding his business interests.
By Lennart Dodoo
“Furthermore, as your client is now a senator of Liberia, he is again a government official and remains in a position of public trust from which he could engage in and benefit from public corruption,” Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control wrote in an April 11, 2025, determination letter obtained by The Liberian Investigator.
The letter denied McGill’s request to be removed from OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List, where he has remained since the United States sanctioned him in August 2022 for corruption allegations.
The determination, filed under case ID GLOMAG-28717, bears the digital signature of acting OFAC Director Lisa M. Palluconi. It was addressed to Tyler Cullis, the Washington-based sanctions lawyer who filed the request on McGill’s behalf through Ferrari & Associates.
Beyond his return to public office, OFAC said McGill failed to submit the business records he had promised, made a claim about the limits of his government authority that appeared to conflict with his resignation letter, and offered arguments that did not address the original basis for his designation.
Senate Seat Undercuts Central Argument
McGill sought removal by arguing that the circumstances leading to his designation had changed because he had resigned as minister of state for presidential affairs and chief of staff to then-President George Weah.
OFAC rejected that argument on two grounds.
First, the designation applied to McGill as a “current or former government official,” meaning that leaving his executive-branch position did not remove him from the category under which he was sanctioned.
Second, his subsequent election to the Liberian Senate returned him to public office.
“Your client’s resignation from his former position does not indicate the circumstances resulting in his designation no longer apply,” OFAC wrote.
Under Treasury’s delisting process, a sanctioned person may seek removal by showing that there was an insufficient basis for the original designation or that the circumstances supporting it no longer apply.
OFAC concluded that McGill had established neither.
Promised Business Records Never Arrived
The agency also faulted McGill for failing to provide records concerning companies in which he holds ownership interests.
In a response dated Aug. 15, 2023, to an OFAC questionnaire issued on June 20, 2023, McGill said no company he owned had received Liberian government contracts during his tenure.
He told the agency that supporting information was being assembled and would be submitted when finalized.
“As of today, OFAC has not received the information requested,” the April 2025 determination said, nearly 20 months after McGill’s response.
The missing records were significant because Treasury’s original designation alleged that McGill manipulated public procurement processes to award multimillion-dollar contracts to companies in which he held ownership interests.
OFAC Cites Apparent Contradiction
OFAC also challenged McGill’s description of the authority he exercised as minister of state.
In another questionnaire response — dated Aug. 15, 2022, in the determination letter — McGill argued that his position could not have provided him with the opportunity to manipulate Liberia’s procurement processes.
But OFAC compared that claim with McGill’s Sept. 12, 2022, resignation letter, which his lawyer submitted eight days later in a supplemental filing.
In his resignation letter, McGill wrote that his position had allowed him to “work with many others in government to implement critical tasks ranging from infrastructure development to local governance.”
That statement “appears to contradict his claim” that his office could not have provided an opportunity to influence procurement, OFAC said.
“Furthermore, as your client is now a senator of Liberia, he is again a government official and remains in a position of public trust from which he could engage in and benefit from public corruption.” — U.S. Treasury Department
Absence of Liberian Case Deemed Insufficient
McGill also argued that Liberia’s integrity institutions had neither investigated nor penalized him over the conduct underlying the U.S. sanctions.
OFAC said the absence of a domestic investigation or prosecution did not undermine a designation based on several independent sources of information.
Investigative and prosecutorial decisions in foreign jurisdictions, the agency said, can depend on different and sometimes unrelated factors.
The letter also cited publicly available reporting indicating that a Liberian government corruption investigation involving McGill was underway as of 2024.
OFAC rejected as irrelevant McGill’s argument that he had helped implement anti-corruption laws. It also dismissed his claim that his political popularity showed that large segments of the Liberian public did not find the corruption allegations credible.
Those arguments were “not germane to the underlying basis for his designation,” the agency said.
Five-Year Reporting Offer Rejected
McGill proposed reporting his activities to OFAC for five years as a transparency measure.
The agency rejected the proposal, saying promises of future conduct do not demonstrate that a sanctioned person’s behavior has already changed.
OFAC also said future reporting alone would not credibly ensure an end to the type of activity that led to the designation.
“Consequently, your client’s request is denied, and Mr. McGill will remain on OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List pursuant to E.O. 13818,” the letter said.
The Original Sanctions
Treasury designated McGill on Aug. 15, 2022, under Executive Order 13818, which implements the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act.
He was sanctioned alongside then-Solicitor General Sayma Syrenius Cephus and then-National Port Authority Managing Director Bill Twehway.
At the time, Treasury alleged that McGill manipulated public procurement to benefit companies in which he held ownership interests, diverted funds allocated to other government institutions, made off-the-books payments to senior government figures, and organized former warlords to threaten political rivals.
McGill’s lawyer requested reconsideration on Aug. 30, 2022, 15 days after the designation.
The sanctions block any property or interests in property McGill holds in the United States or under the control of U.S. persons. They also generally prohibit U.S. persons and entities from conducting transactions with him.
McGill was elected senator of Margibi County after the sanctions were imposed. He now chairs the Congress for Democratic Change’s legislative caucus in the Senate.
LACC Clearance Covered Separate Payroll Case
In March 2026, nearly a year after OFAC denied the delisting request, the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission cleared McGill in an investigation involving irregular additions to the Ministry of State payroll.
LACC Executive Chairperson Alexandra Zoe said investigators had not established documentary evidence linking McGill to the payroll matter.
She stressed, however, that the clearance applied only to that allegation and did not address the conduct underlying the U.S. sanctions.
“This clearance has nothing to do also with other allegations of corruption, even involving sanctions that were placed on him,” Zoe said at a March 9 news conference.
OFAC informed McGill that he may seek reconsideration again, but any new request must contain new evidence and any additional information required by the agency.
