Big Tech’s Mixed Response to U.S. Treasury Sanctions

American tech companies, including Facebook, Github, PayPal and Twitter, are continuing to host established accounts belonging to Liu “Steve” Lizhi, a 40-year-old Chinese national recently sanctioned by the US Department of the Treasury for operating a cloud provider linked to the majority of virtual currency investment scam websites reported to the FBI.
Lizhi is alleged to have directly facilitated financial schemes resulting in more than $200 min f inan c ia ll osses t o A m er i c an s, w i t h t h esc am es t ima t e d t o ha v ec a u se d$ 5.8bn in losses last year alone.
Tech companies are prohibited from allowing sanctioned individuals to open new premium accounts, but this does not always apply to free accounts, with LinkedIn having deleted Lizhi’s account only after being contacted by security firm Silent Push.
Lizhi’s PayPal account and a Twitter account remain active.
Silent Push has been calling for US cloud providers to sever ties with Funnull, the Philippine-based company that provided infrastructure for the scam websites.

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