An executive order bars courts from attaching certain Venezuelan oil-related funds held by the United States and declares a national emergency over that risk. The order, Executive Order 14373, was signed at the White House on Jan. 9, 2026, and published in the Federal Register on Jan. 15, 2026.
The order defines the protected money as Foreign Government Deposit Funds. Those are amounts the U.S. government has been paid or holds in designated Treasury Department accounts or funds on behalf of Venezuela’s government or its agencies, among them the Central Bank of Venezuela and Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. The money must come from sales of natural resources from those entities, or from sales of diluents to them.
In the order, the President finds that attachment or other judicial process against the funds would materially harm U.S. national security and foreign policy. The order says that process would substantially interfere with efforts to ensure economic and political stability in Venezuela. It says failure of those efforts would jeopardize U.S. foreign policy objectives, including ending what the order describes as an influx of illegal immigrants and illicit narcotics, protecting U.S. interests against Iran and Hezbollah, and bringing peace, prosperity, and stability to Venezuela and the Western Hemisphere. The order declares a national emergency to deal with that threat, which it says arises in whole or substantial part outside the United States.
Unless a license or other authorization under the order allows it, no court may seize the funds, enforce a judgment or decree against them, place a lien on them, garnish them, or use any other legal process, and any such step is treated as having no legal effect. The funds may not be transferred, paid, exported, withdrawn, or otherwise dealt in except as regulations, orders, directives, or licenses issued under this order allow. That restriction applies even if a contract was made, or a license or permit was granted, before the order took effect.
The order says it applies despite any earlier executive order, and supersedes any earlier order, to the extent an earlier order blocks, regulates, or otherwise affects these funds. It does not name those earlier orders.
The order determines that the funds are property of the Government of Venezuela and not the property of any private party, including judgment creditors or commercial actors that have done business with Venezuela or its agencies. It says the United States will hold the money only in a custodial and governmental capacity, not as a market participant. The order says the money has not been put to commercial use in the United States and must not be. The funds are to be kept until a government decision sets their public, official, or diplomatic use, a decision the Secretary of State makes for the Government of Venezuela.
The order states that putting the funds in a Treasury deposit account is not an express or implied waiver of sovereign immunity, and is not consent to any court’s jurisdiction to enforce private claims. It also states that court process against the funds would interfere with U.S. foreign relations and undermine international comity.
The Secretary of the Treasury must designate the funds so that their status is clear: sovereign property of Venezuela held in U.S. custody, not property of the United States. The Treasury secretary must follow instructions from the Secretary of State on disbursements or transfers and must not permit the money to be used for any other purpose. The Treasury secretary is to confer when needed with the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of Energy.
The Treasury secretary and the Attorney General are authorized and directed to assert the funds’ sovereign immunity in any judicial or administrative proceeding, consistent with the order and applicable law. Consulting the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of Energy, the Treasury secretary may issue rules and use powers the International Emergency Economic Powers Act grants the President, as needed to carry out the order, and may redelegate those functions inside the Treasury Department. The head of each executive department and agency must take all appropriate measures within that agency’s authority to implement the order.
The Treasury secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of State, is authorized to submit recurring and final reports to Congress on the national emergency, as the National Emergencies Act and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act provide. The order is to be carried out consistent with applicable law and subject to available appropriations. It says it does not create any right or benefit that a party can enforce in court against the United States, its agencies, or its officers. The order does not set a separate end date for the emergency.