The top Trump administration official leading U.S. sanctions policy and the nation’s financial intelligence unit is set to exit the role amid friction with his boss, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Bloomberg reported. 

The expected resignation of John K. Hurley, who serves as the undersecretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, follows months of internal tension over how the department deploys sanctions and whom the restrictions target, according to news outlet, which cited unnamed sources familiar with the matter. 

The contention has centered around a push by President Trump’s top advisers to pursue sanctions designations against political opponents, including foreign judicial officials and international institutions, Bloomberg said. Some Treasury staff have privately voiced concerns that such uses of sanctions could lead to reputational harm and diplomatic fallout, according to the report. 

Disputes have also occurred in discussions on how the Financial Action Task Force will grade U.S. anti-money-laundering and counterterrorism-financing efforts in light of recent decisions by the Trump administration to scale back its efforts to meet the watchdog group’s global standards, Bloomberg said. 

Administration officials acknowledged to the Financial Times that Hurley is expected to leave TFI and said the White House was currently considering appointing him as ambassador to Germany or a similar ambassadorial role. The unnamed officials “strongly rejected” suggestions that Hurley was being pushed out of Treasury, the newspaper said. 

In his current role, Hurley leads the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI) and the five agencies it oversees, including Treasury’s sanctions arm, OFAC, and the U.S. financial intelligence unit, FinCEN. Collectively, TFI manage a host of U.S. policy tools, from determining which foreign banks have access to U.S. dollar clearing services to deciding how to enforce corporate-transparency laws. 

As the head of TFI, Hurley has been closely involved in shaping U.S. sanctions against Russia and talks with Ukraine, as well as OFAC designations targeted Mexican drug cartels and Iranian oil sales, the FT said. 

Since the start of Trump’s second term, the White House has drawn criticism for rolling back rules on reporting the identities of company owners, scaling back prosecutions for bribes made to foreign companies and governments, and levying sanctions normally reserved for drug traffickers and terrorists against officials at the United Nations and International Criminal Court. 

Read more at Bloomberg

Read more at the Financial Times