| 1 | 1 | | II |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION S. 261 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To immediately halt investment by United States persons in the energy |
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| 6 | 6 | | sector of Venezuela until the legitimate results of the July 28, 2024, |
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| 7 | 7 | | election are respected. |
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| 8 | 8 | | IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES |
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| 9 | 9 | | JANUARY27, 2025 |
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| 10 | 10 | | Mr. D |
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| 11 | 11 | | URBINintroduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred |
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| 12 | 12 | | to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs |
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| 13 | 13 | | A BILL |
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| 14 | 14 | | To immediately halt investment by United States persons |
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| 15 | 15 | | in the energy sector of Venezuela until the legitimate |
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| 16 | 16 | | results of the July 28, 2024, election are respected. |
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| 17 | 17 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 18 | 18 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 19 | 19 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 20 | 20 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Halt All United States 4 |
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| 21 | 21 | | Investments in Venezuela’s Energy Sector Act of 2025’’. 5 |
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| 22 | 22 | | SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 |
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| 23 | 23 | | Congress makes the following findings: 7 |
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| 24 | 24 | | (1) On July 28, 2024, more than 10,000,000 8 |
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| 25 | 25 | | citizens of Venezuela voted in a presidential election 9 |
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| 28 | 28 | | •S 261 IS |
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| 29 | 29 | | in which meticulously documented and publicized 1 |
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| 30 | 30 | | data from credible election monitors clearly and con-2 |
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| 31 | 31 | | vincingly showed that opposition candidate Edmundo 3 |
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| 32 | 32 | | Gonzalez received more than two-thirds of the votes 4 |
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| 33 | 33 | | against the regime of Nicolas Maduro. 5 |
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| 34 | 34 | | (2) The Maduro regime has refused to respect 6 |
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| 35 | 35 | | the overwhelming choice of the people of Venezuela 7 |
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| 36 | 36 | | and subsequently arrested and abused thousands of 8 |
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| 37 | 37 | | innocent citizens of Venezuela, including children, 9 |
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| 38 | 38 | | for peaceful political participation. 10 |
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| 39 | 39 | | (3) Despite overwhelming evidence that 11 |
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| 40 | 40 | | Edmundo Gonzalez won a decisive victory to be Ven-12 |
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| 41 | 41 | | ezuela’s next president, the Maduro regime ignored 13 |
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| 42 | 42 | | the results of the election and the law of Venezuela 14 |
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| 43 | 43 | | by forcibly refusing to allow Gonzalez to be sworn in 15 |
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| 44 | 44 | | on Venezuela’s January 10, 2025, inauguration day. 16 |
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| 45 | 45 | | SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON INVESTMENT BY UNITED STATES 17 |
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| 46 | 46 | | PERSONS IN ENERGY SECTOR OF VENEZUELA 18 |
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| 47 | 47 | | UNTIL THE LEGITIMATE RESULTS OF THE 19 |
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| 48 | 48 | | JULY 28, 2024, ELECTION ARE RESPECTED. 20 |
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| 49 | 49 | | (a) P |
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| 50 | 50 | | ROHIBITION.— 21 |
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| 51 | 51 | | (1) I |
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| 52 | 52 | | N GENERAL.—Beginning on the date of the 22 |
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| 53 | 53 | | enactment of this Act, the following transactions are 23 |
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| 54 | 54 | | prohibited: 24 |
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| 57 | 57 | | •S 261 IS |
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| 58 | 58 | | (A) Any petroleum-related transaction al-1 |
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| 59 | 59 | | lowed— 2 |
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| 60 | 60 | | (i) as a result of the Partial Agree-3 |
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| 61 | 61 | | ment on the Promotion of Political Rights 4 |
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| 62 | 62 | | and Electoral Guarantees for All, agreed to 5 |
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| 63 | 63 | | by the regime of Nicolas Maduro and the 6 |
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| 64 | 64 | | political opposition in Venezuela in October 7 |
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| 65 | 65 | | 2023 (commonly known as the ‘‘Barbados 8 |
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| 66 | 66 | | Agreement’’); or 9 |
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| 67 | 67 | | (ii) pursuant to a license issued after 10 |
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| 68 | 68 | | entry into that agreement relating to pe-11 |
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| 69 | 69 | | troleum-related transactions with Ven-12 |
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| 70 | 70 | | ezuela. 13 |
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| 71 | 71 | | (B) Any transaction allowed under General 14 |
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| 72 | 72 | | License No. 41 or General License No. 8M of 15 |
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| 73 | 73 | | the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the De-16 |
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| 74 | 74 | | partment of the Treasury on the day before 17 |
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| 75 | 75 | | such date of enactment. 18 |
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| 76 | 76 | | (2) A |
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| 77 | 77 | | PPLICABILITY.—The prohibitions under 19 |
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| 78 | 78 | | paragraph (1) shall apply to the extent provided by 20 |
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| 79 | 79 | | law and regulations, orders, directives, or licenses 21 |
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| 80 | 80 | | that may be issued pursuant to this section. 22 |
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| 81 | 81 | | (b) N |
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| 82 | 82 | | ATIONALSECURITYWAIVER.—The President 23 |
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| 83 | 83 | | may waive the prohibitions under subsection (a) if the 24 |
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| 84 | 84 | | President— 25 |
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| 87 | 87 | | •S 261 IS |
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| 88 | 88 | | (1) determines that the waiver is in the national 1 |
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| 89 | 89 | | security interests of the United States; and 2 |
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| 90 | 90 | | (2) submits in writing to the appropriate con-3 |
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| 91 | 91 | | gressional committees a report, which may include a 4 |
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| 92 | 92 | | classified annex, on that determination and the rea-5 |
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| 93 | 93 | | sons for the determination. 6 |
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| 94 | 94 | | (c) I |
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| 95 | 95 | | MPLEMENTATION; PENALTIES.— 7 |
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| 96 | 96 | | (1) I |
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| 97 | 97 | | MPLEMENTATION.— 8 |
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| 98 | 98 | | (A) I |
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| 99 | 99 | | N GENERAL.—The Secretary of the 9 |
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| 100 | 100 | | Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of 10 |
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| 101 | 101 | | State, may take such actions, including pre-11 |
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| 102 | 102 | | scribing regulations, as are necessary to imple-12 |
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| 103 | 103 | | ment this section. 13 |
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| 104 | 104 | | (B) IEEPA |
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| 105 | 105 | | AUTHORITIES.—For purposes 14 |
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| 106 | 106 | | of implementing this section, the Secretary of 15 |
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| 107 | 107 | | the Treasury may exercise the authorities pro-16 |
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| 108 | 108 | | vided to the President under sections 203 and 17 |
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| 109 | 109 | | 205 of the International Emergency Economic 18 |
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| 110 | 110 | | Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702 and 1704). 19 |
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| 111 | 111 | | (2) P |
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| 112 | 112 | | ENALTIES.—A person that violates, at-20 |
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| 113 | 113 | | tempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a 21 |
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| 114 | 114 | | violation of subsection (a) or any regulation, license, 22 |
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| 115 | 115 | | directive, or order issued to carry out that sub-23 |
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| 116 | 116 | | section shall be subject to the penalties set forth in 24 |
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| 117 | 117 | | subsections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the Inter-25 |
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| 120 | 120 | | •S 261 IS |
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| 121 | 121 | | national Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 1 |
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| 122 | 122 | | U.S.C. 1705) to the same extent as a person that 2 |
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| 123 | 123 | | commits an unlawful act described in subsection (a) 3 |
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| 124 | 124 | | of that section. 4 |
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| 125 | 125 | | (d) R |
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| 126 | 126 | | ESPONSIBILITY OF OTHERAGENCIES.—All 5 |
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| 127 | 127 | | agencies of the United States Government shall take all 6 |
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| 128 | 128 | | appropriate measures within their authority to carry out 7 |
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| 129 | 129 | | the provisions of this section. 8 |
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| 130 | 130 | | (e) T |
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| 131 | 131 | | ERMINATION OF PROHIBITION.—The prohibi-9 |
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| 132 | 132 | | tions under subsection (a) shall terminate on the date on 10 |
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| 133 | 133 | | which the President submits to Congress a determination 11 |
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| 134 | 134 | | that the regime of Nicolas Maduro has recognized the July 12 |
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| 135 | 135 | | 28, 2024, electoral victory of Edmundo Gonzalez and re-13 |
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| 136 | 136 | | linquished power to the legitimately democratically elected 14 |
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| 137 | 137 | | government in Venezuela or to a transitional government 15 |
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| 138 | 138 | | that includes and is agreed to by the legitimately elected 16 |
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| 139 | 139 | | political opposition in Venezuela. 17 |
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| 140 | 140 | | (f) D |
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| 141 | 141 | | EFINITIONS.—In this section: 18 |
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| 142 | 142 | | (1) A |
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| 143 | 143 | | PPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -19 |
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| 144 | 144 | | TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-20 |
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| 145 | 145 | | mittees’’ means— 21 |
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| 146 | 146 | | (A) the Committee on Banking, Housing, 22 |
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| 147 | 147 | | and Urban Affairs and the Committee on For-23 |
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| 148 | 148 | | eign Relations of the Senate; and 24 |
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| 151 | 151 | | •S 261 IS |
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| 152 | 152 | | (B) the Committee on Financial Services 1 |
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| 153 | 153 | | and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 2 |
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| 154 | 154 | | House of Representatives. 3 |
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| 155 | 155 | | (2) U |
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| 156 | 156 | | NITED STATES PERSON .—The term 4 |
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| 157 | 157 | | ‘‘United States person’’ means— 5 |
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| 158 | 158 | | (A) a United States citizen or alien law-6 |
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| 159 | 159 | | fully admitted for permanent residence to the 7 |
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| 160 | 160 | | United States; 8 |
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| 161 | 161 | | (B) any entity organized under the laws of 9 |
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| 162 | 162 | | the United States or any jurisdiction within the 10 |
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| 163 | 163 | | United States (including a foreign branch of 11 |
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| 164 | 164 | | any such entity); and 12 |
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| 165 | 165 | | (C) any person physically located in the 13 |
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| 166 | 166 | | United States. 14 |
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| 167 | 167 | | Æ |
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