Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam recently said she keeps “piles of cash” at home because banks have refused to provide services to her after she was hit with U.S. sanctions.
Lam was among 11 Hong Kong and Chinese officials who were blacklisted by the Trump administration in early August for their roles in undermining the city’s autonomy and freedoms. The sanctions were part of a range of U.S. responses after Beijing imposed a national security law on the Chinese-ruled city on June 30, which punishes vaguely defined crimes such as succession and subversion with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
