The State Department has removed Bulgarian businessman and former deputy economy minister Alexander Manolev from a Biden administration sanctions designation, a State Department official confirmed exclusively Friday to The Pavlovic Today.
Manolev had been publicly designated in 2021 under Section 7031(c), a State Department authority that bars foreign officials and their immediate family members from entering the United States.
The decision comes amid a broader Trump administration effort to re-examine sanctions and public designations imposed during the Biden years. According to people familiar with the matter, Trump officials are reviewing a number of those cases, with some close to the process arguing that the previous administration’s approach moved beyond firmness and into what they describe as “overreach.”
As part of that review, Trump administration officials have begun scrutinizing the political and institutional networks that they believe shaped some Biden-era designations. Some have pointed to long-standing ties between the Blinken family and institutions associated with George Soros. In 2015, Central European University in Budapest renamed its archives the Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives, honoring the parents of former Secretary of State Antony Blinken and reflecting their connection to the Soros-founded university.
People familiar with the sanctions review say officials are examining whether some Biden-era designations were driven solely by national security and anti-corruption considerations, or whether political and ideological priorities promoted by outside advocacy networks also played a role.
Manolev’s removal is significant not only as an individual reversal, but as an early signal of a broader review now underway in Washington.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent took a swipe Thursday at former Biden National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, accusing him of using sanctions in the final days of the Biden administration while, in Bessent’s view, failing to take a sufficiently tough line on Russia.
“Probably the worst national security advisor in the history of the country, Jake Sullivan, in an act of ‘bravery,’ on his way out the door in January, he raised the sanction level on behalf of the Trump administration,” Bessent said at the White House press briefing.
Bessent has repeatedly criticized Biden-era sanctions policy as “politically motivated posturing” rather than effective foreign policy. In a speech at the Economic Club of New York in 2024, President Trump warned that overuse of sanctions could weaken the supremacy of the U.S. dollar. Bessent has made a similar argument, comparing sanctions overuse to the overuse of antibiotics — a tactic that, over time, can lose its effectiveness.
The Biden administration imposed sanctions and public designations on a number of foreign officials and business figures through both the Treasury Department and the State Department.
Trump administration officials now argue that some of those actions did not always advance an effective U.S. foreign policy. They contend that certain designations were driven less by clear national security imperatives than by political signaling, raising broader questions about how sanctions were selected, justified, and implemented. The decision to remove Alexander Manolev is now being viewed by those close to the process as one of the first visible results of that reassessment.
Bulgarian businessman and former deputy economy minister Alexander Manolev was at home watching television when he first learned that the Biden administration had sanctioned him and his family. It was June 2, 2021.
His first reaction, according to people familiar with his thinking, was “shock.” Surely, he believed, there had been some mistake. There had been no prior notification and no detailed explanation, only media reports and a State Department press release announcing that he had been designated under Section 7031(c) for “involvement in significant corruption” in Bulgaria.
![Alexander Manolev former Deputy Minister of Economy of Bulgaria [ Photo credit: Manolev.com]](https://i0.wp.com/thepavlovictoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Manolev-.jpg?resize=780%2C758&ssl=1)
For those unfamiliar with the provision, Section 7031(c) is a State Department visa-restriction authority that allows the United States to bar certain foreign officials, and in many cases their immediate family members, from entering the country when the secretary of state determines they were involved in significant corruption or gross violations of human rights.
But in Bulgaria, that distinction was quickly blurred.
The announcement came the same day Washington unveiled a sweeping Global Magnitsky action targeting Bulgarian oligarchs and entities through the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
Treasury’s action carried the weight of full blocking sanctions, including placement on OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals list. Separately, the State Department publicly designated Manolev and others under Section 7031(c), a visa-ban authority rather than an OFAC asset-blocking sanctions program.
In the media reports, however, those legal distinctions were often lost. Bulgarian news outlets published the names of those designated, frequently collapsing State Department visa restrictions like Section 7031 (c) and OFAC Magnitsky sanctions into a single category. To much of the public, Manolev was simply “Magnitsky sanctioned,” even though he was not placed on OFAC’s SDN list.
The Magnitsky label carried consequences. A Magnitsky designation implies a far more severe legal and financial regime than a State Department visa restriction, and in Bulgaria the shorthand attached to Manolev with lasting reputational force. His wife, Nadya, and their three children, Alexa, Joanna, and Dimitar, were also barred from entering the United States under the State Department action.
“You can imagine what that meant for him and his family,” a person involved in his delisting effort told The Pavlovic Today.
U.S. travel sanctions of the kind used against Manolev are typically presented by Washington as a tool for addressing serious corruption, major human rights abuses or other conduct deemed contrary to U.S. foreign policy interests. Such measures have been used against figures ranging from government officials accused of high-level corruption to Russian oligarchs and others accused of enabling or benefiting from abuses of international norms.
Sources familiar with Manolev’s thinking say he believes his designation was built on “inaccurate or incomplete information” supplied from “inside Bulgaria” by “political actors aligned with the Biden administration” at the time.
According to the same sources, Manolev also became the subject of sustained critical coverage by Bulgarian media outlets supported by the America for Bulgaria Foundation, a grant-making organization whose origins trace back to U.S. taxpayer funded post-communist transition programs.
Established in 2008, the America for Bulgaria Foundation succeeded the Bulgarian-American Enterprise Fund, which was created in 1991 with support from the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Agency for International Development, known as USAID.
When USAID formally closed its mission in Bulgaria in 2007, U.S. officials described the new foundation as a “legacy institution” created after the Bulgarian-American Enterprise Fund generated more than $200 million in profits. The foundation, they said, would continue supporting Bulgaria through business education, entrepreneurial initiatives, leadership development, NGOs, and key competitive business sectors.
That institutional history matters because, in Bulgaria and across the wider Balkans, U.S.-backed civil society funding has become a central fault line in domestic political battles. Supporters describe such funding as essential to independent journalism, anti-corruption work, and democratic reform. Critics, however, often portray the same ecosystem as a vehicle for outside influence, grouping American-funded foundations and George Soros’s Open Society network into a single ideological camp.
The America for Bulgaria Foundation is formally distinct from Open Society. But in Bulgaria, critics frequently invoke it as part of a broader Western-backed civil society infrastructure that, in their view, has shaped media narratives, anti-corruption campaigns, and pressure on local political elites.
Recent Bulgarian reporting has also focused on the foundation’s long-term grants to NGOs and media outlets, including grants extending through 2028, arguing that such funding gives parts of the civil society and media sector financial security during Trump’s current term.
For Manolev’s allies, that broader context is central to understanding how his case was perceived inside Bulgaria. They argue that his designation was not only a U.S. government action, but also became part of a domestic political and media environment.
Manolev is not the only Balkan political figure whose case has been framed through this lens. In May 2021, then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken publicly designated former Albanian president and prime minister Sali Berisha as ineligible for entry into the United States under Section 7031(c), citing alleged involvement in “significant corruption.”
Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York, then a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, later pressed Blinken over the basis for the Berisha designation. Asked to provide further justification, Blinken offered little detail, saying, “I don’t have anything to share.”
Berisha rejected the State Department’s action and claimed it had been influenced by George Soros and the Open Society Foundations. Whether accepted or dismissed, Berisha’s allegation illustrates how U.S. anti-corruption tools in the region have become entangled with a larger political narrative: that Western-funded civil society, media, and Washington’s visa-designation powers can operate not only as instruments of reform, but also as flashpoints in struggles over sovereignty, legitimacy, and foreign influence.
Before entering politics, Manolev had spent years in the private sector, working through a family business with interests in construction, transportation, green energy, and defense. Between 2015 and 2019, he served in the Bulgarian government in several senior roles.
People familiar with Manolev’s case believe the designation likely stemmed from a 2019 political scandal in Bulgaria involving a publicly funded guesthouse project. Manolev was accused of using his government position to influence Bulgaria’s State Fund Agriculture to approve the project, which received both EU and Bulgarian state funding. Bulgarian media also alleged that the property had been built for his private use.
Bulgaria’s Anti-Corruption Commission later fined Manolev over an alleged conflict of interest. But after the State Department’s Section 7031(c) designation, that decision was overturned by both the Administrative Court Sofia and Bulgaria’s Supreme Administrative Court, which found no conflict of interest.
The final court ruling came on April 6, 2022, nearly a year after Manolev had already been publicly designated by the State Department.
Since then, sources familiar with his situation say, the designation has inflicted lasting reputational damage and created banking difficulties, including closed accounts, even though Manolev was never placed under OFAC sanctions.
With a team of advisers, Manolev set out to challenge the designation through consular and diplomatic channels. Under the Biden administration, those familiar with the process told The Pavlovic Today, the State Department became a “complete black box” for Manolev.
Unlike sanctions administered by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, Section 7031(c) designations do not come with a transparent delisting framework. There is no formal public petition system, no published evidentiary standard for removal, and no routine public notification process for reversals.
That left Manolev and his advisers operating in a fog — attempting to challenge a decision whose underlying evidence they had never seen, through a process whose rules were never clearly defined.
In October 2023, Manolev submitted an initial file of documents for review to the State Department. On Nov. 10, 2023, his representatives also submitted a formal request to the US Embassy in Sofia.
Over several years, representatives acting on Manolev’s behalf engaged with relevant offices within the State Department, including EUR, INL, and consular channels, submitted multiple requests for review, provided court rulings and supporting materials, and pursued the matter through diplomatic, legal, and advisory avenues.
The process led nowhere.
When Trump returned to office, the signal from Washington was that the political winds had shifted.
Inside Trump’s circle, many had long regarded the Biden administration’s sanctions policy not as statecraft, but as “overreach,” a source close to the President told The Pavlovic Today.
An insider familiar with the Manolev case said Trump’s team “heard us” and began a review. “All we needed was for someone to look at the documents we had provided,” said a source close to Manolev. Eventually, the case reached Trump appointees, who began examining the record.
The result is that Manolev, along with members of his family, can now travel to the United States. His case shows that reversal is possible, but that it is neither swift nor automatic. It also raises a more pointed question: if a public designation is announced publicly, should its removal not be announced with equal clarity?
Manolev has now secured both. For others seeking review, his case may serve as a test case — and perhaps as a warning about the length and opacity of the process.
As Trump officials look more closely at other cases, the alleged influence of George Soros and his networks is no longer a subject confined to the political margins of Eastern Europe and the Balkans. They are now part of Washington’s review over how U.S. sanctions power was used during the Biden years.
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