Venezuela has won a major legal battle to recover about $1.5 billion that had been confiscated by the Portuguese bank Novo Banco, which is largely owned by the U.S. private equity firm Lone Star. For years the Venezuelan government has decried international sanctions that have led to foreign banks freezing its overseas assets. In 2021, The Intercept reported Venezuela was blocked from using some of the money held by the bank to buy millions of vaccines for children.