On Friday, President Obama identified the Japanese crime gang Yakuza as a significant Transnational Criminal Organization as defined in his Executive Order 13581 (Blocking Property of Transnational Criminal Organizations) of July 24, 2011. and charged the Treasury Department with pursuing additional sanctions against their members and supporters, according to a Treasury Department report.

Transnational criminals are now more entrepreneurial and sophisticated, and their growing infiltration of licit commerce and economic activity fundamentally threatens the free markets and financial systems that are critical to the stability and efficiency of the global economy, a law enforcement executive who requested anonymity said on Saturday.