Massimiliano Cali, the husband of Francesca Albanese, a United Nations special rapporteur sanctioned by the United States, said in court filings that the penalties have caused “external pressure” affecting his career and family, including requiring medical treatment for stress.
Cali, a senior economist with the World Bank, filed a lawsuit in February in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of himself and the couple’s 13-year-old daughter, a U.S. citizen, seeking to overturn the sanctions imposed on Albanese in July 2025 for her campaign of intimidating and threatening letters to American companies and organizations with ties to Israel.
The U.N. Office of Legal Affairs did not provide clearance for Albanese, the global body’s special rapporteur for the Palestinians, to file a suit herself, and has not committed to providing her with legal representation to fight the sanctions.
According to court filings, Cali wrote that the World Bank informed him in October that his position as senior country economist for Syria was suspended some three months from his starting date, and that he would have to leave the World Bank’s Middle East/North Africa division by this July.
He attributed the decision in part to outside pressure, including advocacy by the watchdog group U.N. Watch.
Cali also stated that the sanctions have limited his employment prospects, noting that many senior World Bank roles are based in Washington, D.C., which he and Albanese are barred from entering under the measures.
The lawsuit argues that the sanctions have had sweeping personal and financial effects on the family, including freezing assets, restricting access to bank accounts and disrupting professional affiliations. Sanctions imposed by the United States typically cut individuals off from the U.S. financial system and can deter institutions worldwide from engaging with them.
According to the filings, speaking engagements involving Albanese have been canceled, and financial institutions have declined to open accounts for her. Her professional affiliations with Columbia University and Georgetown University were also canceled.
Both Cali and Albanese were prescribed medication, he claims, as he deals with anxiety and insomnia, and she with stomach ulcers.
A motion hearing was held in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia last week.
The Trump administration sanctioned Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, in July, accusing her of engaging in a “campaign of political and economic warfare” against the United States and Israel, including urging investigations by the International Criminal Court into American companies and Israeli officials.
“The United States has repeatedly condemned and objected to the biased and malicious activities of Albanese that have long made her unfit for service as a special rapporteur,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated at the time. “Albanese has spewed unabashed antisemitism, expressed support for terrorism and open contempt for the United States, Israel and the West.”
The U.S. State Department has called the lawsuit “baseless lawfare” and said the sanctions are “legal and appropriate.”
Several Western nations have condemned Albanese’s antisemitic conduct, and a handful of foreign ministers called for her exit in February after she referred, in remarks about Israel, to a “common enemy of humanity,” which was widely seen as a remark about the Jewish state, together with antisemitic tropes.
Albanese, who often claims her antisemitic statements are misunderstood, said she wasn’t referring to Israel specifically, but to a system that allows Israel to carry out a “genocide.”
