https://ift.tt/l5X92wy Justice Department is putting associates of Russian oligarchs on notice.
In the latest indictment of its kind, an associate of sanctioned Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg has been charged with violating sanctions and laundering money in connection with helping to maintain Vekselberg’s U.S. properties, according to a four-count indictment unsealed on Tuesday.
Vladimir Voronchenko, a Russian citizen and U.S. permanent resident who fled to Russia last May, is accused of arranging for more than $4 million in payments to maintain four properties owned by Vekselberg in New York, Southampton and Florida. Prosecutors estimate the properties’ value at about $75 million.
Voronchenko allegedly tried to sell the New York and Southampton properties after Vekselberg was sanctioned by the U.S. government in 2018, according to the indictment.
Another indicted in connection to $90 million yacht
This is the second indictment of a Vekselberg associate in recent weeks. Last month, the Justice Department charged two businessmen — one British and one Russian — in connection with the operation of a $90 million, 255-foot luxury yacht owned by Vekselberg. The yacht was previously seized by Spanish authorities at the request of the United States.
The Justice Department’s Task Force Kleptocapture, created in March 2022 following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, has been leading the fight against corrupt Russian oligarchs. In recent months, the task force has increasingly focused on targeting the oligarchs’ enablers.
“Shell companies, strawmen, and professional money launderers did not shield Voronchenko or the illicit transactions charged today from the investigative persistence of [Homeland Security Investigations], FBI, and the attorneys of the Southern District of New York,” Andrew Adams, director of the task force, said in a statement.