The U.S. Department of Justice has announced the forfeiture of two luxury condominiums in Miami that were owned, transferred and leased in violation of US sanctions against Russian national Viktor Perevalov. The total value of the confiscated property is approximately $1.8 million.
Trying to hide assets behind front companies and shell entities is a risky short-term strategy with real long-term consequences, said Michael Hu, co-director of the Justice Department’s KleptoCapture Task Force.
Viktor Perevalov and his partner, Valery Abramov, founded JSC VAD, a company based in St. Petersburg that is involved in highway construction. In 2018, OFAC, the office of foreign assets control of the US treasury department, imposed sanctions on Viktor Perevalov, Valeriy Abramov, JSC Vad, and others following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
JSC VAD was actively engaged in the construction of highways in the Crimea. In 2019, Russian President Vladimir Putin personally discussed with Valery Abramov, General Director of JSC VAD, and Viktor Perevalov, First Deputy director of the company, the construction of the Tavrida highway in Crimea.
At the meeting, Putin praised the company for building roads in another region of Russia, Kaliningrad. After the official meeting, Putin invited Abramov and Perevalov to talk informally “on those issues that may be of interest to you.”
In 2020, Putin personally arrived and drove with Abramov in his Aurus limousine along the new section of the Tavrida highway.
The net profit of JSC VAD for 2023 amounted to 5.2 billion rubles (about 47 million euros).
