The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Treasury Department imposed a fine of $7,139,305 on the New York-based company Gracetown Inc. for violating sanctions related to Russia, as well as for failure to submit reports on blocked assets.
Between 2018 and 2020, Gracetown received 24 payments on behalf of a company ultimately owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, despite receiving an OFAC notification that transactions with Deripaska were prohibited. Gracetown has also not reported on the blocked assets in its possession and under its control for more than 45 months.
Gracetown was founded in 2006 to manage three luxury real estate properties in New York and Washington, which, according to OFAC, were acquired by Deripaska. OFAC claims that in early 2018, before the sanctions against Deripaska were imposed, his relative became a beneficiary of Gracetown.
Oleg Deripaska, the founder of the Russian industrial group “Basic Element” and the aluminum company “Rusal”, was added to the US sanctions list on April 6, 2018 for supporting the Russian government and for his activities in the Russian energy sector.
