The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has removed Swiss businessman Alexander Studhalter, as well as several entities linked to him, from its sanctions list, including MG International AG, Papa Oscar Ventures GmbH, and SCI AAA Properties.
Alexander Studhalter’s companies and he himself were sanctioned in 2022 after OFAC alleged that he had been a key figure in Suleiman Kerimov’s financial network and had allegedly laundered large amounts of money for Kerimov.
Suleiman Kerimov is a prominent Russian businessman and former government official who was designated by OFAC in 2018 as an official of Russia’s government. He has also been sanctioned by other countries, including Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
In June 2022, the OFAC issued a Notification of Blocked Property to the Heritage Trust, a Delaware-based entity with which Kerimov had an interest in property. As of June 30, 2021, Heritage Trust had assets valued at more than $1 billion. An extensive investigation by OFAC revealed that Kerimov used relatives, advisors, and opaque legal entities to invest in the US, and used a complex series of structures and front companies to hide his interest in the Heritage Trust.
