The U.S. Department of Justice has published a statement about enforcing sweeping sanctions, new charges, arrests and forfeiture proceedings.
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said, ”We are announcing several additional enforcement actions that the Justice Department has taken to bring prosecutions against and seize assets of sanctioned enablers of the Kremlin and Russian military.”
”Our Task Force KleptoCapture has restrained, seized, and obtained judgments to forfeit nearly $700 million in assets from Russian enablers and charged more than 70 individuals for violating international sanctions”
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco
According to the statement, In the Southern District of New York, the Department unsealed charges against three people, including sanctioned Russian oligarch Andrey Kostin and two of his U.S.-based facilitators. The facilitators, Vadim Wolfson, aka Vadim Belyaev and Gannon Bond, were arrested.
As alleged in the indictment, Andrey Kostin, who was sanctioned by OFAC on April 6, 2018, participated in a scheme to evade sanctions and launder funds to support two superyachts, collectively worth over $135 million.
Additionally, in the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta-based dual national Feliks Medvedev pleaded guilty to his role in laundering over $150 million through bank accounts and shell companies on behalf of Russian clients, the Department of Justice reported.
Another case in the Southern District of Florida, when the US filed a civil forfeiture complaint against two Miami luxury condominium properties owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Perevalov, whose properties were valued at approximately $2.5 million.
