(New York) US law enforcement officials on Thursday raided two properties of Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, an ally of President Vladimir Putin, under sanctions, NBC News reported.
Posted at 6:30 am yesterday
Federal agents and local police left an apartment on New York’s luxury Park Avenue and a vacation home in the Hamptons, a popular destination near New York, loaded with boxes.
Both properties are owned by Russian oligarchs, according to NBC, citing US Treasury documents.
Authorities are also searching a property on Miami’s Fisher Island believed to be connected to Vekselberg.
Mr Vekselberg heads the Moscow-based conglomerate Renova Group and is one of the Russian oligarchs targeted by sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
His assets in the United States were frozen and American companies were banned from doing business with him and his businesses.
The US Department of Justice is also investigating him for bank fraud, but no charges have been filed, according to NBC.
Spain had already seized Viktor Vekselberg’s 90 million euro superyacht at the request of the United States in April.
The United States announced in March the creation of a cell dedicated to prosecuting “corrupt Russian oligarchs” and all violators of Washington-approved sanctions against Moscow.
Photo by John Rocca, Associated Press
Victor Vekselberg’s house in Southampton.
Since then, the Americans have “sanctioned and blocked more than a billion worth of ships and aircraft, as well as frozen hundreds of millions of dollars in assets of Russian elites in American accounts,” according to House. -White.
President Joe Biden hopes to liquidate these assets and use the money to compensate for the damage Ukraine has suffered.
In early August, Washington announced new economic sanctions against Russian companies and oligarchs close to President Vladimir Putin, including Andrei Guriev, who owns the largest private property in London behind Buckingham Palace.
