US police raid properties of Russian oligarch
US law enforcement on Thursday raided two properties of Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, an ally of President Vladimir Putin under sanctions, reported the NBC News channel.
Federal agents and local police officers with arms laden with boxes were seen leaving an apartment on upscale Park Avenue in New York and a vacation home in the Hamptons, a popular destination near New York. Both properties belong to the Russian oligarch, according to NBC, which cites US Treasury documents. Authorities are also searching a property on Miami’s Fisher Island believed to be linked to Mr. Vekselberg, the outlet added.
The businessman heads the Renova Group, a conglomerate based in Moscow, and he is one of the Russian oligarchs targeted by Western sanctions taken after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. His assets in the United States have been frozen and American companies have been banned from doing business with him and his businesses. He is also being investigated by the US Department of Justice for bank fraud, but no charges have been filed, according to NBC.
Spain had already seized in April, at the request of the United States, a yacht worth 90 million euros belonging to Viktor Vekselberg. Washington had announced in March the creation of a cell intended for the prosecution of “corrupt Russian oligarchs” and of all those who would violate the sanctions adopted by the Biden administration against Moscow. Since then, Americans have “sanctioned and blocked ships and planes worth more than a billion, as well as freezing hundreds of millions of dollars of assets of Russian elites in American accounts”according to the White House.
President Joe Biden hopes to be able to liquidate these assets and use the money to compensate for the damage Ukraine has suffered.