Liechtenstein joined the international sanctions against Russia even faster than Switzerland, which was closely intertwined with the Principality. Not everyone there liked that; least of all the trustees who have long been willing to serve wealthy and dubious Russian clients. Trustees have been involved in almost every Liechtenstein black money and money laundering scandal of the past. And for months, case after case has emerged where trustees from the principality personally helped Russian oligarchs and allegedly even Vladimir Putin to camouflage foreign assets.
Now, for the first time, the US government has placed a Liechtenstein trustee and one of his employees, as well as an intermediary working in customer acquisition, on its sanctions lists. The focus is on the company Sequoia Treuhand Trust, located in the municipality of Ruggell. The sanctions authority OFAC, which is affiliated with the US Treasury Department, accuses it of close business involvement in the innermost circle of Russian ruler Vladimir Putin. For example, to his friend and confidante Gennady Timchenko, with whom Putin not only shares enthusiasm for ice hockey and judo. Experts estimate the fortune of Timchenko and his family at 18.5 billion US dollars.
He used the services of the Ruggell trustee as did Alisher Usmanov. OFAC accuses Sequoia of “managing luxury properties associated with the oligarch.” Usmanov is considered one of the richest men in Russia and also a personal friend of Putin. His name has been on Western sanctions lists since 2022. Usmanov’s and Timchenko’s names are also on the Liechtenstein sanctions list, which is why the authorities there are now investigating whether the trust company violated it. The company gave an initial statement to the Vaduz newspaper fatherland surprised and ignorant: “We are doing everything we can to get clarity as quickly as possible about why the sanctions were imposed.”
So far, the authorities have not attracted any attention to cracking down on trustees
Sequoia – the name is based on a sequoia species that is considered to be particularly robust and stable – is not the first time that it has been noticed in connection with questionable Russian transactions. The company is also said to be involved in a construct used by an offshore company to disguise Vladimir Putin as the actual owner of an ocean-going yacht called Graceful. The ship, valued at US$ 150 million, was anchored in Hamburg before disappearing just before Russia attacked Ukraine. Ownership was camouflaged by a convoluted offshore construct; a specialty of Liechtenstein trustees. A Panamanian company plays a role in which the Sequoia operator was at least involved. You have to know: When the state of Liechtenstein began to soften banking secrecy for foreign customers, many trustees exported their questionable business models to Panama – and used them indirectly. Within Liechtenstein, trustees are considered to be the biggest brakes when it comes to the “white money strategy” proclaimed by the government and the Princely House, according to which the Liechtenstein financial center wants to become clean according to international standards.
Not only Sequoia, but also other Liechtenstein trustees have numerous Russian billionaires in their customer files who have fallen into disrepute in connection with the Ukraine war. Due to a lack of glamour, the small country in the upper Rhine valley was never the meeting point of the Russian jet set like relevant hotspots in Switzerland or Austria. Russians also do not own villas or other real estate in Liechtenstein. Rather, they use the principality to organize their international business and have it processed anonymously from there. The question of whether sanctions will be circumvented in the process is becoming increasingly urgent.
The case of the “Luna” yacht, which was confiscated in Hamburg after the outbreak of the Ukraine war, attracted attention. It is registered in a Liechtenstein-registered company managed by a trustee in Schaan, backed by Farchad Akhmedow, an Uzbek billionaire and Putin ally. Igor Schuvalov, former Russian Deputy Prime Minister and head of the state bank for foreign trade, disguised his luxury property “Waldschlössl” on Lake Attersee in Austria with the help of Liechtenstein trustees and letterbox companies. A generally popular tactic by Russians who want to camouflage their Western real estate holdings. Another son of an oligarch who owns Tuscan villas through Liechtenstein companies and trustees also knew this. So far, the Liechtenstein authorities have not attracted attention by cracking down on trustees. Instead, they boast of having frozen a good 250 million. That could only be part of the truth.