"Tango" for the oligarch

The US Ministry of Justice reported how he controls the compliance with sanctions: property arrests, confiscation, criminal cases

On February 24, the US Department of Justice issued several press releases at once with a transfer of punishments that Russia and a number of prominent Russians were subjected to the year, which has expired from the day the military operation began in Ukraine. As noted in the preamble to the main press release, dozens of prosecutors, investigators, analysts and other employees of all departments of the Ministry of Justice along with their partners from Ukraine and from all over the globe are tirelessly working on the corresponding measures. Based on their collective experience, the Ministry of Justice is engaged in "new initiatives to defeat criminal groups that support Russia's military efforts."

Over the past year, avuars or property of more than $ 500 million were seized or blocked, "belonging to Russian oligarchs or other persons who illegally supported the Russian regime and bypassed the US economic countermeasures."

Two luxurious yachts are confiscated: “Tango” worth $ 90 million belonging to the authorized oligarch Viktor Vekselberg and located in Spain, and the Amadea Megaamit worth $ 300 million, owned by Suleiman Karimov and seized at Fiji.

The confiscation of 10 real estate objects with a total value of more than $ 100 million, "associated with Russian oligarchs or their accomplices, are blocked and are in confiscation. They include two condominiums in Beverly Hills, three luxurious objects in New York and Washington, an estate in Southampton (Long Island), an apartment on Fischer Island (Florida) and a penthaus on the same Fisher Island.

The Ministry of Justice petitioned the court of confiscation of 4 aircraft: Boeing-737-7, worth $ 45 million owned by Lukoil, two aircraft worth more than $ 400 million belonging to Roman Abramovich, and Aerbas-A319-100, worth $ 90 million owned by the authorized oligarch Andrei Skotch.

The Ministry of Justice approved an unprecedented transfer to the State Department of $ 5.4 million, confiscated from the authorized oligarch Konstantin Malofeev, for the needs of the restoration of Ukraine,

He attracted more than 30 individuals and two legal entities accused of violating sanctions and export control, laundering money and other crimes, and achieved in 2022 the arrest of suspects in a number of countries.

Malofeev, Andrei Derkach and Oleg Deripaska, as well as Russian politician Alexander Babakov, accused of violation of sanctions were involved in the court. Things were brought against the assistants of the oligarchs who helped them bypassing the sanctions, including against: the American television producer Jack Hernik, who allegedly helped Malofeev in the organization of the Tsargrad television channel and an attempt to create pro-Russian television channels in Bulgaria and Greece, and the American entrepreneur Graham Bonham Carter (he supposedly helped Deripaska to finance his real estate In the United States and take works of art to Russia).

The Ministry of Justice also attracted a number of smuggling groups to the court, trying to acquire dual -use technology and military equipment for Russia.

In particular, the case was initiated against six people, including the alleged “FSB officer” living in Estonia (the surname is known for the editorial office) and two US citizens. The defendants are accused of conspiracy in order to purchase the above goods from American companies and send them to Russia. US law enforcement agencies seized dual -purpose products from smugglers, some of which were also found on the battlefields in Ukraine.

The Americans disabled the global botnet, in their opinion, controlled by the GRU.

The US Ministry of Justice, together with his foreign partners, took measures to disrupt attempts to use American telephone applications to identify the positions of the Ukrainian military, conduct distributed attacks such as refusal to serve Ukrainian infrastructure, break the accounts used by Ukrainian troops, and place the removal.

A group was formed on responsibility for war crimes, which included prosecutors specializing in cases of violation of human rights and who received the title of senior specialists.

A few months ago, a Kleptocapture Interdepartmental working group was created in the United States, which was instructed to monitor compliance with “Ukrainian” sanctions, export restrictions and economic countermeasures introduced by Washington. Information support is provided to her by another interdepartmental working group called “Russian elites, their authorized (Proxies) and oligarchs,” which collects information about specific persons and shares it with foreign colleagues, and also takes specific measures - such as sanctions, freezing assets, confiscation and criminal prosecutions.

Another press release issued by the Ministry of Justice of the United States reports to attract the 47-year-old Muscovite Ilya Balakaev for the alleged bouquet of crimes, first of all, the removal of devices to Russia, which are used by the FSB for counterintelligence operations against the United States. In addition, Balakaev is accused of illegally exporting a gas detector and related software intended for the DPRK, which was represented by the first secretary of its embassy in Moscow.

On the same day, the US Ministry of Education deprived of export privileges of both Balakaev himself and his company Radio Tester - so far for 180 days, but with the prospect of extension.

If you believe the indictment, from 2017 to the present moment Balakaev allegedly had a contract with the FSB division, responsible for the safety of government communications and cryptographic support.

His responsibilities included repairing spectrum analyzers and signals used in reconnaissance equipment and to transmit secret messages. Since in Russia these devices are inaccessible, Balakaev, according to the Ministry of Justice, started a network of people in the United States who are ready to help him in their acquisition. Then he seemed to be smuggled into Russia.

Theoretically, Balakaev, who is put on the wanted list, threatens up to 75 years in prison.

The third press release that appeared on Friday reports that

that the Manhattan Federal Prosecutor's Office petitioned the trial of the Southern District of New York on the confiscation of six real estate, bought in the United States Victor Vekselberg.

Real estate was purchased even before sanctions were imposed on the oligarch, and at the moment it is at about 75 million dollars.

The prosecutor's office claims that the costs of maintaining real estate purchased by an oligarch between 2008 and 2017 through a number of companies were paid in violation of the sanctions by his friend and confidant Vladimir Voronchenko, who was in absentia involved in court on February 7. As early as May 13 last year, the feds presented Voronchenko at Fisher Island, according to which he was supposed to appear in a large jury for testimony and provide him with documents. The Russian did not appear on the large jury. Nine days later, he sat in Miami on a plane and went to Dubai, and from there to Moscow and the USA no longer returned.