RTSat, 04 Feb 2023 08:58 UTC
© Drew Angerer/AFP/Getty Images North AmericaUS Attorney General Merrick Garland (2nd from left)
Money confiscated from a Russian businessman will be made available to 'support the people of Ukraine'
US Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on Friday the first transfer of assets, confiscated as part of anti-Russia sanctions, [will go] to Ukraine to pay for the country's reconstruction.
The measure affects $5.4 million expropriated from Russian businessman Konstantin Malofeyev on charges of sanctions evasion, according to the top official.
"With my authorization today, forfeited funds will next be transferred to the State Department to support the people of Ukraine."
Garland added that the funds were confiscated following an indictment against Malofeyev, issued last April.
Earlier this week, a federal court in New York allowed prosecutors to confiscate $5.4 million belonging to Malofeyev, paving the way for the funds to be used to help rebuild Ukraine.
In June, millions were seized from a US bank account belonging to Malofeyev, against whom the US Treasury Department announced sanctions in April
"for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly" the Russian government.The businessman, who owns Russian Orthodox Christian channel Tsargrad TV, has been on the US sanctions list since 2014. Malofeyev previously claimed that he had no holdings in the West since then.In December, US President Joe Biden signed legislation allowing the Department of Justice to transfer some forfeited assets to the State Department to aid Ukraine.
US law restricts how the government can use such assets.
Comment: Instances of ongoing forfeitures of private Russian assets:
The United States has already been working with allies and partners to track down assets all over the world:
- In March, the U.S., led by the Department of the Treasury and Department of Justice, launched the Russian Elites, Proxies, and Oligarchs Task Force with international partners to coordinate the freezing and seizing of Russian assets around the world.
- So far, member states in the European Union have reported freezing over $30 billion in assets, including almost $7 billion in boats, helicopters, real estate, and artwork.
- Dozens of yachts have been seized by REPO Task Force member countries. The U.S. Treasury has sanctioned and blocked vessels and aircraft worth over $1 billion, as well as frozen hundreds of millions of dollars of assets belonging to Russian elites in U.S. bank accounts.
- Last week, in the wake of criminal charges, Treasury designated a global sanctions evasion network associated with Konstantin Malofeyev, crack downing on the movement of illicit assets.
- Earlier this month, the Department of Justice announced that Spain seized a 255-foot, $90 million yacht of sanctioned Russian Oligarch Viktor Vekselberg at the request of United States.
Comment: Instances of ongoing forfeitures of private Russian assets: