Vladimir Voronchenko escaped from Miami to Moscow to avoid accusations of breaking US sanctions against the owner of Renova.
Vekselberg’s friend is facing a housing issue.
U.S. Attorney’s Office charged Vladimir VoroncheNKO, a businessman from Russia with permanent residence in the United States, conspiring to circumvent sanctions against billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, money laundering and contempt of court, the US Department of Justice said.
The Russian could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison for each of the first two charges, which is the maximum penalty under the law. VoroncheThe NKO evaded justice by leaving the United States for Moscow via Dubai.
The indictment states that Voronchenko “established himself as a successful businessman, collector and art dealer, as well as a close friend and business partner of Viktor Vekselberg”, and that he had a permanent residence permit in the United States and lived at various times in New York, Southampton (State of New York), and Fisher Island, Florida.
According to US prosecutors, VoroncheThe NPO spent $4 million to maintain Vekselberg’s apartments and house in New York and Florida after the billionaire was sanctioned in 2018. He also attempted to sell two of the four properties owned by Vekselberg. The Ministry of Justice claims that between 2007 and 2018, Vekselberg acquired four properties in the United States: an apartment in the city of New York, a country house in the state of the same name, and two apartments in Florida. The estimated cost of all objects is $75 million, the report says.
Prosecutors believe that before being included in the sanctions lists in 2018, payments related to the maintenance of apartments and a country house were made by “front companies owned by Vekselberg” (about 90 bank transfers totaling about $18.5 million). Later they began to come from accounts associated with companies VoroncheNCO (25 bank transfers from June 2018 to March 2022 for a total amount of about $4 million). In mid-May 2022, FBI agents handed Voronchenko subpoena, at the end of may he took a flight from Miami (Florida) to Dubai (UAE), and then went to Moscow. VoroncheThe NCO did not stand trial and did not return to the United States, the Justice Department said in a statement.
The prosecutor’s office is ready to “confiscate from VoroncheNCO proceeds from its crimes, including property.” A charge of contempt of court carries the maximum penalty at the discretion of the court. On charges of conspiracy to circumvent sanctions and money laundering, it is 20 years in prison. The case is being coordinated by the US Department of Justice task force KleptoCapture, which is tasked with enforcing sanctions imposed in response to Russia’s NWO in Ukraine.
On September 1, the FBI and the US Department of Homeland Security raided an apartment and house that may be associated with Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg. We are talking about real estate in New York and Florida. It is reported by NBC News.
According to AP, the properties that were searched belong to Vekselberg’s childhood friend Vladimir VoroncheNGOs or companies associated with family and partners Voronchenko. VoroncheNKO was the founding director of the St. Petersburg museum, built to store the collection of the oligarch – Faberge eggs. According to media reports, during a search of an apartment in Manhattan, FBI agents “carried out boxes.”
In January, the US Department of Justice charged Russian and British businessmen Vladislav Osipov and Richard Masters with helping Vekselberg circumvent sanctions. Prosecutors believe that they were trying to withdraw from the sanctions the Tango yacht, the ownership of which is attributed to Vekselberg. Masters, 52, was detained in Spain with a view to extradition to the United States, and an arrest warrant was issued against Osipov, 51, the US Department of Justice said.
In March 2022, the US Treasury decided to block the Tango yacht and plane, which, according to the agency, are associated with Vekselberg. In April, the Spanish Civil Guard, at the request of the FBI, arrested the Tango yacht, which was at the shipyard in Mallorca. The US Department of Justice then stated that Vekselberg acquired Tango in 2011 and used front companies to hide his involvement in the yacht.
The billionaire said last spring that the re-inclusion on the sanctions list “is not only unfounded, but also seems to be based on demonstrably unfounded assumptions.” Vekselberg and Renova controlled by him fell under US sanctions in 2018, after which Vekselberg’s accounts in Switzerland for $1.02 billion were blocked. Vekselberg, who in 2022 ranked 22nd in the Forbes ranking of the richest businessmen in Russia with a fortune estimated at $5.5 billion, appealed this decision in a US court.
