Vekselberg’s friend is facing a housing issue
The US Attorney’s Office has accused Vladimir Voronchenko, a Russian businessman with permanent residence in the US, of plotting to evade sanctions against the billionaire. Viktor VekselbergThe US Department of Justice reported charges of money laundering and contempt of court.
The Russian could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison for each of the first two charges since Voronchenko evaded justice in May last year by leaving the US for Moscow via Dubai.
Between 2008 and 2017, Viktor Vekselberg, through a series of shell companies, bought several expensive properties in the US: an apartment on Park Avenue in New York, a mansion in Southampton, New York, and two apartments in Miami, Florida.
According to US prosecutors, Voronchenko paid $4 million to maintain Vekselberg’s apartments and home 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 from 2007 to 2018, Vekselberg bought four properties in the US: an apartment in New York City, a country home in the same state, and two apartments in Florida. The total value of all properties is $75 million, the report states.
Prosecutors believe that before being included in the sanctions lists in 2018, payments for 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 connected to Voronchenko’s companies (25 bank transfers from June 2018 to March 2022, amounting to about $4 million). In mid-May 2022, FBI agents served Voronchenko with a subpoena, and by the end of May, he flew from Miami (Florida) to Dubai (UAE), and then went to Moscow. Voronchenko didn't go to trial and did not return to the US, according to a statement from the Justice Department.
The prosecutor’s office is prepared to “seize from Voronchenko the proceeds of his crimes, including property.” The contempt of court charge carries the maximum penalty at the court's discretion. For the charges of conspiracy to evade sanctions and money laundering, the possible imprisonment is 20 years. The case is being handled by the US Department of Justice task force KleptoCapture, which is responsible for enforcing sanctions imposed in response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
According to AP, the properties that were searched belong to Vekselberg’s childhood friend Vladimir Voronchenko or companies associated with Voronchenko’s family and partners. Voronchenko was the founding director of the St. Petersburg museum, built to house the oligarch’s collection of 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 with helping Vekselberg circumvent sanctions. Vladislav Osipov And Richard Masters. 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. US Department of Justice then declaredthat Vekselberg purchased Tango in 2011 and used front companies to hide his involvement in the yacht.
Billionaire declared 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 blocked. Vekselberg, who took 22nd place in 2022 rating of the richest businessmen in Russia according to Forbes with a fortune estimated at $ 5.5 billion, appealed This is a decision in an American court.
