PRESS RELEASES
U.S. Treasury Severs More Networks Providing Support for Putin and Russia’s Elites
June 2, 2022
Targeting key nodes of Russian attempts to evade unprecedented U.S. sanctions
Kremlin elites, luxury assets, and Putin’s favored yachts blocked
WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is taking further action to degrade the key networks used by Russia’s elites, including President Vladimir Putin, to attempt to hide and move money and anonymously make use of luxury assets around the globe. Today’s action targets a Kremlin-aligned yacht brokerage, several prominent Russian government officials, and a close Putin associate and money-manager, Sergei Roldugin, who is a custodian of President Putin’s offshore wealth. In order to further tighten and enforce existing sanctions, this action further identifies yachts and aircraft in which sanctioned...
1) See Introductory Note Common to all Derivative Designation Notices Included in the Research System, and query whether the Imperial Yachts designation qualifies as a "quasi-secondary sanctions" action. We have included this announcement for the avoidance of doubt, since it is arguably the first secondary sanctions-like action taken against Russia since the start of the Ukraine invasion, but in this case the entity at issue, while based in Monaco, is arguably alleged to have engaged in illicit conduct. It is not clear whether the context of "hide, move, and maintain their wealth and luxury assets" is transactions that are otherwise legal in the jurisdictions having authority over the transactions.