WASHINGTON D.C.
Spanish law enforcement on Monday executed a Spanish court order freezing the Tango, a 255-foot luxury yacht, officials stated.
The yacht is owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg.
Spanish authorities acted upon the request from the U.S. Department of Justice.
A U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. alleged that the Tango was subject to forfeiture based on violation of U.S. bank fraud, money laundering, and sanction statutes.
Separately, seizure warrants obtained in the
The federal court also target approximately $625,000 associated with sanctioned parties held at nine U.S. financial institutions.
Those seizures are based on sanctions violations by several Russian specially designated nationals.
Note: Footage of the seizure is available here. View the statement from the Attorney General on today’s seizure here.
According to documents filed in this case, the U.S. investigation alleges that Vekselberg bought the Tango in 2011 and has owned it continuously since that time.
It further alleges that Vekselberg used shell companies to obfuscate his interest in the Tango to avoid bank oversight into U.S. dollar transactions related thereto.
Additionally, after Vekselberg was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department on April 6, 2018, the warrant alleges that Vekselberg and those working on his behalf continued to make U.S. dollar payments through U.S. banks for the support and maintenance of the Tango and its owners.
It also included payment for a December 2020 stay at a luxury water villa resort in the Maldives and mooring fees for the yacht.
Vekselberg had an interest in these payments and therefore a license was required from the Treasury Department, which was not obtained, the court document alleges.
“Today marks our taskforce’s first seizure of an asset belonging to a sanctioned individual with close ties to the Russian regime. It will not be the last,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “Together, with our international partners, we will do everything possible to hold accountable any individual whose criminal acts enable the Russian government to continue its unjust war.”