• The superyacht, Tango, was seized at the Marina Real in the port of Palma de Mallorca,
The US government seized Russian billionaire, Viktor Vekselberg’s luxury yacht in Spain.
The oligarch has close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin and heads the Moscow-based conglomerate, Renova Group. The company encompasses metals, mining, tech, and other assets, according to US Treasury Department documents.
Vekselberg’s assets in the US are frozen and US companies are forbidden from doing business with him and his entities.
The superyacht, Tango, was seized by Spain’s Civil Guard and US federal agents, at the Marina Real in the port of Palma de Mallorca, the capital of Spain’s Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea.
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Although Vekselberg hasn’t officially been charged with any crime, the warrant, issued by the FBI, against him accused him of conspiring to commit bank fraud and money laundering.
The bureau accused Vekselberg of using these tactics to obscure his ownership in Tango, reported CNBC.
The FBI warrant alleged that “Vekselberg caused payments for the TANGO to be run through various shell companies to prevent U.S. financial institutions from accurately executing their KYC [Know Your Customer] controls and to avoid the filing of SARs [Suspicious Activity Reports] related to his financial transactions.”
The West has been sanctioning wealthy oligarchs over the globe to squeeze out the wealth used by Russian President Vladimir Putin, to fuel the war against Ukraine.
Inputs from CNBC