DOJ Announces Flurry of Russia-Related Enforcement Actions

DOJ last week announced a set of new charges, arrests and forfeiture proceedings to mark the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The agency announced forfeiture actions involving $2.5 million in luxury properties, arrested two U.S. residents for helping a Russian violate sanctions, charged two sanctioned oligarchs with violating U.S. restrictions and more.

One case targets sanctioned oligarch Andrey Kostin and two of his U.S.-based facilitators, Vadim Wolfson and Gannon Bond, who were arrested Feb. 22. The agency said Kostin tried to evade sanctions and launder funds to “support” two superyachts worth more than $135 million and a $13.5 million luxury home in Colorado owned by Kostin. Kostin, Wolfson, Bond and others allegedly violated the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to provide funds, goods and services for Kostin, including by selling the home. Kostin remains at large.

In a separate case, the U.S. charged pro-Russian Ukrainian oligarch Sergey Vitalievich Kurchenko, believed to be living in Moscow, with violating IEEPA and U.S. sanctions as part of a yearslong scheme to do business in the U.S. Kurchenko and others allegedly used a network of shell companies to sell metal products in the U.S., DOJ said, and he also laundered money by transferring funds into and out of the U.S. Kurchenko allegedly met with U.S. buyers in Moscow to negotiate metal transactions between entities that he owned and controlled, ultimately conducting $330 million in transactions with American buyers.

DOJ also filed a civil forfeiture complaint involving two Florida condominiums with ties to Viktor Perevalov and Valeri Abramov, co-founders of VAD, AO, a Russia-based construction company. DOJ said they used a complex scheme involving a Miami real estate agent to lease the properties, which were worth about $2.5 million combined.

Another indictment charges Vladislav Osipov, a Russian national living in Switzerland, with five new counts of bank fraud in connection with a 255-foot luxury superyacht that DOJ said is owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg. The Cook Islands registered boat, named the Tango, was the first superyacht belonging to a sanctioned person with close ties to the Russian regime to be seized by the U.S. after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Osipov remains at large, and DOJ is offering up to $1 million for information leading to his arrest or conviction.

Another case involves a guilty plea by Feliks Medvedev, a Russian national living in Georgia who ran an unlicensed money transmitting business to illegally transmit over $150 million (see 2402230030).

The cases were coordinated through DOJ's Task Force KleptoCapture, an interagency law enforcement group focused on enforcing sanctions against Russia. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said the task force has "restrained, seized and obtained" judgments to forfeit nearly $700 million in Russian assets and charged more than 70 people for violating Russia-related sanctions and export controls over the last two years.