U.S. blacklists sanctions-evasion network of Russian oligarch

U.S. blacklists sanctions-evasion network of Russian oligarch
by Darryl Coote
Washington DC (UPI) May 15, 2024

The Biden administration has sanctioned a network of companies and a Russian businessman on accusations of participating in a sanctions-evasion scheme to offload $1.5 billion worth of frozen shares owned by U.S.-designated oligarch Oleg Vladimirovich Deripaska.

The complicated scheme involved 56-year-old Russian businessman Dmitrii Aleksandrovich Beloglazov, whom the Treasury said worked with Deripaska to sell the Russian tycoon's shares of an unidentified European company, which is believed to be Austrian construction firm Strabag SE.

The deal would have seen Deripaska's frozen shares being held by investment holding company Rasperia Trading Limited sold to Raiffeisen.

The Austrian bank had announced the acquisition of 28.5 million Strabag shares from Rasperia late last year, but called the deal off last week.

In a statement on May 8, it said it was "unable to obtain the required comfort" to continue with the acquisition of Stragag SE.

"In an abundance of caution, the bank has decided to walk away from the deal," it said.

According to the Treasury, the sanctions-evasion scheme was concocted between Beloglazov and Deripaska in June, and involved Beloglazov's firm, Obshchestvo S Ogranichennoi Otvetstvennostiu Titul creating a subsidiary, named Aktsionernoe Obshchestvo Iliadis, which then acquired Rasperia.

Beloglazov, Titul, Iliadis and Rasperia were all sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury on Tuesday, freezing all U.S. assets in their names while barring all U.S. persons from doing business with them.

"Treasury will continue to take action to protect the integrity of our multilateral sanctions regime and stop evasion by the Kremlin and its oligarch enablers," Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement.

"Anyone still doing business in or with Russia should be skeptical of supposed divestment schemes that involve shell companies or proxies linked to sanctioned oligarchs. Corporate sales and acquisitions can be abused for money laundering and sanctions evasion."

Deripaska was first sanctioned by the United States in 2018 along with six other oligarchs for their connection to the Russian government.

He was then indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2022 on accusations of sanctions evasions, including using the U.S. financial system to maintain three luxury properties in the United States.

Deripaska has also been sanctioned by Australia, Britain, Canada, the European Union, New Zealand.