The U.S. Treasury Department announced on Thursday that it blocked a $1 billion trust fund connected to sanctioned Russian oligarch Suleiman Abusaidovich Kerimov.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February, the United States and its allies have embarked on a campaign of economic sanctions against members of the Russian government and Russian state enterprises.
Delaware-based Heritage Trust received a Notification of Blocked Property from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which informed the company that it would be treated “to the same prohibitions applicable to Kerimov” since “Heritage Trust was formed … for the purpose of holding and managing Kerimov’s U.S.-based assets,” according to a Treasury Department press release.
OFAC designated Kerimov, a member of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, as “part of a group of Russian oligarchs who profit from the Russian government through corruption and its malign activity around the globe,” according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The Treasury Department first sanctioned Kerimov in 2018 as part of a package of targeted sanctions intended to punish Russian leaders for annexing Crimea and instigating separatist violence in eastern Ukraine.
“Treasury continues using the full range of our tools to expose and disrupt those who seek to evade our sanctions and hide their ill-gotten gains,” stated Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen in a press release.
She continued, “Even as Russian elites hide behind proxies and complex legal arrangements, Treasury will use our broad enforcement authorities, as well as our partnerships through the [Russian Elites, Proxies, and Oligarchs] Task Force, to actively implement the multilaterally coordinated sanctions imposed on those who fund and benefit from Russia’s war against Ukraine.”
As reported by The Dallas Express, Kerimov recently made headlines when authorities in Fiji seized his $300-million yacht at the request of the U.S. government.