The yacht named ‘Tango’ owned by Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg who was sanctioned by the US March 11 is seen at Palma de Mallorca Yacht Club March 15, 2022 on the Spanish island of Mallorca, Spain.
Juan Medina | Reuters
US authorities accused Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg of conspiring to commit bank fraud and money laundering when his megayacht was seized in Spain on Monday.
Vekselberg, who was born in Ukraine but founded Russia-based conglomerate Renova Group, saw his yacht, named Tango, seized by Spanish investigators after he was sanctioned by US and Western allies.
The latest US sanctions were imposed after Russia invaded Ukraine. The sanctions targeted Vekselberg’s yacht and private jet.
Spanish authorities impounded the boat following a request from the U.S. Department of Justice, the ministry said in a statement. Video posted on the Justice Department’s YouTube page shows the FBI and Spanish authorities boarding Vekselberg’s yacht.
Tango is over 250 feet long and reportedly worth $90 million, the Justice Department said. Vekselberg was among a group of oligarchs sanctioned by former President Donald Trump’s administration in 2018. Forbes estimates his net worth at just under $6 billion.
Vekselberg’s yacht is the latest property of a Russian oligarch confiscated after the invasion of Ukraine. The US and its allies have tried to pressure Russia’s elite to punish Moscow for the war.
A new warrant for the yacht’s impoundment, signed by a Federal Bureau of Investigation official, provides insight into allegations that Vekselberg was conspiring to commit bank fraud and money laundering. The FBI accused Vekselberg of using this tactic to disguise his ownership of Tango.
A Vekselberg representative did not respond to a request for comment.
The warrant claimed that “Vekselberg arranged for payments for the TANGO to be processed through various shell companies to prevent US financial institutions from correctly executing their KYC [Know Your Customer] controls and to avoid the filing of suspicious transaction reports [Suspicious Activity Reports] in connection with its financial transactions.”
The FBI warrant says the alleged scheme is linked to a network of little-known companies that have a financial interest in Vekselberg’s yacht. Many of those small businesses have ties to the Russian billionaire, the bureau said.
The FBI added that the alleged scheme has been ongoing since 2011.
According to the arrest warrant, the yacht belongs to a company called Arinter. The FBI said one of the company’s organizational heads, RE.AM Management Limited, has a sister company in Russia of the same name that has a direct relationship with Vekselberg’s Renova company.
Arinter’s executives are two Panamanian nationals who are also officers of a company called Lamesa Transport LLC, according to the warrant. The limited liability company “appears to be a subsidiary of other shell companies owned or controlled by Vekselberg,” the FBI said.
“This complicated management and ownership structure appears to be designed to disguise Vekselberg’s connection to the TANGO in order to protect the ship from investigations into payments made on its behalf,” the office claimed.