Assets, Frozen
Afghans Urge Court Not to Give Frozen Central Bank Assets to Sept. 11 Families
WASHINGTON — Exiled Afghans are urging a federal judge to reject the effort by relatives of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks to seize $3.5 billion in frozen Afghan central bank funds to pay off judgment debts owed by the Taliban, recent court filings show. In three filings, groups of Afghans argued that the frozen […]
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Why Selling Off Russian Oligarchs’ Assets Will Take Years
The U.S. government was so pleased with its swift seizure of a Russian oligarch’s 255-foot yacht on the Mediterranean island of Majorca last month that it posted a video on YouTube of the moment F.B.I. agents and Spanish authorities clambered up the gangplank. The $90 million yacht owned by Viktor Vekselberg, called the Tango, was […]
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American Officials Believe They Have Located Putin’s Yacht
WASHINGTON — American officials are examining the ownership of a $700 million superyacht currently in a dry dock at an Italian seacoast town, and believe it could be associated with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, according to multiple people briefed on the information. United States intelligence agencies have made no final conclusions about the […]
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How Roman Abramovich, a Russian Oligarch, Found Himself Under Sanctions
As Russian troops massed near the border with Ukraine last month, the American ambassador to Israel received an appeal on behalf of Roman Abramovich, the most visible of the billionaires linked to President Vladimir V. Putin. Leaders of cultural, educational and medical institutions, along with a chief rabbi, had sent a letter urging the United […]
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A 459-Foot Mystery in a Tuscan Port: Is It a Russian’s Superyacht?
One trade website, which bills itself as “the global authority in superyachting,” claims that the vessel’s owner is “known to be a Middle Eastern billionaire.” The Scheherazade shares a name with the female storyteller in “The Arabian Nights,” and it made one brief foray into the Red Sea in September 2020, calling at the Egyptian […]
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Justice Dept. Announces Task Force to Go After Russian Oligarchs
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department announced on Wednesday the creation of a task force to go after billionaire oligarchs who have aided President Vladimir V. Putin in his invasion of Ukraine, part of an effort by the United States to seize and freeze the assets of those who have violated sanctions. The task force will […]
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Laundered Money Could Be Putin’s Achilles’ Heel
The United States and its allies aren’t going to intervene with their own forces against Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. I’ll leave it to others with relevant expertise to speculate about whether we’ll send more arms to the Ukrainian government or, if the Russian attack achieves quick success, help arm the Ukrainian resistance. For the […]
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