Spain, FBI Seize Billionaire Vekselberg’s $99 Million Yacht

(Bloomberg) -- A yacht belonging to Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg was confiscated in Spain at the request of the U.S. government, which said it was the first -- but definitely not the last -- asset seizure targeting individuals close to Vladimir Putin.

“Together, with our international partners, we will do everything possible to hold accountable any individual whose criminal acts enable the Russian government to continue its unjust war,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

The 78-meter-long (256 feet) ship called Tango is valued at more than 90 million euros ($99 million). The yacht has been impounded at the port of Palma de Mallorca by the police in coordination with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to a statement from the Spanish Civil Guard on Monday.

Vekselberg, who's chairman of Renova Management AG and is worth $16.9 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, has been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control but not the European Union. The Cook Islands-flagged vessel is registered by a Virgin Islands-based entity, managed in turn by other firms located in Panama, the police said.

The seizure was coordinated through the U.S. Justice Department's Task Force KleptoCapture, an inter-agency group aimed at imposing stiff penalties on wealthy Russians in response to Moscow's military invasion of Ukraine.

“Today marks our task force's first seizure of an asset belonging to a sanctioned individual with close ties to the Russian regime,” Garland said. “It will not be the last.”

Vekselberg has been under OFAC sanctions since 2018, in part over Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea and other earlier actions taken against Ukraine. Last month, the U.S. government redesignated Vekselberg under the latest sanction regime and specifically identified Tango as a blocked asset, along with a private Airbus A319 jet.

Spanish authorities acted in response to a U.S. request after a seizure warrant was filed in federal court in Washington. The warrant alleges that the Tango “was subject to forfeiture based on violation of U.S. bank fraud, money laundering, and sanction statutes,” according to Justice Department.

“Separately, seizure warrants obtained in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia target approximately $625,000 associated with sanctioned parties held at nine U.S. financial institutions. Those seizures are based on sanctions violations by several Russian specially designated nationals.”

European member states are working with other countries, including the U.S., through the “Russian Elites, Proxies and Oligarchs” task force -- known as REPO -- whose aim is to identify the assets of individuals and entities sanctioned in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and take the legal steps needed to freeze, seize or confiscate their assets.

The U.S. action follows a series of similar moves by European countries after EU authorities imposed sanctions on Russian billionaires and businessman to prevent them from moving their assets.

In Spain, which is home to some of the largest ports in Europe used by owners of large yachts as a base to sail the Mediterranean as well as refit ships, the government had previously seized three other yachts.