US Charges 3 With Sanctions Evasions Related to Oligarch's Superyachts, Aspen Home
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York last week charged Russian oligarch Andrey Kostin, along with Russian national Vadim Wolfson of Austin, Texas, and U.S. citizen Gannon Bond of Edgewater, New Jersey, with conspiracy to violate U.S. sanctions on Russia by providing "funds, goods, and services" to Kostin, a sanctioned party, it said in a news release. (U.S. v. Andrey Kostin, S.D.N.Y. # 24-00091).
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Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned VTB Bank in 2014 and Kostin four years later for serving as president and chairman of VTB Bank, according to the indictment. From 2018 to 2022, Kostin and others allegedly participated in a scheme to violate U.S. sanctions related to the "operation, maintenance, and improvement of the Kostin Superyachts" and the maintenance of Kostin's luxury home in Aspen, Colorado, the indictment said.
The U.S. Attorney's Office alleged that Kostin and his two co-defendants worked to maintain two superyachts: the Sea Rhapsody and Sea & US. The trio worked to launder money out of the U.S. and conceal the vessels' true ownership. From 2018 to 2022, Kostin and others "facilitated at least 100 transactions in U.S. dollars through U.S. banks" to operate, maintain and improve the yachts, the indictment said.
Kostin, Wolfson and Bond also allegedly violated U.S. sanctions by maintaining, then transferring, the Aspen house, in an attempt to provide Kostin with around $12 million "resulting from the sale," the indictment alleged. The U.S. is seeking forfeiture of the yachts, the Aspen property and three paintings in Kostin's possession.