The Department of Justice has seized its first asset belonging to a “sanctioned individual with close ties to the Russian regime,” Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Monday. At the request of the DOJ, a Spanish court issued an order freezing a superyacht, known as “The Tango,” owned by Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg that is docked in Palma de Mallorca. The DOJ alleges Vekselberg used “U.S. dollar payments through U.S. banks” to buy and maintain the boat, including paying for mooring fees and rooms at a luxury resort in the Maldives. He used shell companies to hide his ownership of The Tango and avoid U.S. bank oversight, prosecutors added. Garland said the $90 million boat would be “forfeited as the proceeds of a crime.” The seizure is part of Task Force KleptoCapture, a U.S. effort to hold individuals accountable for enabling Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
