US authorities obtained warrants Monday to seize two luxury jets from the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, as the Justice Department and Biden administration escalated enforcement …
US authorities obtained warrants Monday to seize two luxury jets from the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, as the Justice Department and Biden administration escalated enforcement of sanctions and export controls imposed in response to the invasion of Ukraine. In court filings, the Justice Department said the two planes — a Gulfstream and Boeing Dreamliner — flew to Russia in March in violation of export controls. Because the planes were manufactured in the United States, Abramovich would have needed licenses to move them to Russia — « but no licenses were applied for or issued », the Justice Department said in the court filings. The seizure warrant marked the latest move by the Justice Department’s so-called KleptoCapture task force, which Attorney General Merrick Garland established in March to ramp up enforcement of sanctions and other economic countermeasures levied in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
