The US authorities are taking measures: the Russian gold magnate loses a billion-dollar company

The US authorities are taking action
Russian gold tycoon loses a billion-dollar company

The Russian oligarch Karimov is likely to lose his position at the forefront of the list of the world’s richest people: the US authorities seize a billion-dollar company that served as a money-laundering facility. The gold tycoon had already gotten rid of his yacht.

The United States froze billions of assets belonging to the Russian government. The US Treasury said US investigators have assigned and seized the Delaware-based Heritage Trust of Russian billionaire Suleiman Karimov. The company is worth more than a billion dollars.

The Heritage Trust, founded in 2017, has funneled money to the United States through shell companies and low-profile foundations set up in Europe, according to the Treasury. Karimov has been on US sanctions lists since 2018 over allegations of money laundering and his ties to the Russian government.

Originally from the Russian Republic of Dagestan in the Caucasus, the billionaire rose to become one of the The richest people in the world on me. Among other things, his family controls the gold producer Polius. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index ranked Karimov 127th in the list of the richest people in the world with a fortune of $13.3 billion.

Fixed yacht in Fiji

A few weeks ago, the United States confiscated a €300 million yacht that was said to be owned by Karimov. The Fiji Islands authorities had seized the ship at the request of the United States and handed it over to Washington. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced that sanctions will be imposed against Russia “even if Russian elites hide behind complex legal proxies and agreements.”

“It is possible that the Russian elites and the oligarchs are among the best in the world at hiding their wealth,” a senior US Treasury official who plays a leading role in implementing sanctions told The Washington Post. Convertible luxury yachts, villas, and private jets are relatively easy to get hold of. However, it’s hard to climb through the corporate overlap behind which actual assets are hidden.

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