Attorney General Merrick B. Garland and Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen today met virtually with representatives from Australia, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the European Commission to address the Russian Elites, Proxies, and Oligarchs (REPO) multilateral task force. The task force was first announced by leaders on February 26.
The task force, consisting of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Justice or Home Affairs in each member jurisdiction, each pledged to use their respective agencies jointly with other relevant ministries to gather and share information to take concrete action, including sanctions, freezes of assets, civil and criminal law, confiscation of assets and criminal prosecution.
Cooperation between the US government and foreign partners has already produced notable results. In the past three weeks alone, information provided by US law enforcement agencies to foreign partners has helped detain several ships controlled by sanctioned individuals and organizations. Collectively, these ships are valued at hundreds of millions of dollars.
“We are already working with our international partners to freeze and seize the property of sanctioned Russian oligarchs around the world,” Attorney General Garland said. “We will continue to work together to take all appropriate action against those whose criminal activities allow the Russian government to continue its unjust war against Ukraine.”
“Our sanctions, trade restrictions and other measures have already imposed significant costs on Russia, its leadership and those who made possible Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine,” Foreign Minister Yellen said. “This multilateral task force will drive those costs even further by initiating coordinated efforts to freeze and confiscate assets from these individuals in jurisdictions around the world and deny them a safe haven for their ill-gotten gains.”
REPO Task Force members discussed ways to ensure effective, coordinated implementation of the group’s collective financial sanctions on Russia, as well as assisting other nations in locating and freezing assets located on their sovereign territory. Participants also discussed the need to preserve evidence and determine whether these frozen assets or other assets associated with these sanctioned individuals or entities have been forfeited. Finally, the task force discussed ways to bring to justice enablers and gatekeepers who have facilitated the movement of sanctioned assets or other illicit funds.
The Justice Department’s newly formed task force, KleptoCapture, established by the attorney general on March 2, will support this international effort. The KleptoCapture task force was designed to deploy the resources of the United States Attorney’s Office and law enforcement agencies to uncover sanctions evasion and related criminal behavior.
In addition to launching the REPO task force, the Treasury Department took steps to encourage collaboration and information sharing. The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) will today join a statement with colleagues in task force member countries and others to increase information sharing. FinCEN will also issue an alert for financial institutions to identify and report suspicious transactions by sanctioned Russian elites, oligarchs and their proxies involving real estate, luxury goods and high-value assets. FinCEN continues its strong engagement with financial institutions through its public-private partnership agencies to improve collaboration, information sharing and analysis.
The Treasury Department will also today launch the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Rewards Program, which will provide reward payments for information leading to the seizure, withholding or loss of assets related to foreign government corruption, including the government of the Russian Federation. The Treasury Department’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence administers the program in coordination with the Departments of Justice and State and U.S. law enforcement agencies. For more information on award eligibility and submission of relevant information to the US government, click here. Those with information are encouraged to contact [email protected] or call +1 202-622-2050.
In connection with the meeting, the Treasury Department is providing attendees with a list of 50 priority individuals for the United States. The Treasury Department has released names of 28 people from the list who have been sanctioned by multiple jurisdictions, including the United States. The names are available here.
