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The Justice Department on Tuesday announced the seizure of two Miami condos tied to sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Perevalov. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI
The Justice Department on Tuesday announced the seizure of two Miami condos tied to sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Perevalov. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo

Jan. 8 (UPI) — The United States has seized two luxury Miami condos owned by a sanctioned Russian oligarch.

The seizure was announced Tuesday by the Justice Department, which said the two properties were maintained, transferred and leased in violation of sanctions imposed against Viktor Perevalov. The two condos have a combined value of $1.8 million.

“Today’s successful forfeiture once again demonstrates that the attempt to hide assets behind nominees and shell companies is a risky short-term game with real long-term costs,” Co-Director Michael Khoo of the Justice Department’s Task Force KleptoCapture said in a statement.

“The prosecutors and agents who investigated and brought this case are the proof that the United States has the people, the tools, and the will to vigorously enforce our nation’s sanctions programs.”

The Department of Justice’s Task Force KleptoCapture was launched by the Biden administration following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. With the goal of isolating the Kremlin on the world stage and to pressure President Vladimir Putin of Russia to end his invasion, the task force targets officials and oligarchs for violating sanctions, export restrictions and other economic countermeasures imposed by the United States and its allies on Moscow.

Perevalov was first sanctioned in 2018 following the Russian invasion of Crimea as his co-founded construction company was behind the construction of the Tavrida Highway in the Russian-occupied Crimea Region of Ukraine. He was then redesignated in December for operating in Russia’s construction sector.

According to the Justice Department, the condos seized were in violation of sanctions from January 2018. Federal prosecutors said in June of that year, a Miami real estate agent had been retained to transfer the properties to a limited liability company established to hide Perevalov’s interest in them.

After the transfer, the properties continued to be leased, generating proceeds used to maintain them, the Department of Justice said.

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