oligarch

Dec. 5 (UPI) — The United States has fined a New York property management company more than $7 million, near the statutory maximum, for doing business with sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.

Deripaska, considered one of Russia’s richest men — and at one point its richest — was sanctioned by the United States in 2018 in connection with the Kremlin’s 2014 illegal annexation of Crimea. He was also indicted in the United States on sanctions-evasion charges.

According to the U.S. Treasury, New York’s Gracetown Inc. received 24 payments totaling $31,250 on behalf of a company owned by Deripaska between April 2018 and May 2020.

“Treasury will act firmly against those who ignore our sanctions and aid our adversaries,” Treasury Under Secretary John Hurly said in a statement, adding that the penalty totaled $7,139,305.

The Treasury officials said that Gracetown was founded in 2006 to manage three U.S. real estate properties for Deripaska, who was the ultimate owner of the company until he was sanctioned in 2018.

After he was designated, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sent Gracetown notices of its obligations to comply with sanctions and the consequences of violations.

Following receipt of the notification, Gracetown continued its arrangement with an entity owned by Deripaska to receive monthly payments in the United States, according to the Treasury, which added that the company failed to report the blocked assets in its possession or control for 45 months.