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Oct. 11 (UPI) — British businessman Graham Bonham-Carter has been arrested for conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions against Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.
The U.S. Department of Justice charged Bonham-Carter, 62, with one count of conspiring to evade U.S. sanctions, in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, one count of violating the IEEPA, and one count of wire fraud. Each of the charges carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions against Deripaska in 2018, stating that he had acted “on behalf of, directly or indirectly, a senior official of the Government of the Russian Federation.” The Treasury Department also pointed to allegations that Deripaska had “bribed a government official, ordered the murder of a businessman, and had links to a Russian organized crime group.”
Many of Bonham-Carter’s accounts were frozen in March due to suspicions that he was linked to five of Deripaska’s properties in the United States and Britain.
A statement from the U.S. Department of Justice alleges that “Bonham-Carter engaged in over $1 million of illicit transactions to fund real estate properties in the United States for Deripaska’s benefit.”
Bonham-Carter also is accused of attempting to conceal the oligarch’s ownership of art pieces from a New York auction house.
Bonham-Carter knew “Deripaska had purchased the artwork, it remained his property, and the funds used to pay for shipping would be billed to Deripaska,” the statement said.
The Justice Department’s Task Force KleptoCapture, an interagency law enforcement task force dedicated to enforcing sanctions, export controls and economic countermeasures imposed in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, coordinated the investigation.
The Department of Justice stated that “the National Crime Agency of the United Kingdom provided substantial assistance” and indicated that the United States will seek Bonham-Carter’s extradition from Britain.
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