An associate of a Russian billionaire was charged in an unsealed indictment on Tuesday for violating US sanctions and money laundering.
The indictment accused Vladimir Voronchenko, a Russian permanent resident of the United States, of joining a scheme to make payments of more than $4 million to maintain four U.S. properties belonging to sanctioned oligarch Viktor Vekselberg. Authorities said Voronchenko also tried to sell two of those properties.
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Voronchenko was also charged with contempt of court for fleeing the United States after receiving a subpoena from a grand jury last May in Fisher Island, Florida, requiring his testimony. Voronchenko flew from Miami to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and then to Moscow, authorities said.
A Russian-born US citizen has been indicted for plotting to help a sanctioned oligarch keep his US properties.
Voronchenko, 70, has lived in Moscow, Manhattan, Southampton, New York and Fisher Island, Florida, promoting himself as a successful businessman, art collector and dealer, and a close friend and business partner of Vekselberg, whose yachts and private planes were blocked last year by the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, US officials said in a statement.
The release said Vekselberg, through a series of shell companies, owns approximately $75 million in real estate, including an apartment in Manhattan, an estate in Southampton, New York, along with an apartment on Fisher Island, in Florida, and a penthouse there.
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Authorities said Voronchenko and others attempted to sell the Manhattan apartment and Southampton estate after Vekselberg was fined in 2018 by the US Treasury.
It was not immediately clear whether Voronchenko has a lawyer.
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Federal agents searched many of the properties connected to Voronchenko and Vekselberg in September.
