A Civil Guard stands by the yacht called Tango in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, Monday April 4, 2022. U.S. federal agents and Spain’s Civil Guard are searching the yacht owned by a Russian oligarch. The yacht is among the assets linked to Viktor Vekselberg, a billionaire and close ally with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, who heads the Moscow-based Renova Group, a conglomerate encompassing metals, mining, tech and other assets, according to U.S. Treasury Department documents. All of Vekselberg’s assets in the U.S. are frozen and U.S. companies are forbidden from doing business with him and his entities. Photo: Francisco Ubilla/AP
Working with Spanish authorities, the U.S. Department of Justice seized a $90 million yacht owned by Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg that was docked in Spain as part of the Justice Department’s enforcement of “sweeping sanctions” in response to Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine.
Vekselberg is said to have “close ties” to Russian President Vladimir Putin and former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, according to U.S. Treasury Department sanctions imposed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that were quoted in an FBI affidavit that sought and gained seizure-warrant approval from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
