It is the first seizure from the US since Russia’s war on Ukraine began
(Picture: AP)The US has seized a mega yacht owned by an oligarch with close ties to Putin.
It is the first seizure from the US since Russia’s war on Ukraine began.
Spain's Civil Guard and the FBI descended on the €90m Euro (£75,372,000) yacht called ‘Tango’ in the port of Palma de Mallorca, the capital of Spain's Balearic Islands on Monday.
The 78-metre long vessel is linked to billionaire Viktor Vekselberg.
Vekselberg is a close ally of Putin who heads the Moscow-based Renova Group, a conglomerate encompassing metals, mining, tech and other assets.
The US Justice Department, which obtained a warrant from a federal judge in Washington, said the yacht should be forfeited for allegedly violating US bank fraud, money laundering and sanctions laws.
Vekselberg's assets are frozen in the US and US companies are forbidden from doing business with him and his entities. He was also placed under sanctions by the UK last month.
A Spanish Civil Guard spokesman confirmed officers from the Spanish police body and from the FBI were at the marina searching the vessel on Monday morning.
It comes after the US assembled a task force known as ‘Repo’ in an effort to enforce sanctions against oligarchs since the invasion of Ukraine.
“Today marks our task force's first seizure of an asset belonging to a sanctioned individual with close ties to the Russian regime. It will not be the last," US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a video statement.
“Together with our international partners, we will do everything possible to hold accountable any individual whose criminal acts enable the Russian government to continue its unjust war.”
Vekselberg has long had ties to the US, including once holding a green card and homes in New York and Connecticut.
The Ukrainian-born businessman built his fortune by investing in the aluminium and oil industries in the post-Soviet era.
He was first sanctioned by the US in 2018 and again this March, shortly after Russia's invasion of Ukraine began.
President Joe Biden has previously warned oligarchs the US and its allies will "find and seize your yachts, your luxury apartments, your private jets".
He said: "We are coming for your ill-begotten gains."
It comes amid a string of yacht seizures from oligarchs around the world after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
In France, the authorities have seized a superyacht believed to belong to Igor Sechin, a Putin ally who runs Russian oil giant Rosneft.
It has been on the US sanctions list since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. Italy has also seized several yachts and other assets.
