USA: Authorities raid Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg’s Manhattan home

Law enforcement agents yesterday searched properties in New York linked to Viktor Vekselberg, a Russian billionaire oligarch who has been sanctioned, NBC New York reported, as Washington seeks to capitalize on the sanctions and asset seizures to pressure Moscow to end its military invasion of Ukraine.

An eyewitness told Reuters that FBI and HSI agents were dragging boxes and safes out of an apartment building at 515 Park Street in Manhattan, including one linked to Vekselberg, he said. the NBC.

Agents also searched a property linked to the alleged Russian oligarch in Southampton, New York, NBC reported.

Vekselberg was not able to comment on the developments. An FBI spokeswoman confirmed that agents were present at the addresses of Vekselberg’s properties in Manhattan and Southampton, but declined to comment further. A spokesman for HSI declined to comment.

It was not immediately clear what exactly the agents were looking for. Vekselberg has no criminal convictions in the US.

Washington imposed sanctions on the Russian businessman in 2018 over possible Russian influence in the 2016 US election and in 2022 over his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Kremlin denies involvement in the US election, while characterizing the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a “special war operation.”

With information from AMPE

Source: Capital

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