Putin ally Viktor Vekselberg has luxury yacht seized in Spain, say police
Billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, an oligarch with close ties to Vladimir Putin, has had his luxury yacht seized by authorities in Spain, say police.
It is part of sanctions imposed following Russia's invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.
Spain's Civil Guard and US federal agents descended on the yacht in the port of Palma de Mallorca, the capital of Spain’s Balearic Islands.
Superyachtfan.com, a specialist website that tracks the world’s largest and most exclusive recreational boats, values the 78-metre vessel, called Tango and carrying the Cook Islands flag, at $120 million (€109 million).
The US Justice Department, which obtained a warrant from a federal judge in Washington, alleges the yacht should be forfeited for violating US bank fraud, money laundering and sanctions statutes.
The yacht is among the assets linked to Viktor Vekselberg, a billionaire and close Putin ally who heads the Moscow-based Renova Group, a conglomerate encompassing metals, mining, tech and other assets, according to US Treasury Department documents.
All of Vekselberg’s assets in the United States are frozen and American companies are barred from doing business with him and his entities. The Ukrainian-born businessman built his fortune by investing in the aluminium and oil industries in the post-Soviet era.
Prosecutors allege Vekselberg bought the Tango in 2011 and has owned it since then, though they believe he has used shell companies to try to obfuscate his ownership and to avoid financial oversight.
They contend Vekselberg and those working for him continued to make payments using US banks to support and maintain the yacht, even after sanctions were imposed on him in 2018. Those payments included a stay in December 2020 at a luxury water villa
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