OFAC has designated (press release) a Russian individual and 3 companies involved in an attempted sanctions evasion scheme in which a complex divestment could have unfrozen more than $1.5 billion worth of shares belonging to Oleg Deripaska.
The press release stated that “in June 2023, Deripaska coordinated with Russian national Dmitrii Aleksandrovich Beloglazov (Beloglazov), the owner of Russia-based financial services firm Obshchestvo S Ogranichennoi Otvetstvennostiu Titul (Titul), on a planned transaction to sell Deripaska’s frozen shares in a European company. Within weeks of this coordination, Russia-based financial services firm Aktsionernoe Obshchestvo Iliadis (Iliadis) was established as a subsidiary of Titul. In early 2024, Iliadis acquired Russia-based investment holding company International Company Joint Stock Company Rasperia Trading Limited (Rasperia), which holds Deripaska’s frozen shares”.
Sanctions against these individuals means that “all property and interests in property of the persons above that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. In addition, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked. All transactions by U.S. persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of designated or blocked persons are prohibited unless authorized by a general or specific license issued by OFAC, or exempt. These prohibitions include the making of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of any blocked person and the receipt of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services from any such person. In addition, sufficient due diligence should be conducted to determine that any purported divestment in fact occurred and that the transfer of ownership interests was not merely a sham transaction”.
