The BBC reported Friday that French authorities ‘have seized the Paris mansion of the son of Equatorial Guinea’s leader as part of a money-laundering probe.’
France issued an arrest warrant in March for the son of the president. Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, known as Teodorin or Teddy, is accused of laundering money from Equatorial Guinea for purchases in France of multi million dollar properties and a fleet of luxury cars.
Prosecutors brought charges after Transparency International filed a legal complaint.
The Paris villa, the BBC said, is worth at least $124 million.
Obiang, 43, denies any wrongdoing, the BBC said.
He is Equatorial Guinea’s Minister of Agriculture and Forestry with an official salary is about $5,000 per month.
Late last year, the U.S. DOJ filed civil forfeiture complaints against him to recover $70.8 million in real and personal property located in the United States.
The DOJ said Teddy allegedly ‘used his position and influence as a government minister for Equatorial Guinea to acquire criminal proceeds through corruption and money laundering, in violation of both Equatoguinean and U.S. law.’
The U.S. complaints alleged that Teddy used intermediaries and shell companies to acquire assets in the United States that included more than $1.8 million worth of Michael Jackson memorabilia, a $38.5 million Gulfstream G-V jet, a $30 million house in Malibu, California, and a 2011 Ferrari worth $530,000.
The Paris mansion on the tony Avenue Foch was siezed a week after a French judge issued an international search warrant for Obiang, who refused to be interviewed by magistrates about the corruption charges.
1 Comment
Wonder how much of US aid to this country went into Obiang's pockets….
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