The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control added four Russians and a Chechen to its list of those sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act for alleged human rights abuses.
The most prominent name on Wednesday’s list was the head of the Russian republic of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov.
He’s a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
U.S. authorities accused Kadyrov of overseeing “disappearances and extrajudicial killings.”
With the names added Wednesday, OFAC has now publicly listed 49 people subject to travel bans and asset freezes under the Magnitsky Act. Most on the list were implicated in the jailing and death of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.
The U.S. adopted the Magnitsky Act in 2012. It imposes sanctions on those responsible for the 36-year-old lawyer’s detention, abuse, or death. It also reaches those who concealed his mistreatment, or were involved in or benefited from the criminal conspiracy he uncovered.
Magnitsky died in custody in 2009 after uncovering a $230 million tax fraud against the Russian treasury. His evidence implicated a number of government officials and mobsters. The Russian government has said Magnitsky died of natural causes while in jail.
OFAC published the initial Magnitsky sanction list in April 2013. It included 18 individuals. A second list of individuals banned from entering the United States was classified, the State Department said. OFAC added five more names to the list in February 2016 and five more in January 2017.
In September 2013, the DOJ filed a civil forfeiture action against the assets of nine companies that own real estate in Manhattan. The complaint named firms that allegedly laundered a portion of the $230 million stolen through the tax fraud that Magnitsky uncovered.
In December 2016, the U.S. Congress adopted a broader version of the Magnitsky Act. The Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act gives the President the power to punish human rights violators and corrupt leaders from any country by banning them from travel to the United States and freezing their U.S. assets.
* * *
Here are the names OFAC added Wednesday to the Specially Designated Nationals List under the Magnitsky Act:
KADYROV, Ramzan Akhmatovich (a.k.a. KADYROW, Ramzan Achmatowisch); DOB 05 Oct 1976; POB Tsentoroi, Chechen Republic, Russia; nationality Russia; Gender Male (individual) [MAGNIT].
KATAEV, Ayub Vakhaevich (Cyrillic: КАТАЕВ, Аюб Вахаевич) (a.k.a. KATAEV, Aiub; a.k.a. KATAEV, Ayubkhan Vakhaevich (Cyrillic: КАТАЕВ, Аюбхан Вахаевич)); DOB 01 Dec 1984; alt. DOB 01 Dec 1980; nationality Russia; Gender Male (individual) [MAGNIT].
MAYOROVA, Yulia (Cyrillic: МАЙОРОВА, Юлия) (a.k.a. MAYOROVA, Yulya); DOB 23 Apr 1979; nationality Russia; Gender Female (individual) [MAGNIT].
PAVLOV, Andrei (a.k.a. PAVLOV, Andrei Alexeyevich; a.k.a. PAVLOV, Andrey; a.k.a. PAVLOV, Andrey Aleksandrovich); DOB 07 Aug 1977; nationality Russia; Gender Male (individual) [MAGNIT].
SHESHENYA, Alexei Nikolaevich (Cyrillic: ШЕШЕНЯ, Алексей Николаевич) (a.k.a. SHESHENYA, Alexey), Novokosinskaya Street 38, Building 3, Apartment 3, Moscow 111539, Russia; DOB 16 Apr 1971; citizen Russia; Gender Male; Passport 4506550500 (Russia) (individual) [MAGNIT].
____
Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog.
Comments are closed for this article!