France Impounds Super Yacht Owned by Head of Russian State Oil Giant
Source: bloomberg.com
Rosneft Chief Executive Officer Igor Sechins superyacht was blocked by French customs officials on the Cote DAzur, part of the European Unions sanctions against wealthy Russians with close ties to President Vladimir Putin.
The Amore Vero was impounded overnight in the Mediterranean port of La Ciotat, near Marseille, as it was preparing an urgent departure, according to the French Finance Ministry.
Thanks to French customs for enforcing the EU sanctions against people close to Russias leaders, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Twitter.
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-03/french-customs-immobilize-yacht-owned-by-rosneft-chairman
Are the Ukraine invasion and the Failed US Coup all one big interlinked story, Russian mobster oligarchs versus law and order?
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NCjack
(10,279 posts)bureaucratic jerks. WHAT? French Customs agents seized Igor Sechins superyacht ???
You are our HEROES !!!
OneCrazyDiamond
(2,029 posts)Is it sold and the money pays for Ukrainian arms?
Justice matters.
(6,874 posts)Or another "more obscure" Russian mobster now Oligarch?
Maybe to a Saudi Royal??
OneCrazyDiamond
(2,029 posts)That was why asked. So does it just rot then? What happens to it now?
Hekate
(90,202 posts)OneCrazyDiamond
(2,029 posts)...Government officials in the U.K. and France have made promises similar to Bidens to start the week. But dont get your hopes up for handing mansions over to the homeless. In all three countries, governments can easily block access to assets from bank accounts to apartments, making it difficult or impossible for targets to use their holdings for years. But confiscating them permanently is decidedly more complicated.
Its not that were going to be giving the yachts away to the poor anytime soon, explained John Smith, who served as director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, until 2018. Thats the Treasury Department division charged with hunting down the assets of people on the sanctions listone whose acronym, conveniently, sounds like what you say when you find out theyre after you.
Smith outlined what might happen if the U.S. expands its list of sanctioned persons. Shopping centers, a luxury apartment in midtown [Manhattan]whats happening is that OFAC comes, everyone has to get out of the property, they padlock the door, and it sits. If its a yacht, its locked. That happens immediately. OFAC signs a piece of paper and its effective. You have to make sure it doesnt sink.
But to take title, he added, it generally has to involve some kind of process. Freezing is easy. Seizing is hard.
The rules are similar in many European countries. That means that those Russian-owned yachts in the Barcelona shipyardwhich belong to Lukoil CEO Vagit Alekperov, industrialist Andrey Molchanov, and Chelsea owner Abramovichcould be stuck there, but probably wont be used to transport refugees anytime soon...
https://slate.com/business/2022/03/seizing-russian-billionaires-yachts-and-penthouses-how-will-biden-do-it.html
JustAnotherGen
(31,683 posts)State Owned ship for rent for parties, weddings, special events, etc. etc - tours around the southern coast - Think Cap, St. Trop, etc. etc.
OneCrazyDiamond
(2,029 posts)I found a slate article that discusses this. Post 29.
Justice matters.
(6,874 posts)waiting to see what happens next. Maybe wait for the owner to file an appeal to get it back (if that's possible). I don't know the letter of the law there so I could be wrong (hopefully).
If France already has taken full ownership (hopefully) they could keep it for Le President de la Republique (Macron) to invite the terrorist with nukes for peace talks, or ceasefire engagements...
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Nope, not enough cash on hand. Why would a normal person even want a small yacht?
Who has that kind of money? Who wants that kind of insult to humanitarian reality? Maybe it could become a hospital to serve catastrophes.
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L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Lonestarblue
(9,880 posts)Everyone in Trumps immediate orbit seemed to have some tie to Russia during his campaign. Unfortunately, I doubt that those ties will ever be fully investigated. And Trump is but one person at the top of the corruption in this country. I include people like Robert and Rebekah Mercer, the Kochs, many in Trumps administration as well as his advisers and outrageous lawyers, plus far too many elected Republicans who dance to Putins tune or who enrich themselves at taxpayer expensePompeo comes to mind with his frequent taxpayer-funded lavish dinners for future campaign donors. If we fail to start rooting out such corruption, well soon be another Russia.
FSogol
(45,360 posts)In the US.
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)When we don't know if a candidate is funded by the international criminal cartel of oligarchs, how can we claim to be a true democracy?
Delmette2.0
(4,143 posts)Every time you shake a Trump tree, a Russian falls out.
AZLD4Candidate
(5,568 posts)speak easy
(9,101 posts)highplainsdem
(48,731 posts)patphil
(6,035 posts)No wonder they wanted Steele's dossier discredited.
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)We need to put them to good use, such as humanitarian prurposes.
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)58Sunliner
(4,339 posts)That is what they should do. Like a good capitalist, strip of it's assets then sell/donate the ship.
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)58Sunliner
(4,339 posts)lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)Ray Bruns
(4,023 posts)AZLD4Candidate
(5,568 posts)L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)TeamProg
(5,788 posts)will make the correct moves.
Thanks for posting.
Hekate
(90,202 posts)JustAnotherGen
(31,683 posts)What is parked down in Miami . . .
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Link to tweet
The irony would be a thing of great beauty, especially if it includes the floor where they met to try to get rid of Russian sanctions.
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JustAnotherGen
(31,683 posts)BlueWavePsych
(2,634 posts)gotta catch them all
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Welcome to the inaugural column of Yacht Watch (Tagline: "We're going to need a bigger boat" from Whale Hunting Contributor Alex Finley, a novelist and former CIA officer with the insight to explore who runs the world through the prism of super yachts. This will be a monthly feature. We wanted to start a bit later, but felt compelled to jumpstart the series as Russian oligarchs desperately try to relocate their floating palaces to safe havens amid efforts by Western countries to ratchet up the pressure on Putin and his cronies to stop the war on Ukraine. Welcome, Alex!
.............
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L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)The Lady M was used in the movie "Wolf of Wall Street." Alexei Mordashov helped destabilize Ukraine with his television stations , sound familiar?
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