First his 300 million euro yacht was taken away from him. Now the United States has also confiscated the billion-dollar company owned by Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov. The gold giant is one of the richest people in the world.
US investigators have traced and seized the Delaware-based Heritage Trust to Russian billionaire Suleiman Kerimov, the Treasury Department said on Thursday. The company is worth more than a billion dollars.
Heritage Trust, founded in 2017, funneled money into the US through shell companies and low-profile foundations set up in Europe, according to the Treasury Department. Kerimov has been on US sanctions lists since 2018 over money laundering allegations and his ties to the Russian government.
The billionaire, originally from the Russian Republic of Dagestan in the Caucasus, rose to become one of the richest people in the world after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Among other things, his family controls the gold producer Polyus. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index lists Kerimov as the 127th richest person in the world with a fortune of $13.3 billion.
A few weeks ago, the United States confiscated a 300 million euro yacht said to belong to Kerimov. The authorities of the Fiji Islands had arrested the ship at the request of the US and handed it over to Washington.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced that sanctions against Russia would be enforced “even as Russian elites hide behind proxies and complex legal arrangements.”
