A new bipartisan bill recently proposed in Congress puts a bounty on the heads of any person or company that helps Russian oligarchs evade Western sanctions.
The Sanctions Evasion Whistleblower Rewards Act — sponsored by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Sen. James Risch (R-ID), along with Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) and Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) — will pay informants who have ‘actionable information’ on sanctions evaders.
The goal is to incentivize information-sharing to help “apprehend dangerous Russian oligarchs,” Whitehouse told the Post.
“Terrorists, dictators, and their cronies often evade sanctions by employing family members or middlemen to stash ill-gotten gains in phony accounts,” he added. “To boost sanctions enforcement, our bill creates financial incentives for exposing the hidden loot to international investigators.”
Western nations sanctioned several Russian oligarchs following Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The US Justice Department launched a high profile KleptoCapture task force to cut off sanctioned oligarchs’ access to their luxury possessions like jets, superyachts and luxury real estate.
To date, the US government has seized around $500 million in assets from sanctioned oligarchs. The money is slated to help pay for Ukraine’s reconstruction.
However, many Russian oligarchs have evaded sanctions thanks to a coterie of Western enablers who in part help them mask their ownership of assets through proxies, including their lovers and...
Foley partner Lisa Noller, Chair of the Firm’s Litigation Department, will be speaking at the American Bar Association’s Qui Tam & Civil False Claims and Healthcare Fraud Institute in Washingt...