Briton arrested for helping Russian oligarch evade sanctions

American justice suspects a British businessman of having helped the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska to escape sanctions and to conceal the ownership of several real estates. “Following an extradition request from the United States”, Graham Bonham-Carter was arrested, presented to justice in London on Tuesday and then released on condition, according to a press release from the British fight agency. against organized crime (NCA).

In a statement, the US Department of Justice said Washington would seek his extradition, linked to 2018 sanctions against Deripaska, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and founder of aluminum giant Rusal. Graham Bonham-Carter, 62, is suspected of being linked to the 52-year-old oligarch, who is sanctioned in both the US and the UK, through real estate in both countries whose ownership is concealed thanks to to companies registered in the British Virgin Islands or other overseas territories.

Oleg Deripaska acquitted

The British businessman was indicted in the United States, among other things, for violating the law on sanctions related to the situation in Ukraine, according to the NCA. Two Deripaska properties in London are included in the assets frozen by the sanctions: a mansion and an office in upscale neighborhoods, estimated to total more than 50 million pounds sterling (more than 56 million euros), according to the NEC.

Oleg Deripaska was indicted at the end of September by the American courts alongside his girlfriend and two other people for having set up a plan to obtain American nationality for his two children, in violation of sanctions decided by the States. -United.