The US is disbanding the task force that fought Russian oligarchs

The US Department of Justice under President Donald Trump is shutting down the KleptoCaptur Task Force, which was looking for evidence to impose sanctions on Russian oligarchs.

Reuters writes about this.

A memo from Attorney General Pam Bondi, released on her first day in office, said Task Force KleptoCaptur will now focus on combating drug cartels and international gangs.

“This policy requires a fundamental change in thinking and approach,” Bondi wrote in the directive, adding that resources currently allocated to sanctions and asset seizures of oligarchs are being redirected to countering cartels.

Task Force KleptoCaptur was launched after the start of the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war during the Joe Biden administration and punished Putinʼs associates, as well as those who helped circumvent sanctions and violate export controls.

KleptoCaptur has filed charges against Oleh Derypaska and Konstantin Malofeev for alleged sanctions violations, and has also seized yachts belonging to sanctioned oligarchs Suleiman Kerimov and Viktor Vekselberg.

The cases already in the groupʼs work will likely continue, but its activities will no longer be centralized at the Ministry of Justice headquarters.

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