The USA court allowed the confiscation of $5.4 million of Russian businessman Konstantin Malofeev. The money can be used to restore Ukraine

The Manhattan Federal Court allowed the prosecutorʼs office to confiscate $5.4 million in favor of Ukraine, which belongs to Russian businessman Konstantin Malofeev, who is under sanctions.

This is reported by Reuters.

This decision is the first decision to confiscate the assets of a Russian oligarch. In late 2022, the U.S. President Joe Biden signed a law allowing the Justice Department to transfer seized assets to the State Department to help Ukraine.

Prosecutors said in court documents late last year that they were entitled to the money in Malofeevʼs account at Denverʼs Sunflower Bank because he tried to transfer it to a business partner in violation of the U.S. sanctions. Since Malofeev did not contest the confiscation requirements, the prosecutorʼs office said that the funds could be confiscated by default.

Andrew Adams, head of the Justice Departmentʼs task force on KleptoCapture, said last month that the first seized funds could be transferred to Ukraine in the near future.

• Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich plans to allocate €2.6 billion for humanitarian aid to Ukraine from the sale of Chelsea football club. This could be the largest donation during the war.
• In November 2022, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, proposed to create a special fund to compensate Ukraine for losses from the frozen assets of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and the assets of private individuals, in particular, sanctioned Russian oligarchs. However, until now, European countries have not made decisions on the start of confiscation of Russian property.
• Estonia was the first European country to start preparations for the confiscation of Russian assets. The representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affair Michkel Tamm said that in January the countryʼs government plans to present a legal plan for asset recovery.