The US Department of Justice under Donald Trump has disbanded the effort after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and targeted oligarchs near the Kremlin.
Attorney General Pam Bondy’s memo was issued amid a wave of orders on his first day in office, but said it had not been previously reported. Drug cartels and international gangs.
“This policy requires a fundamental change in mindset and approach,” Bondi wrote in the directive on Wednesday, with resources currently dedicated to implementing sanctions and seizing oligarch assets. He added that he will be redirected to counter the cartel.
The effort, launched during the Joe Biden administration, was designed to punish sanctions and export control violations that burdened and promoted the finances of Vladimir Putin’s wealthy fellow members.
It was part of a broader push to freeze Russia from the global market imposed on Moscow and enforce broad sanctions amid international condemnation of the war with Ukraine.
The task force has filed accusations against aluminum tycoon Oleg Deripaska and television tycoon Constantin Malofiev for approved sanctions, seized licensed yachts, and seized yachts belonging to licensed oligarchs. I did.
It also secured a guilty plea to a US lawyer who paid $3.8 million to maintain the property owned by Vekselberg.
Prosecutors assigned to the task force will return to their previous posts. According to the directive, the change will remain valid for at least 90 days and could be renewed or permanent.
Trump spoke about improving relations with Moscow. He previously vowed to end the war in Ukraine, but he has not announced any detailed plans.
The emphasis on drug cartels comes after Trump designated many groups, including terrorist organizations, who are part of the crackdown on illegal immigration and fentanyl trafficking.
The change also hints at the enforcement of US foreign bribery laws that led to some of the Department of Justice’s biggest corporate cases in the past decade. According to the memo, the unit that enforces the law known as the Foreign Corruption Practices Act (FCPA) prioritizes bribery investigations related to cartels.
It is based on the Department of Justice scrutiny over the law by a wide range of multinational companies, including Goldman Sachs, Glencore and Walmart. Resolutions of these large companies do not usually involve cartels.
“This is a fundamental move from traditional FCPA cases to a narrow subset of drug and violent crime-related cases that were not the focus of FCPA enforcement,” said lawyers at law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan. said Stephen Frank. He worked on the FCPA case as a federal prosecutor.
