The US Treasury Department has imposed a $7.1 million fine on Gracetown Inc., a New York-based property management firm, for violating sanctions by managing luxury real estate properties for Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch with close ties to President Vladimir Putin.
The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) stated that Gracetown received 24 payments between April 2018 and May 2020, totalling $31,250, on behalf of a company owned by Deripaska. OFAC said it had notified Gracetown that dealings with Deripaska were prohibited, but the firm continued regardless.
Justice Department filings from 2022 link Gracetown to UK businessman Graham Bonham-Carter, who was arrested in October 2022 for conspiracy to violate US sanctions on Deripaska and wire fraud related to funding Deripaska's US properties and efforts to move the oligarch's artwork to New York.
Deripaska has been under US sanctions since 2018, when the Treasury accused him of acting for or on behalf of a senior Russian official and operating in Russia's energy sector. All his US-based assets were blocked, and US persons and firms are prohibited from dealings with him or his properties.
In 2022, Deripaska and three associates were criminally charged in New York with conspiring to violate sanctions and plotting to ensure his child was born in the United States. The Treasury said its enforcement action against Gracetown underscores the importance of following OFAC guidance and the consequences of failing to do so.
