Bank Fraud Charges Added to Indictment Against Swiss Businessman in Connection to Russian Oligarch’s Superyacht

            WASHINGTON – A superseding indictment, unsealed today, charges Vladislav Osipov, 52, a Russian national who resides in Switzerland, with five counts of bank fraud, in addition to charges previously lodged, in connection with the operation of a 255-foot luxury superyacht owned by the sanctioned Russian oligarch, Viktor Vekselberg.

            The superyacht, registered in the Cook Islands, is known as the Motor Yacht (M/Y) Tango (International Maritime Organization number 1010703). The Tango was the first superyacht to be seized by the U.S. government under court order following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

            The new charges were announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, FBI Special Agent in Charge Alvin Winston of the Minneapolis Field Office, and Task Force Klepto-Capture Co-Directors Michael Khoo and David Lim.

            Osipov remains at large. The U.S. State Department today offered a reward of up to $1 million for information leading to his arrest and/or conviction. The reward is offered under the Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program.

            Osipov was previously indicted in November 2022 on multiple charges in connection with operating the superyacht that included conspiracy to defraud the United States; violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act; and money laundering. The superseding indictment brings the total number of charges to 17, and seeks the forfeiture of Tango and all fees, payments, and monies derived from services performed on its behalf.

            According to the superseding indictment, despite U.S. sanctions that had been previously issued against Vekselberg in 2018, Osipov and a co-conspirator facilitated the operation of the Tango through the use of U.S. companies and the U.S. financial system, attempting to obfuscate Vekselberg’s involvement in the vessel.

            “Facilitators of sanctions evasion enable the oligarchs supporting Vladimir Putin’s regime to flout U.S. law,” said U.S Attorney Graves. “The United States will not allow its financial institutions and persons to be manipulated or defrauded for the purposes of benefitting those who support tyranny.”

            “The security of our financial systems and protection of our nation's economic integrity are of utmost importance,” said Special Agent in Charge Alvin M. Winston Sr. of FBI Minneapolis. “The FBI will not relent in ensuring that U.S. law is upheld and that our financial institutions remain impervious to exploitation by those who support tyranny.”

            Osipov served in senior positions in multiple companies controlled by Vekselberg. Among his many roles, Osipov functioned as Vekselberg’s personal manager of Tango. Osipov designed a complicated ownership structure of shell companies to hide Vekselberg’s ownership of the superyacht, despite that Vekselberg designed the vessel, was its sole user, and was the ultimate beneficial owner. The conduct enabled Vekselberg to evade the Treasury Department’s “Know Your Customer” regulations applicable to U.S. financial institutions and the reporting of transactions to the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

            Vekselberg is described by the Treasury Department as the founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Renova Group, which is comprised of asset management companies and investment funds that own and manage assets in several sectors of the Russian economy, including tech and energy.

            As alleged, after Vekselberg was sanctioned in April 2018, he hired a yacht management company in Palma de Mallorca, Spain to take over the management of Tango. Osipov and his employees instructed the yacht management company to avoid doing business with banks in Tango’s true name. The management company, thereafter, devised a scheme to use a false name for the yacht, “the Fanta,” to hide from financial institutions that payments were ultimately for the benefit of Tango and Vekselberg, a practice to which Osipov and his employees assented. The bank account for Tango thereafter bore the reference name “Fanta” on the bank records. Additionally, Osipov instructed employees of the superyacht, to include its captains, that they could continue to do business with U.S. companies despite sanctions, as it was up to the U.S. companies to decide what to do. Osipov further instructed the same employees that the yacht management company could organize payments for the superyacht in dollars, and then be reimbursed by Vekselberg (through Osipov) in Euros.

            Thus, due to these instructions from Osipov, Vekselberg’s personal yacht manager, the superyacht’s management company and its employees conveyed false information to U.S. financial institutions and conducted business with U.S. companies, in an effort to avoid the impact of U.S. sanctions against Vekselberg. Tango employees used their own credit cards to purchase an array of items from U.S. companies on behalf of the superyacht, only to be reimbursed by the yacht management company. Tango employees ordered goods through use of a U.S. internet service provider as an intermediary, who then billed the same items back to the yacht management company. Items purchased included navigation and computer software, luxury monogramed bath robes, leather basket magazine holders, weather forecasting software, internet computing systems, satellite television, and teleconferencing software, all products of U.S.-origin products or services supplied by U.S. companies.

            As a result of the obfuscations, U.S. financial institutions unknowingly processed hundreds of thousands of dollars of transactions for Tango that they otherwise would not have permitted had they known of Vekselberg’s involvement in the financial transaction. The financial institutions received information, all done in furtherance of the scheme designed by Osipov, that the goods were sold to the Tango employees, the U.S. internet service provider, and to “the Fanta.” Further, these payments and Vekselberg’s involvement in them were not reported to the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

            On April 4, 2022, Spanish law enforcement executed a Spanish court order freezing Tango. The Spanish acted following a request from the Department of Justice that it assist with the execution of a seizure warrant, issued in March 2022 by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, which alleged that Tango was subject to forfeiture based on violations of U.S. law.

            The case is part of the Justice Department’s Task Force KleptoCapture, an interagency law enforcement task force dedicated to enforcing the sweeping sanctions, export restrictions, and economic countermeasures that the United States has imposed, along with its allies and partners, in response to Russia’s unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine. The task force leverages all the Department’s tools and authorities against efforts to evade or undermine the economic actions taken by the U.S. government in response to Russian military aggression.

            The charges are merely allegations, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. If convicted of any offense, a defendant’s sentence will be determined by the court based on the advisory Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

            The case is being investigated by the FBI’s Minneapolis Field Office. Valuable assistance has been provided by the Spanish Guardia Civil - Jefatura de Informacion - Unidad Especial Numero III (UCE-III).  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Karen P. Seifert and Maeghan Mikorski and Paralegal Brian Rickers, with valuable assistance provided by Paralegal Jorge Casillas and Legal Assistant Jessica McCormick, all of the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided significant assistance in working with the Spanish authorities throughout this matter.