Senators Ask Banks for Information on Accounts Linked to Putin Allies
April 24 2018 - 11:35PM
Dow Jones News
By Byron Tau
WASHINGTON -- Two senior Senate Democrats have asked a number of
large banks to turn over information about accounts and assets
controlled by a group of Russian elites who have been designated by
the U.S. Treasury Department for possible sanctions.
In a letter to eight banks, Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D, N.H.) and
Sheldon Whitehouse (D, R.I.) asked the financial entities for
details about accounts, assets or services the institutions were
providing to any of the 96 Russian oligarchs identified by the
Treasury Department in January as having ties to the government of
Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The letter was sent last week but reviewed by The Wall Street
Journal on Tuesday. The two Democrats said they had received
acknowledgment of their letter from three banks, which are
reviewing it.
Three of the banks -- Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase
& Co. and Citigroup Inc. -- are U.S.-based. The other five --
Barclays PLC, Deutsche Bank AG, UBS Group AG, HSBC Holdings PLC ADR
and Credit Suisse Group AG -- are headquartered abroad but in many
cases have a significant presence in the U.S.
A spokesman for JPMorgan said the bank had received the letter
and is reviewing it. Deutsche Bank declined to comment. The other
banks didn't immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday
night.
The oligarchs in question were named in a report compiled by the
Trump administration in January. That list included 114 Russian
political figures and 96 oligarchs with ties to the Putin
government, who were defined in the report as individuals with an
estimated net worth of $1 billion or more.
The list was mandated by Congress as part of a sanctions law
overwhelmingly passed by Congress last year in retaliation for what
intelligence agencies said was a Russian-backed campaign of
meddling during the last U.S. presidential election. Russia has
denied interfering in the election.
The oligarchs list was intended as a guidepost to inform
possible U.S. sanctions, though inclusion on the list didn't
necessarily mean that the individual would be ultimately sanctioned
by the U.S. However, the report is likely to complicate financial
and business relationships for those listed.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration sanctioned
three-dozen Russian individuals and entities who were included on
the oligarchs list in response to election meddling.
In their letter, the two Senate Democrats said they were seeking
additional information about how the U.S. and international
financial systems might be exploited by individuals on the sanction
list and said that banks should use the list to identify possible
money-laundering activities.
The oligarchs list "should guide banks and help to detect and
deter the exploitation of our financial system by Russian oligarchs
and senior political figures, some of whom may have engaged in acts
of corruption and the privatization of state-owned assets in a way
which unjustly benefited state officials or their family members,"
Ms. Shaheen and Mr. Whitehouse wrote.
"Given their wealth and relationship to the Russian state, many
oligarchs in Russia either wield or are susceptible to considerable
political influence. These individuals often have global financial
dealings, including in the U.S., through luxury real estate,
personal property, or other interests and may utilize the U.S.
financial system to conduct some of their activities," the two
Democrats wrote.
The letter is a voluntary request for information and the banks
are under no obligation to answer or turn over the information.
But, according to people familiar with the matter, the two senators
are prepared to ask the Government Accountability Office, a
watchdog organization controlled by Congress that has investigative
powers, to conduct a probe if the request is refused.
Mr. Putin said in January the creation and publication of the
list was "an unfriendly act," but that Russia didn't intend to
"pick a fight."
--Ian Talley contributed to this article.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 24, 2018 23:20 ET (03:20 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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