Senators to Introduce Bill to Address Sanctions Evasion in Art Industry

Two senators plan to address the lack of regulation in the art industry after the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released a July 29 report detailing how Russian oligarchs have used the industry to evade U.S. sanctions. The report calls the art industry the “largest legal, unregulated market” in the U.S., saying it has been exploited for money laundering to aid U.S.-sanctioned people and companies, allowing them to conduct million-dollar transactions. The industry is not subject to anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism financing controls for transactions, the report said, and private art dealers are not required to comply with anti-money laundering requirements.

Subcommittee Chairman Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and ranking member Tom Carper, D-Del., said they will work with the administration to subject the art industry to the same sanctions-related rules that apply to the financial industry. “It is shocking that U.S. banking regulations don’t currently apply to multi-million dollar art transactions, and we cannot let that continue,” Portman said in a statement, calling the art industry “ripe” for sanctions evasion. Carper said the duo will push for legislation “to ensure that wealthy bad actors cannot use valuable works of art to evade U.S. sanctions.”