Head of Russian Sanctions Task Force Talks Tactics, Coordination With Foreign Authorities

Andrew Adams, head of DOJ's "KleptoCapture" task force, charged with enforcing the deluge of Russia sanctions following the invasion of Ukraine, is targeting the personal assets of Vladimir Putin and his family, Adams told Bloomberg. Adams said this can be done by targeting individuals who have agreed to hold assets on his behalf.

“Third party cut-outs are a frequent way of hiding assets for the people that are on this list,” Adams said. “I wouldn’t be surprised to find that Mr. Putin’s name was not on a single document. ... We would have to cut through shell companies, but it is a possibility and is something we will be looking at."

The task force also will target "facilitators," or places that have allowed money laundering via the financial system, Adams said. Further, many of the assets under scrutiny by the task force are actually stored abroad, leading to new coordination between authorities in the U.K. and Europe. These authorities are seizing assets subject to U.S. warrants. "In other instances, we may be providing information or assisting foreign partners and identifying assets that can be frozen or blocked under European or U.K. sanctions, apart from U.S. sanctions," Adams said.