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April 4 (UPI) -- The United States accused Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg of bank fraud as his $90 million yacht was seized in Spain on Monday. The Tango, a motor superyacht built in 2011 and owned by Vekselberg, was seized by Spanish authorities at the port of Palma de Mallorca on a warrant filed by the FBI, according to court documents filed in a U.S. District Court. Vekselberg's private jet has also been targeted by authorities.
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Video footage shared by the Justice Department shows Spanish law enforcement with FBI agents board the vessel. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a video message that he would seek to have the Tango forfeited "as the proceeds of a crime."
"Today marks our taskforce's first seizure of an asset belonging to a sanctioned individual with close ties to the Russian regime. It will not be the last," Garland said. "Together, with our international partners, we will do everything possible to hold accountable any individual whose criminal acts enable the Russian government to continue its unjust war."
The FBI said in the documents that Vekselberg, who founded the Russian investment firm Renova Group, had conspired to commit bank fraud when purchasing the Tango by using shell companies to hide his ownership of it and avoid bank oversight.
Vekselberg had been hit with Treasury Department sanctions in 2018 related to sanctions the United States had imposed on Russia in 2014 for annexing Crimea from Ukraine.
Before the invasion began in February, Ukraine and Russia had been engaged in ongoing disputes and conflict since the latter absorbed Crimea within its borders in 2014 and over the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO. The seizure of the yacht comes as global governments seek to punish Russia for invading its neighbor.
"Today's action makes clear that corrupt Russian oligarchs cannot evade sanctions to live a life of luxury as innocent Ukrainians are suffering," said Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco.
"Today the Department of Justice delivers on our commitment to hold accountable those whose criminal activity strengthens the Russian government as it continues to wage its unjust war in Ukraine. That commitment is one we are not finished honoring."
When Vekselberg was sanctioned in 2018, then-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that "the Russian government engages in a range of malign activity around the globe, including continuing to occupy Crimea and instigate violence in eastern Ukraine."
"Russian oligarchs and elites who profit from this corrupt system will no longer be insulated from the consequences of their government's destabilizing activities," Mnuchin had said.
Last month, a U.S. citizen who worked as a television producer for Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev was charged with violating 2014 sanctions.
Jack Hanick, 71, was arrested in London in February and has been indicted by a grand jury in a U.S. District Court in New York with violating sanctions placed on Malofeyev in December 2014 after Russia invaded Ukraine and illegally annexed Crimea, the Justice Department said in a statement.
Hanick allegedly worked with Malofeyev from 2013 to 2017 as the Russian businessman began planning to create a new Russian cable television news network as well as a news network in Greece.
He allegedly flew to Bulgaria to arrange the purchase of another news outlet for Malofeyev, while taking steps to conceal Malofeyev's role in the acquisition, prosecutors said.
Hanick, who was interviewed by the FBI last year, allegedly made false statements that Malofeyev was not involved in his Bulgaria trip and that he didn't know that Malofeyev was connected to the acquisition of the Bulgarian television network.
