The United States government is trying to sell the seized Russian-owned superyacht Tango which is moored in Palma.
Faced with the high cost of keeping the luxury yacht which belongs to Viktor Vekselberg, a personal friend of Putin’s, at the Club de Mar de Palma, the US authorities are desperately trying to sell the yacht. However, talks have so far failed to reach a successful conclusion.
Tango was confiscated in April 2022, at the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Its real owner, Viktor Vekselberg, had been on the list of Russian regime-friendly oligarchs sanctioned since 2014 and whose assets would be seized if they came within reach of the United States.
When the yacht was located in Palma, the FBI and the Guardia Civil gained access to the boat and it was seized by order of a court in Palma on the basis of a request from a court in the District of Columbia.
Since then, the United States has been responsible for the costs of keeping the 70-metre vessel, which is valued at more than 90 million euros, in port.
But, given the high cost, the US government wants to sell the vessel in order to use the funds to finance the Ukrainian army.
The proposal, for the moment, has been rejected by the company that owns the Tango.
A few weeks ago, an attempted sale almost came to fruition, but negotiations broke down at the last moment.
One of the obstacles to executing the operation is that the criminal investigation in the United States is apparently going nowhere.
The investigation that led to the seizure of the Tango is focused a series of financial transactions carried out by Vekselberg to hide his ownership of the yacht and allow, through a network of companies which he hired in the United States.
However, with the Russian tycoon out of the hands of the US authorities, the Public Prosecutor’s Office has no one to accuse.
A warrant for the arrest for another American target linked to Tango, Vladislov Osipov, has yet to be acted upon.
Tango’s situation is dragging on with no prospect of a solution in the short term, with the vessel in dry dock.
Vekselberg is one of many Russian “oligarchs” named in the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) signed into law by President Donald Trump in 2017.
In March 2018, members from Robert Mueller’s team of special counsel investigators questioned Vekselberg at a New York area airport.
According to journalist Stephen Smith, Vekselberg is close to the Kremlin.
In April 2018, the United States Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on Vekselberg and Renova Group through designation under Executive Order 13662 (”Blocking Property of Additional Persons Contributing to the Situation in Ukraine”).
United States imposed sanctions on him and 23 other Russian nationals in relation to Russia’s annexation of Crimea, officially freezing up to $2 billion in assets.
Also he has been sanctioned by The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) “for operating in the energy sector of the Russian Federation economy”.
In February 2021, Vekselberg complained that more than $1.5 billion of his funds were frozen in American and Swiss bank accounts and that he was not allowed to send “small amounts” to charity.
On September 1, 2022, several properties believed to be linked to Vekselberg were searched by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security. The inspection included an apartment in Manhattan; an estate in the Hamptons, New York; and property on Fisher Island in Florida. Officials were seen carrying boxes out of the two New York locations.
In March 2022, following Russia’s invasion against Ukraine, the United States strengthened its sanctions and the UK, Poland and Australia also placed sanctions on Vekselberg, thereby seizing his assets and imposing a travel ban.
During the Lady R incident Vekselberg was noted in the media as a possible source of Russian foreign influence over the South Africa’s governing party, the African National Congress (ANC), through his 49% ownership stake in United Manganese of Kalahari which is a joint venture with the ANC owned Chancellor House.
United Manganese of Kalahari made a US$1.3 million donation to the party in 2022.