Italy Seizes €41mn Worth of Assets of Russian Businessman at Ukraine's Request under EU Sanctions

The Financial Guard of Florence has seized assets worth €41 million from a Russian businessman following a request for international legal assistance filed by the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine.

This was reported by Ansa.

The seized assets, including real estate and shares in companies (including a 12th-century castle in the Pian de Giullari area), are the result of reinvestment of illegally accumulated income.

The businessman is under investigation for committing crimes in Ukraine related to corruption of public officials, fraud against a Ukrainian state-owned company engaged in the sale of agricultural products worth more than USD 60 million, as well as money laundering.

The investigation revealed that the Russian, by reinvesting part of the proceeds of crime through a Florence-based trust company, owns the entire capital of a company that owns a large and luxurious real estate complex in the capital of Tuscany.

The seized assets include shares in the company with a nominal value of EUR 3 million and four properties worth almost EUR 38 million.

The Italian media have not yet provided any additional details about the businessman's identity.

Earlier, a New York court denied the US Department of Justice the right to sell the Amadea superyacht, which allegedly belongs to the sanctioned Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov.