Spanish police, FBI seize oligarch's $99M yacht in Mallorca

By Alyssa McMurtry

OVIEDO, Spain (AA) - Spanish police and American authorities searched and seized the yacht of Ukrainian-born Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg in the Spanish port of Palma de Mallorca on Monday.

The US slapped Vekselberg, the founder of Russian conglomerate Renova, with sanctions last month, alleging that he has close ties to President Vladimir Putin.

Other countries including the UK, Australia and Japan have also sanctioned the multi-billionaire, but the European Union has not.

Even so, the FBI and Homeland Security acted alongside Spanish police to seize his 78-meter (255-foot) luxury yacht, named Tango, which Spanish police say is worth more than €90 million ($99 million).

The US Treasury Department was also investigating Vekselberg for alleged fraud, money laundering and forging documents to help him conceal property, including the yacht in question, to avoid sanctions, Spanish police said in a statement.

The yacht flies a Cook Islands flag and is registered to a company based in the British Virgin Islands, which is, in turn, is administered by Panamanian companies.

Spanish police called it a “complex financial and corporate scheme to hide the true owner’s identity.”

Vekselberg was previously hit by US sanctions in 2018 to punish Russia for alleged meddling in the 2016 elections and other “malign activity.”

He is known to reside in Switzerland and reportedly gained citizenship in the Greek Cypriot administration through the golden visa scheme.

Last month, Spain also seized yachts belonging to the Russian oligarchs Alexander Mikheev and Sergey Chemezov.