US Magistrate Judge Sarah L.
Cave on Monday signed a warrant of seizure for a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner and a
Gulfstream G650ER, according to documents released by Manhattan US Attorney
Damian Williams’s office.
Cave found probable cause that
the aircraft are subject to seizure and forfeiture, she said in the two-page
document.
The aircraft are valued at
more than $400 million together, according to the US.
Abramovich violated US
sanctions by re-exporting the aircraft to Russia without a required license, a
US Commerce Department official claimed in a letter Monday. The Boeing has
remained in Dubai since March, while the Gulfstream has been in Moscow since
then, according to a Federal Bureau of Investigation affidavit.
The seizure effort comes amid Russia’s war in Ukraine and as US officials renew a push for sanctions against Abramovich after his trip to Kyiv to revive peace talks failed.
Abramovich, 55, has long
denied he has financial links to the Kremlin. He’s one of the richest people in
Russia and is a well-known figure outside the country as the former owner of
the UK’s Chelsea Football Club.
Earlier this year he was
forced to put the team up for sale after owning it for almost two decades,
under pressure from sanctions as part of the UK’s response to the Russian
invasion.
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