A BRIT businessman has been arrested after allegedly helping an oligarch dubbed Putin’s “favourite industrialist” dodge US sanctions.
Graham Bonham-Carter, 62, is facing extradition to the US after being accused of funding properties purchased by billionaire Oleg Deripaska and expatriating his artwork.
Graham Bonham-Carter, 62, is accused of helping his rich Russian pal dodge US sanctionsRexGettyOleg Deripaska, 52, was hit with the punishments in 2018 for his links to Putin and the Kremlin[/caption]
The business mogul and second cousin of Hollywood star Helena Bonham-Carter was arrested in the UK on Tuesday.
But American prosecutors are seeking his extradition, the Department of Justice said.
He is alleged to have assisted the aluminum tycoon and Putin‘s close pal in maintaining his Stateside properties and shifting around his assets, prosecutors claim.
Deripaska, 54, has been under US sanctions since 2018 for his alleged links to the Kremlin, while a string of other oligarchs have been hit with restrictions following Russia‘s invasion of Ukraine.
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Businesses and banks were banned from having any dealings with the wealthy Russian due to an alleged string of criminal activity.
The Department of Justice alleges that his pal Bonham-Carter then set up a company under his orders to manage his lavish homes.
The Brit businessman is accused of launching GBCM Limited to maintain the plush pads, including two in New York City and one in Washington DC.
Money was allegedly transferred from a company account in Russia to pay for staff salaries, property taxes and to maintain the oligarch’s premises.
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Prosecutors claim Bonham-Carter engaged in more than £900,000 of illicit transactions to fund the alleged real estate racket.
He also managed residential properties for Deripaska across the United Kingdom and Europe, it is said.
Damian Williams, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, said: “Bonham-Carter obscured the origin of funding for upkeep and management of Deripaska’s lavish US assets, in violation of the international sanctions.”
The 62-year-old has worked for entities controlled by Deripaska since July 2003, according to court documents.
Bonham-Carter routinely referred to Deripaska as his “boss” in a series of emails – even as recently as October 13 last year.
In one message he wrote: “It’s all good apart from banks keep shutting me down because of my affiliation to my boss Oleg Deripaska.”
Bonham-Carter is also accused of trying to transfer artwork purchased by Putin’s pal from a New York auction house to London.
He allegedly falsely claimed that the artwork did not belong to Deripaska – despite the shipping bill being sent to the oligarch.
The businessman now faces three charges: conspiring to evade US sanctions; violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act; and wire fraud.
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Each charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
The DoJ said their explosive investigation was conducted with “substantial assistance” from the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA).
Deripaska has also been slapped with sanctions by the UK this year, due to him being “closely associated” with the Kremlin and Putin.
He was one of seven oligarchs reprimanded on March 10 for being “involved in destabilising and threatening” Ukraine.
Bonham-Carter’s bank accounts were frozen for six months at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in the same month after it was alleged they contained money linked to Deripaska.
Four days after the sanctions were imposed on Deripaska, protesters broke into one of his properties in Belgravia Square in London before declaring it “belongs to Ukrainian refugees”.
They took over the £50million 11-bedroom mansion and hung banners reading “Putin go f**k yourself”.
The industrialist founded the Rusal aluminium company and is considered an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
His wealth has been estimated to be more than £2 billion and he was once Russia’s richest man.
The NCA said Bonham-Carter had appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court following the US extradition request and had been released on conditional bail.
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The FBI New York Field Office and Counterintelligence Division are investigating the case.
A lawyer for Bonham-Carter is also facing charges of wire fraud.
EPADeripaska’s US properties and assets were allegedly managed by Bonham-Carter[/caption]
ReutersProtestors stormed the energy tycoon’s London mansion in March in protest of the war in Ukraine[/caption]
