NEW YORK, June 6 (Reuters) – A US court on Monday issued orders for the confiscation of two luxury planes owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich under US measures imposed after the invasion of Ukraine by part of Russia, showed court records.
But the U.S. government’s chance of gaining control of the nearly $ 400 million plane was uncertain.
A Justice Department official said the $ 350 million Boeing 787 Dreamliner and $ 60 million Gulfstream G650 ER were not in U.S. custody, and the official declined to say whether the U.S. government is aware of the its location.
Register now for FREE and unlimited access to Reuters.com
Sign up
A Manhattan federal judge issued orders on the grounds that recent flights violated U.S. export controls imposed after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February. The U.S. Department of Commerce filed related administrative charges against Abramovich.
But the official said the orders are likely to deter companies from helping move the plane. U.S. authorities are trying to pressure business leaders close to Russian President Vladimir Putin to disrupt what the Kremlin calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine.
A spokesman for Abramovich did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Abramovich has denied having close ties to Putin.
The Commerce Department said the Gulfstream flew from Istanbul to Moscow on March 12, left for Tel Aviv the next day and flew back from Istanbul to Moscow on March 15. The Boeing flew from Dubai to Moscow on March 4, the department said.
Because the planes were made in the United States and the flights took place after the entry into force of the export restrictions, Abramovich, a Russian national, would have needed a Trade license to fly them to Russia. No licenses were requested, but an administration official told reporters that the department’s policy is to deny such requests.
The department may try to fine Abramovich up to $ 328,121 for an unlicensed flight, or nearly $ 1 million for all three flights, among other penalties.
“Russian oligarchs like Abramovich will not be able to violate U.S. export regulations without consequences,” Commerce Chief John Sonderman said in a statement.
Trade in March effectively landed the Abramovich Gulfstream, along with 99 other planes that it said had recently traveled to Russia, for allegedly violating export controls. Read more
Abramovich owns the two planes through a series of fictitious companies registered in Cyprus, Jersey and the British Virgin Islands, prosecutors said. In February, he reorganized the ownership structure to turn his children into beneficiaries of a trust that eventually owns the two planes.
But he continued to effectively own and control the planes when they flew to Moscow the following month, according to the Commerce Department.
Abramovich, who helped mediate talks between Moscow and Kyiv during the early days of the war, has not been personally sanctioned by the United States. It has been sanctioned by the European Union and the United Kingdom. Read more
Register now for FREE and unlimited access to Reuters.com
Sign up
Report by Luc Cohen and Karen Freifeld in New York; Additional report by Catarina Demony; Editing by Lisa Shumaker, Tomasz Janowski and Cynthia Osterman
Our standards: Thomson Reuters’ principles of trust.