Today, US Attorney General Merrick Garland and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen met with counterparts in Europe and Asia to formally launch a multilateral task force to pursue action against Russian oligarchs’ assets.
The task force, which will include members’ ministries of justice, home affairs, and finance, will work to “collect and share information in order to take concrete actions, such as sanctions, asset freezing, civil and criminal asset seizure, and criminal prosecution,” according to a Justice Department release issued Wednesday.
The effort will work in tandem with the KleptoCapture task force, a new unit within the Justice Department announced earlier this month by Garland to assist in the enforcement of sanctions against Russian government officials and oligarchs, focusing on their yachts, jets, real estate, and other assets.
The task force will be led by Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco and will include prosecutors, federal agents, and experts in money laundering, tax enforcement, and national security investigations from the FBI, IRS, US Marshals Service, and US Postal Inspection Service.
