Sanctioning an Oligarch is Not an Easy Task: Searching for Usmanov’s Millions

As Russian forces escalated their war of aggression against Ukraine in 2022, Western governments scrambled to sanction oligarchs connected to Putin’s war machine. Yet the task is far from simple when Kremlin-connected tycoons hide their billions in offshore trusts and Swiss bank accounts — and even behind the names of their family members.

In this episode, Nick Wallis talks with OCCRP editing duo Miranda Patrucic and Ilya Lozovsky, discussing how billionaire Alisher Usmanov concealed his fortune via secretive companies, business associates and family members — including Swiss bank accounts in his sister’s name despite her seemingly modest trade as a gynecologist.

We also hear from British Member of Parliament Kevin Hollinrake on how Russia’s invasion sparked a campaign to clamp down on dirty money washed through the U.K., as well as how effective Western sanctions have been in choking off the lifelines to Putin’s military campaign.

Dirty Deeds is a Little Gem production for OCCRP. The host is Nick Wallis. The producer is Lindsay Riley at Rethink Audio, with research from Phoebe Adler-Ryan and Riham Moussa.

Read the investigations:

• Sanctioning an Oligarch Is Not So Easy: Why the Money Trail of Alisher Usmanov, One of Russia’s Wealthiest Men, Is Difficult to Follow
• OCCRP Russian Asset Tracker

This week’s guests:

• Miranda Patrucic
• Ilya Lozovsky
• Kevin Hollinrake

Transcript:

• Read the transcript on the OCCRP website.

More information OCCRP:

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[00:00] Introduction

[02:04] Miranda Patrucic explains why she is interested in investigating oligarchs — and Alisher Usmanov in particular

[03:50] How did the investigation into Usmanov come about?

[06:16] What are the FinCEN Files — and what did they reveal about Usmanov?

[07:55] An explainer of suspicious activity reports and how they’re supposed to stop financial crime

[10:36] How Usmanov’s family is connected to the story

[13:04] Ilya Lozovsky explains how OCCRP told the story via the Russian Asset Tracker

[15:36] Did Western sanctions against Usmanov work against him — and Vladimir Putin’s war effort in Ukraine?

[19:00] Why have there been so many large-scale data leaks in recent years?

[22:07] Kevin Hollinrake on whether tackling money laundering in the U.K. would harm the nation’s economy

[25:45] Updates on how the U.K. is tackling flows of dirty money

[27:33] What needs to be done to clamp down on dirty money in the U.K.?

[33:55] Kevin Hollinrake on whether Western sanctions have been effective against the Russian invasion of Ukraine

This podcast was originally produced in Spanish. Following recent events in Venezuela, we are sharing it with a wider audience through this human-reviewed AI translation. This is an experiment, so minor imperfections may be present. Original Spanish podcast below:

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5inyH4WRo1H82KgvmnmUHh
• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cuello-blanco-manos-sucias/id1872501127

We welcome your feedback on this experiment at occrp.org/podcast.

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