Trump administration disbands task force targeting Russian oligarchs

Washington: The US Justice Department under President Donald Trump is disbanding an effort started after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine to enforce sanctions and target oligarchs close to the Kremlin.

A memo from Attorney General Pam Bondi, issued on Wednesday during a wave of orders on her first day in office but not previously reported, said the effort, known as Task Force KleptoCapture, will end as part of a shift in focus and funding to combating drug cartels and international gangs.

"This policy requires a fundamental change in mindset and approach," Bondi wrote in the directive, adding that resources now devoted to enforcing sanctions and seizing the assets of oligarchs will be redirected to countering cartels.

The effort, launched during Democratic President Joe Biden's administration, was designed to strain the finances of wealthy associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin and punish those facilitating sanctions and export control violations.

It was part of a broader push to freeze Russia out of global markets and enforce wide-ranging sanctions imposed on Moscow amid international condemnation of its war in Ukraine.

The task force brought indictments against aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska and TV tycoon Konstantin Malofeyev for alleged sanctions busting and seized yachts belonging to sanctioned oligarchs Suleiman Kerimov and Viktor Vekselberg.

Cases investigated by the task force are likely to continue, but the work will no longer be centralized at Justice Department headquarters.

"Are we going to suddenly see a surge of sanctioned oligarch wealth flood into the United States? I don’t think so," said Andrew Adams, the first leader of the task force who is now at law firm Steptoe. "What you will see is a sharp decline in the pace of charges that target facilitators that are specific to Russia."

Prosecutors assigned to the task force will return to their previous posts. The changes will be in effect for at least 90 days and could be renewed or made permanent, according to the directive.

Trump has spoken about improving relations with Moscow. He has previously vowed to end the war in Ukraine, though he has not released a detailed plan.

The emphasis on drug cartels comes after Trump designated many such groups as terrorist organisations, part of a crackdown on illegal immigration and fentanyl trafficking.

The shift also implicates enforcement of a US foreign bribery law that has led to some of the Justice Department's largest corporate cases over the last decade. The unit enforcing that law, known as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, will now prioritise bribery investigations related to cartels, according to the memo.

A wide range of multinational firms has come under Justice Department scrutiny over the law, including Goldman Sachs, Glencore and Walmart.

"It is a radical move away from traditional FCPA cases and toward a narrow subset of drug and violent crime related cases that have never been the focus of FCPA enforcement," said Stephen Frank, a lawyer at law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan who worked on FCPA cases as a federal prosecutor.