According to recent reports, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) is investigating $CS Group AG and $UBS Group AG for their alleged role in helping Russian clients evade US sanctions. 😤
The DOJ is said to be looking into whether the Swiss banks facilitated the evasion of US sanctions that were imposed on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine.
The DOJ’s investigation is part of the US’s broader crackdown on financial institutions that have facilitated Russian oligarchs. The US has fined several banks, including BNP Paribas ($BNPQY), in recent months for violating sanctions.
Those banks join cryptocurrency companies that are also under the microscope. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has already imposed sanctions on Binance (not Binance.US) for facilitating transactions with sanctioned Russian entities.
The DOJ’s KleptoCapture task force is responsible for enforcing sanctions against Russian oligarchs, and it has already confiscated billions of dollars in assets from them. 💲