FinCEN file: Putin’s good friend Arkady Rotenberg may launder cash via Barclays financial institution | News from Germany about Europe | DW

Russian billionaire and shut good friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Arkady Rotenberg, could have used Barclays Bank in London to launder cash. This was introduced on Sunday, September 20, by the BBC media firm, after inspecting the information from the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Administration (FinCEN). Since March 20, 2014, Rotenberg has been below US sanctions, and since July 30 of the identical yr, the EU.

Bank of London opened an account with Advantage Alliance in 2008. From 2012 to 2016, she made transactions for 60 million kilos (by way of 65.5 million euros), it follows from the FinCEN file. In April 2016, Barclays launched an inside investigation into a number of accounts, suggesting that they’re associated to the Rotenberg household. In the identical yr, the financial institution closed the Advantage Alliance account on account of suspicions of its attainable use for suspicious transactions. At the identical time, different accounts, presumably associated to the Rothenbergs, remained open till 2017, it follows from the FinCEN file.

US Senate report and attainable buy of Magritte’s portray

In July 2020, the US Senate carried out an investigation and accused Arkady Rotenberg, his brother Boris and son Igor of secretly shopping for artistic endeavors in an effort to keep away from sanctions. According to the senators, Advantage Alliance additionally participated within the scheme. In specific, a Russian in May 2014 may buy a portray by the Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte for $ 7.5 million, the report famous.

Its authors highlighted “secrecy, anonymity and regulatory gaps” that create an “atmosphere conducive to cash laundering and sanctions avoidance.” The American facet concluded that there’s compelling proof that the Advantage Alliance belongs to Rotenberg.

In August 2020, the enterprise journal Forbes named the Rotenberg household the richest in Russia, estimating the full fortune of 4 folks at 5.45 billion US {dollars}. The businessman is way from the one Russian whose transactions are talked about within the FinCEN file.

Thus, it additionally follows from FinCEN’s information that suspicious transactions via the Moscow department of Deutsche Bank may have been carried out by an organization related to the cousin of the President of the Russian Federation Igor Putin, in response to the public-legal media firm ARD, which additionally participated within the investigation.

Publication of the key file

FinCEN is a part of the US Treasury Department. Secret information FinCEN in 2019 have been on the disposal of the American media firm BuzzFeed News. Then about 400 journalists from 88 nations analyzed the file information for nearly a yr and a half. The authors of the investigation discovered that famend banks from around the globe play a vital position within the international cash laundering course of, regardless of strict banking rules. FinCEN administration refused to reply particular questions in regards to the content material of the file and condemned its diversion and use.

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