一名司法部高级官员对试图逃避美国制裁的俄罗斯寡头发出严厉警告:没有人能逃脱DOJ的制裁。
副总检察长莉萨·莫纳科在接受美国广播公司新闻频道(ABC News)的拜伦·皮茨(Byron Pitts)采访时表示:“追捕普京的亲信和试图违反我们的法律并保护他们资产的俄罗斯寡头的目的是要说，没有人可以逃脱我们的司法系统，我们的工作和与我们的盟友的合作，这些试图支持和巩固俄罗斯政权的亲信和寡头不应该能够在人们死亡的时候逃脱惩罚。”
美国司法部(Justice Department)周三宣布成立一个特别工作组，目标是俄罗斯寡头的资产。此前，美国总统拜登(Joe Biden)在周二晚间的国情咨文(State of the Union)讲话中预演了这一举措。
美国表示，一些寡头与总统弗拉基米尔·普京有联系，他利用他们来清洗或隐藏通过腐败获得的数亿美元。
该组织被称为特遣部队盗窃捕获，将调查和实施新的制裁，打击破坏对俄罗斯金融机构的限制的非法行为，追捕使用加密货币逃避美国制裁的寡头，并没收俄罗斯寡头的资产。
司法部副部长敦促美国企业加强对制裁的遵守，并确保他们知道自己在与谁做生意。
她说:“因为如果他们不这样做，违反制裁，后果可能会相当严重。”。“我们的调查经常得到公司和金融机构的帮助，他们说，‘你知道吗，我们看到了一些不寻常的活动’，并与我们分享这些信息，这非常重要。”
摩纳哥表示，该特别工作组是DOJ的“承诺”，将全力支持打击“寡头和普京的亲信逃避制裁、洗钱和违反制裁的努力，我们正以前所未有的方式与我们的国际合作伙伴一起实施制裁。”
副总检察长将电视上播放的乌克兰人民遭受苦难的画面与俄罗斯一些最富有的公民逃避制裁的画面进行了对比。
“我们看到有人死亡，炸弹落在平民身上。与此同时，寡头、普京的亲信通过腐败获取数十亿美元，掩盖起来，藏在西方的奢侈品中，”她说。
“这是站不住脚的，”她补充道。
Justice Department 'going after Putin's cronies and Russian oligarchs'
A top Justice Department official has a stern warning for Russian oligarchs who attempt to evade U.S. sanctions: Nobody is out of the DOJ's reach.
"The point of going after Putin's cronies and Russian oligarchs who seek to violate our laws and shield their assets is to say that nobody is beyond the reach of our system of justice, beyond the reach of our work and cooperation with our allies, and that these cronies and oligarchs who seek to support and bolster the Russian regime shouldn't be able to get away with that while people are dying," Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco told ABC News' Byron Pitts.
The Justice Department on Wednesday announced a task force to target the assets of Russian oligarchs after President Joe Biden previewed the move in his State of the Union address Tuesday night.
The U.S. says some of the oligarchs have ties to President Vladimir Putin and he uses them to launder or hide hundreds of millions of dollars obtained through corruption.
Dubbed Task Force KleptoCapture, the group will investigate and implement new sanctions, combat unlawful efforts to undermine restrictions taken against Russian financial institutions, go after oligarchs who use cryptocurrency to evade U.S. sanctions and seize the assets of Russian oligarchs.
The deputy attorney general urged U.S. businesses to shore up their compliance with sanctions and make sure they know who they're doing business with.
"Because if they don't and they run afoul of the sanctions, the consequences can be quite severe," she said. "And our investigations are often aided by companies and financial institutions that say, 'You know what, we're seeing some unusual activity,' and sharing that information with us, and that's critically important."
Monaco said the task force is a "commitment" from the DOJ to put the full weight of the agency behind combatting "efforts of oligarchs and Putin's cronies to evade sanctions, to launder money, to violate the sanctions that we're imposing in an unprecedented way with our international partners."
The deputy attorney general juxtaposed the images playing out on TV of people suffering in Ukraine with some of Russia's wealthiest citizens evading sanctions.
"We've got people dying, bombs falling on civilian populations. All the while you've got oligarchs, Putin's cronies who have engaged in corruptly acquiring billions of dollars, shrouding it and hiding it in luxury items in the West," she said.
"That cannot stand," she added.
