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The secret of the art world, where the identities of buyers often remain undisclosed, has given billionaires friends of Russian President Vladimir Putin access to the American economy even after the United States imposed sanctions on them after the annexation of Crimea. by Moscow in 2014, according to the report.
The researchers tracked 18 million. Acquisition of $ 15.3 million worth of artwork by shell companies linked to Putin’s close allies, billionaires Arkady and Boris Rothenberg, who US officials said benefited from the annexation of Crimea.
The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has highlighted loopholes in the law, leaving even the most expensive art deals without financial guarantees to prevent money laundering.
Major American auction houses admitted that they never asked for the true identity of the buyer, according to the report, adding that the transactions in question were handled through an intermediary, “although it was well known that the real owner was someone else.”
Following the announcement of the sanctions, the fake companies linked to the oligarchs pumped a total of at least $ 91 million through the US financial system USD (77.5 million), according to the report.
“It is troubling and completely unacceptable that the common rules for preventing money laundering and terrorist financing do not apply to someone who purchases a million dollar work of art,” said Delaware Senator Tom Carper, one of the top Democrats in the Research Subcommittee.
Republican Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, meanwhile, said he would support legislation that would break the secret that has made the art market a favorite tool for money launderers.
The AP news agency was unable to contact the Rotenberg brothers for comment. Rotenberg, who has close ties to Putin, has been subject to U.S. sanctions since March 2014.
Rotenberg is Putin’s childhood friend and former judo training partner. His companies have won billions in road construction tenders in Sochi, where the 2014 Winter Olympics took place.
Last year, the number of transactions in the world art market reached 64 billion. dollars (EUR 54.5 billion). The United States accounts for almost half the market, but the country remains unregulated, attracting scammers and money launderers.
Any attempt to reform the opaque art market will undoubtedly meet fierce resistance from wealthy collectors who “don’t want anyone to know what they have,” said former Federal Bureau of Investigation agent Robert Wittman, who helped to establish an FBI unit to combat art theft and other art thefts. crime in this area.
According to him, sales of works of art in the United States will decrease if Congress implements the subcommittee’s recommendation and passes appropriate legislation to extend the Bank Secrecy Act to companies that mediate high-value art transactions.
The report mentions new anti-money laundering rules recently adopted by the European Union for costly artistic transactions, including verification of the identity of the buyer and seller of a work of art. The directive was adopted with the publication of the so-called “Panama Papers,” a collection of more than 11 million secret financial documents that illustrate how some of the world’s richest people are hiding their money.
The Congressional report cited emails from Panama documents listing nine Rottenberg-related shell companies in the British Virgin Islands.
Grigory Balcer, a Moscow-based art consultant who helped Rotenberg help with business in the United States, is said to “have no plans to return to the United States.”
Balcer’s attorney sent a letter to the Senate subcommittee denying that he had business with the Rothenbergs.
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