Trump DOJ ending task force targeting Kremlin oligarchs with sanctions

President Donald Trump’s Justice Department is ending a task force focused on enforcing sanctions against Russian oligarchs.

The task force was formed after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine to target oligarchs with close ties to the Kremlin and to enforce economic sanctions against them to exert pressure to help end the war.

Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a raft of orders on her first day in office Wednesday. A memo stated that the group, called Task Force KleptoCapture, would come to an end as the agency’s focus moves on to going after drug cartels and international gangs, according to Reuters.

“This policy requires a fundamental change in mindset and approach,” said Bondi in the memo. She added that resources currently used to enforce sanctions and seize oligarchs’ assets would instead be used to battle cartels.

The task force was started during the Biden administration and was intended to restrict and hamper the financial state of oligarchs close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and to go after those enabling violations of sanctions and export controls.

It was an attempt to push Russia out of global markets and to enforce sanctions put in place on Moscow for its war of aggression in Ukraine.

Part of those who faced indictments because of the task force included aluminum tycoon Oleg Deripaska and TV baron Konstantin Malofeyev for sanction violations. The yachts of oligarchs Suleiman Kerimov and Viktor Vekselberg were seized.

Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska addresses media representatives during a press conference in Moscow on June 28, 2022. He was affected by the work of the DOJ task force (AFP via Getty Images)

While the cases likely will carry on, the work will no longer be centralized at the headquarters of the Department of Justice.

The initial leader of the task force, Andrew Adams, now at the law firm Steptoe, told Reuters: “Are we going to suddenly see a surge of sanctioned oligarch wealth flood into the United States? I don’t think so.”

“What you will see is a sharp decline in the pace of charges that target facilitators that are specific to Russia,” said Adams.

Those assigned to the task force will go back to their previous jobs. The directive stated that the changes would be in effect for at least 90 days and that they may be renewed or become permanent.

Trump claimed during the campaign that he would be able to end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours, but he’s yet to detail a plan on when peace negotiations may begin.

The president has designated several cartels as terrorist groups as part of a tranche of tougher policies on illegal immigration and drug trafficking.

The memo states that the group enforcing the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), which is a U.S. foreign bribery law, will now focus on bribes related to probes into cartels.

Stephen Frank worked in FCPA cases as a federal prosecutor. He told Reuters that it’s 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.”

Several well-known companies, such as Walmart and Goldman Sachs, have been investigated under the law.

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