How the U.S. is targeting the financial resources of Russian oligarchs

Judy Woodruff:

Over the past week, the U.S. and scores of other nations have cut Russia off from much of the global economy, in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine.

Now investigators are planning strikes on Russian finances hidden here in the U.S.

Geoff Bennett has more.

Geoff Bennett:

Experts say Russian oligarchs launder billions of dollars through the U.S., stashed in swanky apartment purchases, shell companies, and cryptocurrency holdings.

Here's how President Biden announced the coming crackdown on those financial dealings in Tuesday's State of the Union address.

President Joe Biden:

We're joining with European allies to find and seize their yachts, their luxury apartments, their private jets.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

President Joe Biden:

We're coming for your ill-begotten gains.

Geoff Bennett:

For more on all this, I'm joined by Lisa Monaco. She's the deputy attorney general and she's leading the task force dubbed KleptoCapture.

Welcome to the welcome to the "NewsHour."

And I want to start with the news today that the U.S. announced, that it is targeting additional Russian elites and their family member who continue to support Vladimir Putin. Russian oligarchs as you know, they are able to cloak their true identities as owners by creating shell companies and by benefiting from major disclosure loopholes and things like private equity and luxury goods.

So how will this new task force disentangle that?

Lisa Monaco, U.S. Deputy Attorney General:

Well, Geoff, what we are doing with this new task force, KleptoCapture, is bringing together all the expertise that we have in the Department of Justice and, importantly, working across the federal government with other experts from the Department of Homeland Security, from the IRS, as well as with our own FBI and Marshals Service, and agents and prosecutors and analysts in the Department of Justice, who are expert in enforcing sanctions, in going after the type of money laundering activity that you just mentioned.

These are experts who are well-versed in tracing through very byzantine ways and using sophisticated methods to trace the activities of criminals, including oligarchs, who seek to hide their ill-gotten gains in the purchase of many luxury goods.

So what you're seeing with this task force is a commitment by the Department of Justice working across the government to go after these oligarchs, go after these cronies and to say, if you're using your proceeds, if you're going and engaging in money laundering, evading sanctions to buy that jet, to purchase that yacht, to have that luxury apartment, we're going to go after you.

And we're going to freeze using, this new — this sanction tool that you announced, and then seize using our own law enforcement authorities.

Geoff Bennett:

What's the estimated value of capital held in the U.S. by these Russian oligarchs? And how much could feasibly be targeted?

Lisa Monaco:

Well, I think it's a very good question, Geoff.

And one of the things we hope to do with this task force and we intend to do with this task force is get a much truer picture of that. I have seen lots of estimates of the wealth that oligarchs are hiding, both here and in the countries of our allies and partners.

That's why we're joining forces with our partners in the U.K., with our partners in Europe and across the globe, using these unprecedented sanctions of really unprecedented scope and scale to bring together all of our efforts to both find those assets, and then use these tools to seize them.

Geoff Bennett:

And this isn't the first time that the U.S. has targeted Russian assets. Oligarchs, they proved quite capable of shielding their holdings after sanctions followed Russia's 2014 invasion of Crimea.

So, what do you say to people who might see this effort as more messaging than being something substantive?

Lisa Monaco:

Well, look, Geoff, I think we have a long history, and we have got lots of expertise in the department, as well as across the government in going after these types of money-laundered funds and going after criminals who seek to shield their activity.

What you're seeing that's different in this task force is bringing all of that expertise together, working with our international partners, working across the government with a singular focus on the oligarchs and cronies of Putin, who are seeking to bolster Putin's and Russia's unwarranted and unprovoked aggression in the Ukraine.

Geoff Bennett:

While we have you, I want to ask you about some news that broke overnight from the January 6 Committee, because they said in a court filing that there's enough evidence to suggest that Donald Trump might have engaged in a criminal conspiracy as he attempted to overturn the results of the 2020 election that he lost.

And Congressman Adam Schiff, who you know sits on that committee, he says that the Justice Department should not wait for a criminal referral to act.

And so the question is, is the filing itself from this committee enough evidence of potential illegality for the DOJ to act? Or does the committee need to make a formal criminal referral on this matter?

Lisa Monaco:

Well, Geoff, look, I saw that news. And I have seen that filing.

I can't say anything more on this other than what the attorney general has best said, which is, we are going to follow the facts in the law in what is the most wide-ranging and complex investigation into the events of January 6 that the department has ever undertaken, and we are going to do so regardless of where the facts take us, regardless of what level.

We're going to follow the facts wherever they lead.

Geoff Bennett:

Could some of the details released by the January 6 Committee end up hindering DOJ's investigations and potential criminal cases in any significant way?

Lisa Monaco:

We're going to follow those facts wherever they come from, and the information that's being made available by the committee can certainly add to the picture, but it's far from an exclusive source.

Geoff Bennett:

And more than a month ago, you said on CNN that the DOJ is considering charges surrounding the fraudulent slates of electors.

How close is the Justice Department to making a decision that?

Lisa Monaco:

Well, Geoff, what I indicated is that we'd receive referrals from a number of states. We have those. We are engaged in reviewing those.

And we're not — I can't say anything more on ongoing investigations.

Geoff Bennett:

Understanding that you are limited in what you can say about any potential investigation, I want to ask you about, what do you make of the criticism from some on the left who say that Attorney General Merrick Garland isn't moving quickly enough, given all of the evidence that exists of alleged fraudulent and/or criminal activity on the part of the former president and his allies?

Lisa Monaco:

Well, Geoff, look, I think the attorney general spoke quite forcefully and quite clearly about this issue in a speech he gave on January 5 in an update he gave to the Department of Justice work force, and, more broadly, to the public about the activity and the work that we are undertaking here at the department to investigate all of the activities around January 6.

He was quite clear then and quite forceful that we will follow those facts wherever they lead, regardless of at what level and from what direction. And there should be no mistake about that.

Geoff Bennett:

U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, appreciate your time and your insights this evening.