U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland has announced the launch of Task Force “KleptoCapture”.  The Task Force is “an interagency law enforcement task force dedicated to enforcing the sweeping sanctions, export restrictions, and economic countermeasures that the United States has imposed, along with allies and partners, in response to Russia’s unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine.”  According to the Department of Justice, the Task Force will be run out of the Office of the Deputy Attorney General and will seek, among other things, to investigate and prosecute violations of new and future sanctions and use civil and criminal asset forfeiture authorities to seize assets belonging to sanctioned individuals or assets identified as the proceeds of unlawful conduct.

Click here to read the DOJ press release.