US Treasury sanctions two Swiss lawyers for aiding Russian clients

The US Treasury Department announced sanctions against 275 individuals and entities in countries including India, Switzerland, China, and Turkey, Keystone-SDA/ Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved

The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has added two Swiss lawyers to the sanctions list. They are said to have created companies and trusts to help Russian clients evade sanctions. 

+ Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

According to a press release from the US Embassy in Switzerland on Wednesday, the two individuals are said to have facilitated the illicit flow of funds. They avoided oversight due to a loophole in Swiss law that allows lawyers to serve as non-financial intermediaries under the guise of their profession without due diligence or reporting requirements.

“Switzerland is both a global financial hub and a key part of the international sanctions framework,” said US Ambassador Scott Miller in the press statement. “It can and must do more to ensure its legal framework is not used for illicit financial activity.”

He urged Switzerland to close the loopholes in its anti-money laundering (AML) legislation to ensure that lawyers serving as non-financial intermediaries are subject to oversight requirements and strengthen enforcement of sanctions.  

More sanctions

This announcement comes as the US unveiled new sanctions against nearly 400 individuals and companies in more than a dozen countries that it accuses of providing Russia with advanced technologies to support its “war machine”.

“Building on the unprecedented measures we have already imposed in coordination with our allies and partners, today the United States is imposing sanctions on nearly 400 entities and individuals who enabled Russia to wage an illegal war against Ukraine,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

The US Treasury Department announced sanctions against 275 individuals and entities in countries including India, Switzerland, China, and Turkey, with the aim of “disrupting global networks of circumvention” of sanctions already imposed against Russia.

“We are determined to reduce and degrade Russia’s ability to equip its war machine, and to stop those who seek to support these efforts by circumventing or avoiding our sanctions and export controls,” said Treasury Assistant Secretary Wally Adeyemo, quoted in a statement.

At the same time, the Commerce Department announced trade restrictions against 40 foreign entities because of “their support for the Kremlin’s illegal war in Ukraine”, and tightened existing restrictions against 49 other foreign entities from countries such as China, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates “to address their purchases of US-branded microelectronics and other items on behalf of Russia”.

The G7 countries have promised to step up the fight against Russia’s circumvention of the sanctions imposed on it since the start of its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Adapted from German by DeepL/jdp

How we work

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.

If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to [e-mail].