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A well-connected British national was arrested this week for allegedly acquiring and managing real estate for Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska in violation of U.S. sanctions.
Graham Bonham-Carter was arrested in the UK this week and faces extradition to the U.S. on charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to violate U.S. sanctions, the Department of Justice announced Tuesday.
Deripaska acquired two houses in Manhattan and one in Washington, D.C., between roughly 2005 and 2008, and after he was put on the U.S. sanctions list in 2018, went about setting up a shell company run by Bonham-Carter to manage the properties, according to the DOJ complaint.
The entity, named Gracetown Inc., received over $1M in payments from a Russian-linked bank account in 2021 and used the funds to "pay for various expenses associated with the U.S. Properties, including staff salaries, property taxes and other services, and to maintain and keep up the U.S. Properties,” the DOJ said in a release.
Bonham-Carter, a relative of Fight Club and Harry Potter actress Helena Bonham-Carter, referred to Deripaska as "my boss" in emails, the DOJ found.
“Times a bit tough for my boss as sanctions have hit him from the USA so not an ideal time," Bonham-Carter wrote in a June 2018 email.
Deripaska bought the two New York properties for more than $50M combined, according to The Real Deal, which tracked them as among eight NYC properties owned by known sanctioned oligarchs.
Bonham-Carter faces three counts and could face more than 20 years in prison.
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