New York Attorney Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Commit Money Laundering to Promote Sanctions Violations by Associate of Sanctioned Russian Oligarch

A New York attorney has pleaded guilty to participating in a scheme to make approximately $3.8 million in U.S. dollar payments to maintain six real properties in the United States that were owned by Viktor Vekselberg, a sanctioned oligarch.

According to court documents, Robert Wise of Pelham, New York, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to commit international money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Wise also agreed to forfeit more than $3.7 million and to be satisfied by a payment of $210,441. Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 6.

Wise, a longtime associate of Vekselberg, was retained to assist in the acquisition of the Properties, including two apartments on Park Avenue in New York, an estate in Southampton, New York, two apartments on Fisher Island, Florida, and a penthouse apartment on Fisher Island, Florida. The Properties were worth approximately $75 million as of the date of this information.

Prior to Vekselberg’s designation as an SDN, Wise used funds from a series of shell companies owned by Vekselberg to make various U.S. dollar payments to maintain and service the Properties. Immediately after Vekselberg’s designation, the source of the funds changed, with Wise receiving wires from a bank account in the Bahamas held in the name of a shell company controlled by Voronchenko, Smile Holding Ltd., and from a Russian bank account held in the name of a Russian national who was related to Voronchenko.

Between approximately June 2018 and March 2022, approximately 25 wire transfers totaling approximately $3.8 million were sent to Wise’s IOLTA account. Although the source of the payments changed, the management of the payments remained the same, with Wise using these funds to make various U.S. dollar payments to maintain and service the Properties, and he did so knowing that he was promoting sanctions violations.

An indictment charging co-conspirator Vladimir Voronchenko, aka Vladimir Vorontchenko, who is a fugitive, was unsealed on Feb. 7. A civil forfeiture complaint was filed against the Properties on Feb. 24.

The FBI and Homeland Security Investigations are investigating the case. The Justice Department’s National Security Division and Office of International Affairs are involved in the investigation.

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