Joe Biden's plan to help Ukraine: Money from siphoned assets of Russian oligarchs
Zee News
Joe Biden is expected to ask for significant sums from Congress to help Ukraine confront the Russian invasion as well as new legal authorities to seize money from Russian oligarchs to pay for the war effort.
US President Joe Biden will ask Congress on Thursday for new funds to support Ukraine`s military as well as new legal tools to tighten sanctions and siphon assets from Russian oligarchs. Biden is expected to ask for significant sums from Congress to help Ukraine confront the Russian invasion as well as new legal authorities to seize money from Russian oligarchs to pay for the war effort.
U.S. officials will seek the full amount they expect to need through September, the end of the fiscal year, to support Ukraine`s military operations as well as humanitarian and economic aid, spokesperson Jen Psaki said on Wednesday.
Biden is also coupling that request with a proposal for lawmakers to hand his administration new capabilities, letting U.S. officials seize more oligarchs` assets, give the cash from those seizures to Ukraine and further criminalize sanctions dodging, the White House said.
The steps include letting the Justice Department use the strict U.S. racketeering law once deployed against the mafia, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, to build cases against people who evade sanctions.
Biden also wants to give prosecutors more time to build such cases by extending the statute of limitations on money laundering prosecutions to 10 years, instead of five. He would also make it a criminal act to hold money knowingly taken from corrupt dealings with Russia, according to a summary of the proposals.
