Overview

• Germany's federal prosecutor has filed a motion for asset forfeiture of $789 million of frozen Russian money.
• The money was deposited by a Russian financial institution in a Frankfurt bank account and is suspected of violating embargo regulations.
• Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the European Union has imposed various sanctions and restrictions on Russia, including asset freezes and travel bans.
• The federal prosecutor’s office wants the frozen funds to go into state coffers.
• Unknown individuals acting on behalf of the Russian financial institution attempted to deduct the funds from its account at a Frankfurt bank, but the bank didn’t execute the electronic transfer order.