US Congressman Rohrabacher and Congressional Staffer Behrends Named for Violations of US Treasury Sanctions Under Magnitsky Act

July 24, 2017

Press Release

For Imme­di­ate Distribution

US Con­gress­man Rohrabach­er and Con­gres­sion­al Staffer Behrends Named for Vio­la­tions of US Trea­sury Sanc­tions Under Mag­nit­sky Act

24 July 2017 – A new com­plaint has been filed with the US Treasury’s Office of For­eign Assets Con­trol (OFAC) nam­ing US Con­gress­man Rohrabach­er and his senior staffer Paul Behrends for vio­la­tions of Mag­nit­sky sanctions.

The com­plaint filed with the Direc­tor of the Office of For­eign Assets Con­trol at the US Trea­sury alleges that both indi­vid­u­als pro­vid­ed ser­vices to Russ­ian Deputy Gen­er­al Pros­e­cu­tor Vic­tor Grin, a sanc­tioned indi­vid­ual under the Mag­nit­sky Act.

“Rohrabach­er and Behrends met with Grin [a Russ­ian offi­cial sanc­tioned under the Mag­nit­sky Act] in Moscow in April 2016, and accept­ed mate­r­i­al from Grin which Grin sought to have Rohrabach­er use to under­mine the Mag­nit­sky Act… Rohrabach­er and Behrends then repeat­ed­ly under­took a series of actions to under­mine the Mag­nit­sky Act …rely­ing on talk­ing points pro­vid­ed to them by Grin, with the appar­ent goal of secur­ing the removal of Grin as an SDN [Sanc­tions Des­ig­nat­ed Nation­al] through means out­side of the des­ig­nat­ed OFAC licens­ing process,” says the com­plaint filed with OFAC by Her­mitage Cap­i­tal Man­age­ment on Fri­day, 21 July 2017.

The com­plaint states that Rohrabach­er and Behrends met with Grin in April 2016 in Moscow to dis­cuss his prob­lems as a Sanc­tions Des­ig­nat­ed Nation­al (“SDN”) under the Mag­nit­sky Act and agreed to take action to help him. Since that meet­ing, accord­ing to the com­plaint, Rohrabach­er and Behrends took action, includ­ing delay­ing the con­sid­er­a­tion of the Glob­al Mag­nit­sky Act, repeat­ing to mem­bers of Con­gress talk­ing points from the paper pro­vid­ed to them by the sanc­tioned Russ­ian offi­cial, made per­son­al intro­duc­tions for lob­by­ists advo­cat­ing Russ­ian gov­ern­men­t’s and Grin’s posi­tion against the Mag­nit­sky Act on behalf of the 44 sanc­tioned Russ­ian nation­als. In addi­tion, Rohrabach­er and Behrends pro­mot­ed the anti-Mag­nit­sky film which was based on the mate­r­i­al and infor­ma­tion from the Sanc­tions Des­ig­nat­ed Nationals.

“They [these actions] con­sti­tute ser­vices pro­vid­ed to a SDN by U.S. per­sons in appar­ent vio­la­tion of the Mag­nit­sky Act sanc­tions which express­ly for­bid U.S. per­sons to pro­vide such ser­vices,” says the complaint.

Deputy Gen­er­al Pros­e­cu­tor of Rus­sia Vic­tor Grin played a cen­tral role in the cov­er up of the US$230 mil­lion crime exposed by Sergei Mag­nit­sky. Vic­tor Grin per­son­al­ly ini­ti­at­ed two posthu­mous pros­e­cu­tions against Sergei Mag­nit­sky a year and a half after Sergei Mag­nit­sky’s death, and exon­er­at­ed offi­cials impli­cat­ed by Mag­nit­sky in the US$230 mil­lion fraud.

Since  Decem­ber 29, 2014, Vic­tor Grin has been sanc­tioned under the US Mag­nit­sky Act.

Dana Rohrabach­er is a mem­ber of the U.S House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives rep­re­sent­ing Cal­i­for­ni­a’s 48^th con­gres­sion­al district.

Paul Behrends has been employed in Con­gress since Q3 ’14, and has also been a staffer for House Com­mit­tee on For­eign Affairs.

For more infor­ma­tion, please contact:

 

Jus­tice for Sergei Magnitsky

+44 207 440 1777

e‑mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org

www.lawandorderinrussia.org

billbrowder.com

twitter.com/Bill­brow­der

 

 

OFAC com­plaint

http://russian-untouchables.com/docs/OFAC%20complaint%20filed_Redacted.pdf

 

Baroness Helena Kennedy QC Introduces Magnitsky Visa Ban Legislation to the UK House of Lords

July 4, 2017

Press Release

For Imme­di­ate Distribution

 

Baroness Hele­na Kennedy QC Intro­duces Mag­nit­sky Visa Ban Leg­is­la­tion to the UK House of Lords

 

4 July 2017 – Last week Baroness Hele­na Kennedy QC intro­duced the Mag­nit­sky visa ban leg­is­la­tion at the House of Lords of the British parliament.
The new leg­is­la­tion will give the British gov­ern­ment the pow­er to deny entry into the UK to indi­vid­u­als who have been involved in gross human rights abus­es as defined in sec­tion 241 of the Pro­ceeds of Crime Act 2002 (“POCA”).

 

The new leg­is­la­tion is enti­tled “Can­cel­la­tion of UK Visas for Gross Human Rights Abus­es Bill 2017.”

 

The bill com­ple­ments the pre­vi­ous Mag­nit­sky leg­is­la­tion passed ear­li­er this year by the British Par­lia­ment which gives the British gov­ern­ment new pow­ers to freeze the UK assets of for­eign­ers involved in gross human rights abus­es and corruption.

 

On intro­duc­ing the bill, Baroness Kennedy said:

 

“My Lords, I beg to intro­duce a Bill to enable the Sec­re­tary of State or an immi­gra­tion offi­cer to refuse entry or to vary or cur­tail leave to enter or remain already grant­ed to a per­son who is non-UK or non- EEA nation­al who is known to be or to have been involved in gross human rights abuses.”

“This Bill was inspired by Bill Brow­der’s cam­paign­ing for human rights and his efforts to secure jus­tice for his lawyer, Sergei Mag­nit­sky, whose life was cru­el­ly end­ed in a Russ­ian jail. This coun­try has been too lax in its will­ing­ness to allow entry to rich human rights abusers from around the world. It has to stop. These tor­tur­ers and vio­la­tors of rights have to be denied impuni­ty,” said Baroness Kennedy QC.

 

The leg­is­la­tion fol­lows in the foot­steps of the US Mag­nit­sky Act which was adopt­ed by the US Con­gress in Decem­ber 2012. The Mag­nit­sky Act adopt­ed into law in the Unit­ed States com­pris­es two com­po­nents — visa bans and asset freezes – and applies them to those involved in the Mag­nit­sky case, includ­ing the crim­i­nal con­spir­a­cy he had uncov­ered, as well as in oth­er gross human rights vio­la­tions and acts against human rights defenders.

 

Baroness Kennedy QC is a mem­ber of the House of Lords, Head of Mans­field Col­lege, Uni­ver­si­ty of Oxford, and a lead­ing human rights barrister.

 

For more infor­ma­tion, please contact:

 

Jus­tice for Sergei Magnitsky

+44 207 440 1777

e‑mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org

www.lawandorderinrussia.org

billbrowder.com

twitter.com/Bill­brow­der

 

 

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