New York
U.S .obtains warrant to seize $90M jet of Russian oligarch
NEW YORK (AP) — A judge authorized the United States on Monday to seize a $90 million jet belonging to a Russian oligarch in a continuing effort to diminish the financial pillars of the Russian government after its invasion of Ukraine.
The effort to seize Andrei Skoch’s private plane, an Airbus A319-100, was part of a monthslong pursuit of sanctioned Russian oligarchs and their blocked property, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams announced.
Skoch, a steel magnate, is one of the wealthiest men in Russia’s Duma, or parliament. His fortune is valued at about $6.6 billion, according to Forbes. The U.S. Treasury first sanctioned Skoch in April 2018 over his ties to organized crime and for being “a deputy of the Russian Federation’s State Duma.”
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued additional sanctions against Skoch and his assets, including by identifying the Airbus in June as property in which Skoch had an interest, according to a release from law enforcement authorities.
The warrant to seize the plane, which is now in Kazakhstan, was signed by U.S. District Judge Robert W. Lehrburger in New York after a federal agent submitted an affidavit explaining how Skoch is the owner of the Airbus through a series of shell companies and trusts tied to his romantic partner. Authorities said the jet is worth more than $90 million.
“Once again U.S. law enforcement has demonstrated that international shell games will not suffice to hide the fruits of corruption and money laundering,” said Andrew C. Adams, director of a task force pursing the assets of Russian oligarchs.
The United States had already revealed it was seeking to seize a $156 million superyacht, the Madame Gu, belonging to Skoch. The 324-foot (98-meter) yacht has a helicopter pad, gym, beach club and elevator.
In June, Treasury issued additional sanctions against Skoch and his assets, banning American entities from conducting business with the superyacht. The yacht is registered in the Cayman Islands but has most recently been docked at Port Rashid in Dubai. Skoch is also sanctioned by the European Union.
The United Arab Emirates has not taken sides after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and has welcomed the influx of Russian money to its beachfront villas and luxury hotels. The UAE has become a safe haven for some Russian oligarchs to park their assets.
In June, a U.S. court ordered the seizure of two aircraft worth over $400 million believed to be owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. A court filing said that the former Chelsea soccer club owner’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner was in the UAE.
Washington
Biden administration says ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy is over
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Homeland Security said Monday that it ended a Trump-era policy requiring asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico for hearings in U.S. immigration court, hours after a judge lifted an order in effect since December that it be reinstated.
The timing had been in doubt since the Supreme Court ruled on June 30 that the Biden administration could end the “Remain in Mexico” policy. Homeland Security officials had been largely silent, saying they had to wait for the court to certify the ruling and for a Trump-appointed judge, Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo, Texas, to then lift his injunction. The Supreme Court certified its ruling last week.
The program will be unwound in a “quick, and orderly manner,” Homeland Security said in a statement. No more people are being enrolled and those who appear in court will not be returned to Mexico when they appear in the U.S. for their next hearings.
The policy “has endemic flaws, imposes unjustifiable human costs, and pulls resources and personnel away from other priority efforts to secure our border,” the department said.
Many questions remain, including whether those whose claims have been denied or dismissed will get a second chance or if those whose next court dates are months away will be allowed to return to the U.S. sooner. Homeland Security said it will provide additional information “in the coming days.”
About 70,000 migrants were subject to the policy, known officially as “Migrant Protection Protocols,” from when President Donald Trump introduced it in January 2019 until President Joe Biden suspended it on his first day in office in January 2021, fulfilling a campaign promise. Many were allowed to return to the United States to pursue their cases during the early months of Biden’s presidency.
Nearly 5,800 people were subject to the policy from December through June, a modest number. Nicaraguans account for the largest number, with others from Cuba, Colombia and Venezuela.
Trump made the policy a centerpiece of border enforcement, which critics said was inhumane for exposing migrants to extreme violence in Mexico and making access to attorneys far more difficult.
Texas
Appeals court restores death sentence for family’s death
HOUSTON (AP) — A federal appeals court on Monday restored the death sentence of a bank robber convicted of killing his best friend, his friend’s fiancée and their three children.
In a 32-page opinion, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court ruling that would have freed Ronald Jeffery Prible Jr. if the state did not retry Prible within six months. The panel ruled Prible failed to raise issues sufficiently compelling to discredit his conviction and sentence.
A Harris County jury condemned Prible to death row in 2002 for killing Esteban “Steve” Herrera; Herrera’s fiancée, Nilda Tirado; Tirado’s 7-year-old daughter Rachel Elizabeth Cumpian; Herrera’s 7-year-old daughter Valerie; and the couple’s 22-month-old daughter Jade Herrera in 1999.
Testimony from the two-week trial showed Prible shot Herrera, then raped and shot Tirado before setting her body on fire to hide DNA evidence. The children died from smoke inhalation from the resulting fire.
Herrera, described as Prible’s best friend and partner in crime, allegedly robbed banks with Prible and used the money to buy and sell drugs. The men wanted to make enough money to open a topless club.
However, prosecutors said Prible turned on Herrera after accusing him of stealing $250,000.
