Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska
(Picture: Reuters)London businessman Graham Bonham-Carter has been arrested on suspicion of helping a sanctioned Russian billionaire conceal the ownership of a Belgravia mansion and tried to move his lavish artwork.
Graham Bonham-Carter, second cousin to Oscar-nominated actress Helena Bonham-Carter, is alleged to have assisted Oleg Deripaska - described as Vladimir Putin’s “favourite industrialist”.
Bonham-Carter was arrested in the United Kingdom by the National Crime Agency (NCA), and federal prosecutors in Manhattan said they will seek his extradition.
Prosecutors said Bonham-Carter made $1million payments for U.S. properties owned by Deripaska and tried to move the aluminum magnate’s artwork in the United States overseas.
Following an extradition request from the US, the NCA swopped to detain Bonham-Carter who on Tuesday appeared before Westminster Magistrates Court. He was released on conditional bail.
Among other things, Bonham-Carter managed Deripaska’s residential properties located in the United Kingdom and Europe, including a house in Belgravia Square, London.
According to court documents, Mr Bonham-Carter, 62, has worked for entities controlled by Mr Deripaska since July 2003.
American officials cited a string of his alleged criminal activities, including “threatening the lives of business rivals, illegally wiretapping a government official, and taking part in extortion and racketeering”, as well as links to organised crime.
Bonham-Carter also sought in 2021 to transfer artwork Deripaska bought from an auction house in New York City to London, and falsely told the auction house that the art did not belong to Deripaska, prosecutors said.
Even after Deripaska was sanctioned the US Government allege Bonham-Carter continued to work for him and referred to Deripaska as his “boss.”
In an email dated on or about June 18, 2018, Bonham-Carter wrote: “Times a bit tough for my boss as sanctions have hit him from the USA so not an ideal time.”
In an email dated October last year, Bonham-Carter wrote: “It[’]s all good apart from banks keep shutting me down because of my affiliation to my boss Oleg Deripaska....
“I have even been advised not to go to the USA where Oleg still has personal sanctions as the authorities will undoubtedly pull me to one side and the questioning could be hours or even days!!”
A lawyer for Bonham-Carter, who is also charged with wire fraud, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Britain’s National Crime Agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The charges come as the U.S. Department of Justice tries to pressure Russian oligarchs through sanctions, asset seizures and criminal probes to stop backing Russian President Vladimir Putin after the country’s invasion of Ukraine. Moscow calls its activities in Ukraine a “special military operation.”
“Bonham-Carter obscured the origin of funding for upkeep and management of Deripaska’s lavish U.S. assets, in violation of the international sanctions,” Damian Williams, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, said in a statement.
Deripaska, the billionaire 54-year-old founder of aluminum giant Rusal was among two dozen Russian oligarchs and government officials blacklisted by Washington in 2018 in connection with Russia’s alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.
The NCA said it has previously ensured that Deripaska’s two London properties were included in the list of assets frozen by the sanctions designation. Those properties, a mansion in Belgrave Square and a private office in Cleveland Row next to St James’s Palace, are estimated to be collectively worth more than £50m.
Mr Bonham-Carter is charged in a three-count indictment with one count of conspiring to violate and evade US sanctions, one count of violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and one count of wire fraud.
Each count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
