A New York lawyer pleaded guilty on Tuesday to making $3.8 million in payments to maintain properties that were beneficially owned by Viktor Vekselberg, a Russian billionaire oligarch under U.S. sanctions, court records showed.
Robert Wise admitted to receiving wire payments from a shell company controlled by a Vekselberg associate, and then using the funds to pay taxes, insurance and other fees on various properties, including two apartments on Manhattan's Park Avenue and an estate in the Hamptons on New York's Long Island.
Wise entered his plea before U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil in federal court in Manhattan. His lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.