Italy says it has frozen the assets of son of Russian businessman Ussa

The Italian Ministry of Finance has announced the freezing of the assets of Artem Uss, the son of Russian businessman Alexander Uss, who was under house arrest and eventually fled to Russia.

According to Censor.NET, this was reported by Reuters.

"In a statement issued late on Friday (April 21 - ed.), the Treasury approved a decree freezing assets owned by Uss in Italy, including a minority stake in a private company, his villa in Basiglio, and a bank account containing more than 160,000 euros," the report said.

According to the publication, Artem Uss was under house arrest at his home in Basiglio on the outskirts of Milan but escaped a day after a Milan court agreed to transfer him to the United States to face charges of transporting oil from Venezuela to circumvent sanctions and bank fraud.

"His electronic tracking tag set off an alarm when he left the house, but he was gone when police arrived at the villa," Reuters writes.

The Russian's escape confused the Italian government, and Prime Minister Georgia Maloney criticized the initial decision to place Uss under house arrest. In addition, the Italian Minister of Justice has launched disciplinary proceedings against the three judges who ordered the house arrest, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told reporters earlier this week.

Earlier this month, Uss told Russian media that the charges against him in the United States were "politically motivated."

In October 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice charged five Russian citizens and two traders of the Venezuelan state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela with money laundering, oil smuggling, and illegal access to military technology. The list of defendants includes Russians Yuri Orekhov, Artem Uss, Svetlana Kuzurgasheva, Timofey Telegin, and Sergey Tuljakov. Among the Venezuelans are Juan Carlos Soto and Juan Fernando Serrano Ponce.

Author - Serhii Kolomiets, 23/04/2023