WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Treasury Department imposed a $7.1 million fine on a New York-based property management firm Thursday, accusing it of violating sanctions by managing luxury real estate properties for oligarch Oleg Deripaska, who has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said Gracetown Inc. had received 24 payments between April 2018 and May 2020 totaling $31,250 on behalf of a company owned by Deripaska. OFAC says it gave Gracetown notice that dealings with Deripaska were prohibited, but the firm proceeded anyway.
Justice Department filings from 2022 connect Gracetown Inc. with U.K. businessman Graham Bonham-Carter, who was arrested in October 2022 for conspiracy to violate U.S. sanctions imposed on Deripaska as well as for wire fraud connected to funding Deripaska’s U.S. properties and efforts to expatriate the oligarch’s artwork to New York.
A lawyer who has represented Deripaska previously didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Gracetown couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
Deripaska has faced economic sanctions since 2018, when the Treasury Department accused him of acting for or on behalf of a senior Russian official and operating in the energy sector of the Russian economy. All of his assets subject to U.S. jurisdiction were blocked, and U.S. people and firms are prohibited from dealings related to Deripaska, his properties and his interest in properties.
Deripaska sued The Associated Press in 2017 over a story that March about his business dealings with Paul Manafort, a former campaign chairman for President Donald Trump. Deripaska said the AP article was inaccurate and hurt his career by falsely accusing him of criminal activity. A federal judge dismissed the defamation and libel lawsuit that October.
In 2022, Deripaska and three associates were criminally charged in New York with conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions and plotting to ensure his child was born in the United States.
Treasury says its Thursday enforcement action against Gracetown “highlights the importance of following OFAC-issued guidance and the significant consequences that can occur from failing to do so.”
John K. Hurley, Treasury's undersecretary for terrorism and financial Intelligence, said "we will continue to investigate and hold accountable those who enable sanctioned actors.”
Gracetown was established in 2006 to manage three luxury real estate properties in New York and Washington, D.C., that Deripaska acquired around the same time through various legal entities.
FILE - Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska attends the meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Kremlin in Moscow, July 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)
OPELOUSAS, Louisiana (AP) — Two inmates accused of violent crimes, including second-degree attempted murder, are on the run after escaping from a southwestern Louisiana jail Wednesday by removing pieces of a degrading wall and using sheets to scale a wall, officials said. A third inmate who joined in the breakout killed himself after he was tracked down.
It was the latest bold jail escape in Louisiana. Earlier this year 10 inmates broke out of a New Orleans jail after crawling through a hole behind a toilet. It wasn't until five months later — following the discovery of the escape crime scene with a message that read “To Easy LoL," finger-pointing by officials as to who was to blame for the audacious escape and a search that spanned multiple states — that all 10 inmates were recaptured.
Wednesday morning's escape, which took place at the St. Landry Parish Jail, involved three inmates. Sheriff Bobby J. Guidroz, who oversees the jail in Opelousas, about 130 miles (209 kilometers) northwest of New Orleans, said the "inmates discovered a degrading part of an upper wall area and over time, removed the mortar allowing them to remove concrete blocks and provide their exit.”
The inmates then used “sheets and other items” to scale the outer wall and “drop onto” the first floor roof, before “lowering themselves to the ground,” Guidroz said in a press release.
Additional details about the escape were not immediately available. Guidroz said it will be investigated internally.
The sheriff’s office identified the two escaped inmates still on the loose as Keith Eli, 24, of Opelousas, who was facing a second-degree attempted murder charge, and Johnathan Jevon Joseph, 24, of Opelousas, who was facing several charges, including principal to first-degree rape.
The third escapee, Joseph Allen Harrington, 26, of Melville, who faced several felony charges, including home invasion, killed himself after he was found, Port Barre Police Chief Deon Boudreaux said by telephone.
After a tipster who recognized Harrington told police on Thursday that he was seen pushing a black e-bike, an officer spotted the e-bike at a nearby home. Police used a loudspeaker to urge Harrington to come out of the home, and they later heard a gunshot. Harrington was found dead inside the home. He had shot himself with a hunting rifle, Boudreaux said.
Sheriff’s department spokesperson Maj. Mark LeBlanc wasn’t aware of the building being breached in a similar way in the past, but noted that anyone will try to escape with enough time and opportunity.
“These three were just a little more creative than in years past,” he said.
There’s no credible indications that the escapees have left the parish, so LeBlanc warned residents to secure their homes and vehicles.
“They’re charged with violent felonies and we know they’re desperate to get away,” he said.
Anyone who helps the escapees will be prosecuted, he said.
This photo provided by St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office shows Johnathan Jevon Joseph, 24, of Opelousas, one of three inmates who escaped from a southwestern Louisiana jail, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office via AP)
This photo provided by St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office shows Keith Eli, 24, of Opelousas, one of three inmates who escaped from a southwestern Louisiana jail, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office via AP)
This photo provided by St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office shows Joseph Allen Harrington, 26, of Melville, one of three inmates who escaped from a southwestern Louisiana jail, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office via AP)
