Russian Oligarch Task Force Limits Role of Existing DOJ Unit

The Justice Department launched a task force to confiscate Russian oligarchs’ assets before consulting its team devoted to seizing foreign officials’ luxury items, with only one member of that unit since added to the new group’s staff, according to former U.S. prosecutors familiar with the process.

Attorneys leading a DOJ Criminal Division section that’s spent the past 12 years investigating politically-tied wealthy overseas officials first learned of the KleptoCapture task force when the White House and Attorney General Merrick Garland announced it to the public earlier in March, said four former prosecutors, speaking on condition of anonymity to share ...