The Justice Department has led an effort to recover assets that it says were stolen by foreign officials — dictators, politicians and ruling elites – and laundered in the United States. Here is a look at some of the cases it is pursuing:
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Gulnara Karimova is the daughter of the president of Uzbekistan. Matt Sayles/AP File Photo Gulnara KarimovaGulnara Karimova, daughter of the Uzbekistan president, is a former socialite, fashion designer and model. The Harvard-educated Ms. Karimova has made music videos, designed jewelry and served as her country’s ambassador to Spain and to the United Nations in Geneva.
The United States government seeks to seize $300 million in bribes it says she received from Russian and other foreign companies wanting to land Uzbek telecom contracts. A leaked American diplomatic cable said that most Uzbeks see her as a “robber baron” who “remains the single most-hated person” in the country. The money moved through a number of shell companies and is now held in overseas branches of an American bank. Ms. Karimova is reported to be under house arrest in Tashkent.
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Chen Shui-bian, the former president of Taiwan, was prosecuted for corruption after leaving office in 2008. Bobby Yip/Reuters Chen Shui-bianChen Shui-bian, the former president of Taiwan, forfeited his Manhattan condo and his home in the scenic hills of Virginia’s wine country, just outside Charlottesville. The government said both were purchased with bribes paid to Taiwan’s then-first lady, Wu Shu-chen, by a Taiwanese financial services company seeking to expand its business.
Money from the bribes traveled through shell companies in the British Virgin Islands and Nevis and into Swiss bank accounts controlled by the couple’s son and used to conceal the family’s purchase of properties in the United States.
Both Mr. Chen and his wife were sentenced in 2009 in Taiwan to 20 years in prison for bribery, embezzlement and money laundering. Mr. Chen was granted a medical parole in 2015. Wu Shu-chen received a similar medical release in 2011.
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Pavlo Lazarenko was the prime minister of Ukraine. Lou Dematteis/Reuters Pavlo LazarenkoPavlo Lazarenko was prime minister of Ukraine in the 1990s when, American officials claim, he extorted millions in kickbacks. His rise through Ukrainian politics was meteoric and he is accused of cutting sweetheart deals for cronies and failing to report the wealth he obtained from Ukraine’s most lucrative business sectors.
Facing arrest, he fled to New York in 1999 and moved to a 20-room California mansion.
In 2009, he was convicted in federal court of money laundering, served time in prison and is now seeking to remain in the United States. The government is trying to seize $250 million in Mr. Lazarenko’s offshore accounts. But a stiff legal fight from Mr. Lazarenko has kept the case tied up for a decade.
Mr. Lazarenko’s son and several businesses, including Russia’s Gazprom, have also made claims on the money. Mr. Lazarenko was once ranked the eighth most-corrupt official in the world by the watchdog group Transparency International.
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General Sani Abacha died in 1998. Issouf Sanogo/Agence France-Presse Sani Abacha (deceased)The Nigerian dictator General Sani Abacha died more than a decade ago. Efforts by the government to seize $630 million from Mr. Abacha’s estate and his family are moving ahead slowly.
This is part of the billions that the government said Mr. Abacha and his cronies embezzled and moved overseas through financial institutions in the United States.
Two years ago, the government won a court order to transfer $480 million in Mr. Abacha’s offshore accounts to the United States and is in litigation for the rest.
A big question is what to do with the money when it arrives. The government says it wants to repatriate the money to Nigeria.
Several years ago, Switzerland returned tens of millions in this money to Nigeria for health, education and welfare programs, and it was never seen again.
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Janet Lim-Napoles, a wealthy businesswoman in Manila, is accused of diverting millions into the coffers of politicians and their associates. Bullit Marquez/Associated Press Janet Lim-NapolesJanet Lim-Napoles is accused of stealing millions of dollars meant for disaster relief and other development programs in a decade-long kickback scheme dubbed the “pork barrel scam.’’ The government has filed a complaint to seize $12 million in supposed bribes that it says were transferred to bank accounts in the United States and used to buy a condo at the Ritz-Carlton in Los Angeles for her daughter, as well as a Porsche for another daughter, a motel near Disneyland, and other California properties.
Ms. Lim-Napoles is currently serving a life sentence in the Philippines for her role in the kidnapping of her cousin, who had worked as her finance officer and tracked her schemes.
