Sanctions ignored Woman allegedly exported almost 200 luxury cars to Russia

Contrary to EU sanctions, a woman is alleged to have exported almost 200 luxury cars from Germany to Russia. She was arrested for being a flight risk and is now in custody.

The authorities in Berlin have arrested a 46-year-old woman on suspicion of exporting almost 200 luxury cars to Russia. Together with two co-defendants, she is alleged to have exported 192 vehicles with a total value of more than 21 million euros to the Russian Federation, thereby violating EU sanctions, as the Berlin public prosecutor's office and the Berlin-Brandenburg customs investigation office jointly announced on Wednesday.

Due to Russia's attack on Ukraine, the export of luxury goods such as cars worth 50,000 euros or more from the EU to Russia has been prohibited since March 2022. Since June 2023, this has applied regardless of the value of the cars.

According to the public prosecutor's office and customs authorities, in order to circumvent this regulation, the accused is alleged to have made it appear since April 5, 2022 that the cars were being sold to Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan or Uzbekistan when registering for export. In reality, however, the vehicles had been delivered from these countries to Russia.

Arrested because of flight risk

The woman, who according to the authorities comes from Belarus, is therefore suspected of several violations of the Foreign Trade and Payments Act. She was arrested for being a flight risk and is now in custody. In addition, three property seizures and five search warrants were executed in the Berlin district of Spandau and in the Bavarian district of Landshut. Several high-value vehicles, two refrigerated trailers, business documents and data carriers were seized.

Asset freezes are enforced when a criminal offense results in an increase in assets. Because the perpetrator is not entitled to this increase, assets obtained as a result of the alleged crime are confiscated.