The programme was launched in 2022 following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) dissolved a program launched under the Biden administration, which attempted to seize Russian oligarch assets after the war began in Ukraine.
In a memo released to DOJ employees this Wednesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office said that an effort called Task Force Kleptocapture will end to DOJ to focus on targets of criminal gangs and drug cartels. I’ve said that.
The memo said, “The lawyers assigned to these initiatives will return to previous posts and resources currently dedicated to those efforts shall be committed to the complete elimination of cartels and TCOs.”
“This policy requires a fundamental change in mindset and approach,” Bondi said in the directive, and now the resources dedicated to enforcing sanctions and seizing Russian oligarch assets are in place to the Mexican cartel. He added that it was being directed.
A few weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022, then General Merrick Garland launched the Klepto Capture Program to put pressure on Russian finances to stop the war. The Trump administration says President Donald Trump is trying to end the conflict, but for almost three years after the conflict began, the fight in eastern Ukraine remains raging.
At the time, Garland said law enforcement would focus on enforcing sanctions and imposing other penalties on high-level Russian officials and businessmen in order to prevent Russia from accessing global markets.
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This week, Trump said that progress has been made to end the Russian-Crane war after saying he would halt the conflict within 24 hours of his inauguration during his 2024 campaign.
“We have made a lot of progress in Russia and Ukraine,” Trump said earlier this week, speaking to reporters in his oval office. “We’ll see what happens. We’re going to stop that ridiculous war.”
“It is US policy to completely eliminate the existence of these organizations in the US and to ensure the capacity to threaten US territories, security and security through command and control structures outside the territory. It is US policy. The completeness of Americans and US territories. Protecting sex,” the order said.
And later last month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegses told Fox News that “all options are on the table” for US military intervention against the Mexican cartel after Trump’s executive order.
“So the president will make that call. I will work with him in that decision-making process. Ultimately, we will not hold back anything to secure Americans,” he says. I did.
Trump often said that using US troops against cartels during presidential elections could often suggest that special forces could be sent to Mexico.
The Epoch Times contacted DOJ on Friday for additional comments.
Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to the report.
