On July 23, 2024, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) in the US Treasury Department announced that it was publishing a notice requiring financial institutions holding Russian sovereign assets to report those assets to OFAC no later than August 2, 2024 or within 10 days of the detection of such assets.

This new reporting requirement implements the “Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity for Ukrainians Act” or the “REPO for Ukrainians Act”, which US President Biden signed into law on April 24, 2024 as part of a broader national security package.  As described in our blog post on that legislation, the REPO for Ukrainians Act authorizes the President to seize Russian sovereign assets that have been frozen (i.e., blocked) by US financial institutions and give them to Ukraine for use in its reconstruction.  As the first step in its implementation, the REPO for Ukrainians Act required the President to issue these reporting requirements within 90 days from April 24, 2024, i.e., July 23, 2024.

This new reporting requirement does not result in the immediate seizure of any assets.  In order to seize and repurpose Russian sovereign assets, the President would need to follow the procedures and timelines set out in the REPO for Ukrainians Act.

OFAC’s instructions state that financial institutions should not re-report information on Russian sovereign assets that was previously reported to OFAC on blocked property reports or reports filed pursuant to Directive 4 of Executive Order 14024.  The reporting instructions and report form are included in OFAC’s announcement linked above.

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New York

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Washington, DC