The Daily Populous Wednesday July 24th, 2024 day edition
Authored by apnews.com and submitted by No_Size_1765

NEW YORK (AP) — The Treasury Department ordered the nation’s banking industry to start disclosing its holdings of Russian assets on Tuesday, with the goal of eventually seizing those billions of dollars in assets and selling them to aid the devastated Ukrainian economy.

The disclosure is required under a new law passed by Congress earlier this year known as the REPO Act, which gives the U.S. government the authority to seize Russian state assets held by U.S. banks, with the goal of eventually selling them and giving those funds to Ukraine. While the vast bulk of Russian assets are held in Europe, it is estimated that the U.S. banking system holds as much as $6 billion in Russian assets in trust.

Banks will need to report Russian assets on their books no later than Aug. 2 to the Office of Foreign Assets Control. If a bank discovers any new Russian assets on their books after the deadline, those assets need to be reported within 10 days, the Treasury Department said.

Russia’s war in Ukraine, which began in February 2022, has killed tens of thousands but has also caused significant devastation to Ukraine’s economy and infrastructure. The World Bank estimated in February that Ukraine will need $486 billion for recovery and reconstruction, a figure that has only risen as the war has continued.

The U.S., Canada, France, Germany Italy, the U.K. and Japan — commonly known as the G7 — froze roughly $300 billion worth of Russian assets at the start of the war. These assets included hard currency, as well as gold and investments in publicly and privately-held companies. But there has been little conversation until this year about what to do with those frozen assets, until the idea of forfeiture and liquidation was included in the REPO Act.

fielausm on July 24th, 2024 at 03:13 UTC »

This is the REPO Act, bill HR 4175, submitted in 06/2023

Sponsored by Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) and cosponsored by 91 bipartisan representatives.

Full bill is here with (more importantly) lists of cosponsors:

https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/4175/all-info

This is not law yet.

pongomanswe on July 23rd, 2024 at 22:13 UTC »

This is the way. Strike against the assets of Russia and its oligarchs, and Putin will lose support of the only people he cares for - his rich friends/subjects. Without their support, he will crumble

Negative_Gravitas on July 23rd, 2024 at 21:22 UTC »

Excellent. And it would go straight into Ukraine aid? Double-excellent.