How NOT to evade sanctions
David Aleksandrovich Garcia
The son of Russia’s nuttiest (former) politician, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who died in April due to COVID complications, is trying to evade EU sanctions by changing his name. This is according to several outlets in eastern European press which report that the former Igor Lebedev, who has had a challenging relationship with his late father (who hasn’t, really?), changed his name to…
David Aleksandrovich Garcia.
The former Vice Speaker of Russia’s State Duma has quit Russian politics and is more than likely heading for the warm beaches of Spain, where he reportedly has lots of real estate. Some media outlets speculate that sanctions evasion could be the reason for the change; Garcia/Lebedev since 2014 has not been able to travel to Europe, where his family members own real estate because of EU and UK sanctions.
Early Russian journalists found out that Igor Lebedev, through his friends and relatives, owns several houses and hotels in Spain. In the spring of 2020, Lebedev was suspected of embezzling money from LDPR youth organizations. This was one of the reasons for the conflict between Zhirinovsky and his son. In the summer of 2021, Lebedev announced that he was suspending his participation in the political life of Russia. However, he changed not only his job, but also completely changed his first name, patronymic and last name.
We have seen Russian sanctions evasion techniques increase in complexity and scope since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February. From the use of informal payment systems to changes in names, divesting, or transferring ownership of assets to “straw owners,” sanctioned Russian individuals and entities resort to everything from simple evasion methodologies to ones that are more complex and require specialized expertise to unravel.
Given Garcia/Lebedev’s public profile, the fact that his face is publicly known and widely available on the Internet, his father’s global reputation for being a drunken, violent lout, and his designation by the EU and UK, simply giving himself a new name and pretending to be someone else is not going to cut it.
I assess this is an example of what NOT to do.
But you do you, Igor.