French authorities have frozen bank accounts containing millions of euros. Reuters reports that leading investigative magistrate Renaud Van Ruymbeke issued the ruling to freeze the accounts following an investigation into a fraud scheme in Russia, which had been uncovered by Sergei Magnitsky, a Moscow lawyer who died in a Russian jail.
The French investigation was launched after Magnitsky’s employer, investment fund Hermitage Capital, filed a complaint. The investigation showed there was a trail of money being funneled into France and Luxembourg, forming part of the $230-million money laundering scheme Magnitsky had exposed.
Two people with knowledge of the French case said several million euros in bank accounts in France has already been frozen. A judicial official said a woman of Russian origin had been arrested and questioned about her knowledge of the money.
Lawyer Sergei Magnitsky had investigated a major fraud case in Russia. He was jailed after filing a complaint claiming companies belonging to Hermitage Capital had been forcibly taken and used to claim fake tax rebates.
Magnitsky died in prison in 2009, aged 37. Human rights groups say he was beaten and denied medical help when he was ill.
The USA reacted to Magnitsky’s death by passing the Magnitsky Act in 2012. The Magnitsky Act punishes human rights abusers and those involved in extrajudicial killings by denying them entrance to the USA, denying rights to owning property in the USA, and blocking them from using the American banking system. Currently, the bill lists individuals allegedly responsible for the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, but Russian opposition politicians are calling for broadening the list to include those who "hounded" murdered Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov.