DOJ Launches Crackdown To Enforce Russia Sanctions; Powell Calls For 'Strong' Crypto Regs

Sweeping sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine will be immediately and aggressively enforced, the U.S. Department of Justice said Wednesday, unveiling a task force of more than a dozen attorneys to hunt for violators and seize the assets of Russian oligarchs.

Task Force KleptoCapture will aim to ensure the extraordinary raft of sanctions, export controls and other economic countermeasures deployed by the U.S. and its allies will isolate the Kremlin from global markets and impose "serious costs for this unjustified act of war," the DOJ said.

The move indicates there will be no grace period for compliance with the new global sanctions regime, which is unprecedented in scope and scale and continues to grow as world governments heap on measures.

Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told senators on Thursday that recent concerns that cryptocurrencies could potentially be used to skirt Russian sanctions are bolstering the case for stronger oversight of digital finance, and he endorsed a new push to pass Libor transition legislation.

At a Senate Banking Committee hearing, Powell said that while he has no special knowledge of any sanctions evasion involving crypto-assets, the risk "really underscores the need to have a strong regulatory regime that permits appropriate activity, but that that prevents inappropriate activity."

"We do have laws on the books," Powell said. "But I think for digital finance generally, we need a legal framework that would really take away as much as possible … the possibility that people could use unbacked cryptocurrencies as a way to evade the law, or to finance terrorism and hide their ill-gotten gains."