The Russian bank at the center of debunked claims of Trump-Russia collusion during the 2016 election was sanctioned by the Biden administration on Thursday as part of sweeping U.S. financial sanctions following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
Michael Sussmann, a Democratic cybersecurity lawyer, was indicted last year by special counsel John Durham for allegedly concealing his clients, including Hillary Clinton’s campaign, from the FBI in September 2016 when he pushed debunked claims of a secret backchannel between the Trump Organization and Russia’s Alfa Bank. The bank has consistently denied the collusion allegations, and the new sanctions make no mention of those claims.
The Treasury Department said Thursday it had “expanded Russia-related debt and equity restrictions to additional key aspects of Russia’s economy” in reaction to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a directive prohibiting U.S. transactions with 13 major firms, including Alfa Bank, and the Treasury Department said those Russian firms are now barred from raising money through U.S. markets.
The Treasury Department said other goals are “to impose immediate costs and disrupt and degrade future economic activity, isolate Russia from international finance and commerce, and degrade the Kremlin’s future ability to project power.” The U.S. did not issue sanctions against Putin personally or against the massive Russian energy sector.
The U.S. said Thursday that Alfa Bank is Russia’s largest privately owned financial institution and Russia’s fourth-largest financial institution overall. A fact sheet from the White House also pointed to Alfa Bank by name when announcing the sanctions.
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Claims Alfa Bank worked with Trump before the 2016 election were front and center in the campaign and efforts to smear Trump that were later discredited.
In the closing days of the race, Hillary Clinton tweeted about Alfa Bank: “Computer scientists have apparently uncovered a covert server linking the Trump Organization to a Russian-based bank.”
She also shared a lengthy statement from Jake Sullivan, previously one of her top advisers and now Biden’s national security adviser.
“This could be the most direct link yet between Donald Trump and Moscow,” Sullivan claimed. “We can only assume that federal authorities will now explore this direct connection between Trump and Russia.”
But Special Counsel Robert Mueller, DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz, and congressional investigations did not uncover any evidence it was true.
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It remains to be seen what impact the fresh sanctions on Alfa Bank and other Russian institutions will have. President Joe Biden also finally allowed congressionally-mandated sanctions against the company behind the Kremlin-funded Nord Stream 2 pipeline to move forward this week.
Biden claimed on Thursday that “no one expected the sanctions to prevent anything from happening” but rather that “this could take time, and we have to show resolve, so he knows what’s coming, and so the people of Russian know what he’s brought on them.”
