The figures are striking and continue to climb. According to a conservative count by Le Monde, based on various sources including data from the Paris prosecutor’s office, French authorities have so far seized at least €973 million in potentially ill-gotten assets from oligarchs close to the Moscow regime who may have committed offenses in acquiring such assets.

This outcome reflects a coordinated effort by magistrates since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. At the forefront of this strategy, France’s national court for fighting organized crime (JUNALCO) within the Paris prosecutor’s office has carried out most of the seizures: “€352.2 million in real estate seizures” and “€580.8 million in bank accounts, receivables and financial products,” the Paris prosecutor’s office told Le Monde. A significant share of these assets – €532.9 million – was frozen abroad at the request of these Paris magistrates who specialize in combating financial organized crime.

All of these seizures have been challenged before the Paris court of appeal. Those implicated have opposed the use of an innovative legal tool, the presumption of money laundering, which shifts the burden of proof and requires beneficiaries of complex financial arrangements to justify the origin of their funds, or face prosecution for money laundering. If the courts uphold the procedures and a final conviction is handed down, these provisional seizures may become confiscations, with the assets either sold at auction or reassigned by the state for public benefit.

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