Russian TV Contributor and Former Political Adviser Charged with Laundering Funds Through Art and Antiques, Flees to Russia

The US Department of Justice has charged political advisor and Russian television contributor Dimitri Simes and his wife, Anastasia Simes, with violating US sanctions through schemes involving art and antiques.

The two indictments against the couple were unsealed on September 5, according to a DOJ press release.

The first indictment accused the Simeses of laundering funds for the Russian state-funded network Channel One Russia, where Dimitri Simes hosts a popular news commentary show, for which they allegedly received over $1 million and various personal benefits including a personal car and driver, a stipend for an apartment in Moscow, and a personal team of ten employees from the station. Channel One Russia was sanctioned in May 2022.

The second indictment focuses on Anastasia’s role in purchasing and storing art and antiques, including a 19th-century painting by F.C. Welsch and a statue of the Greek goddess Minerva by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, for Russian oligarch and close friend of the newly appointed Prime Minister, Aleksandr Y. Udodov, who was sanctioned by the US government in February 2023. 

According to that indictment, the artworks and other antiques were acquired from American and European galleries and auction houses, then stored at the couple’s home in Virginia before finally being sent to Russia. However the FBI seized the couple’s collection during a four-day raid in August. Some of the items were family heirlooms, Dimitri said in an interview with the New York Times, which he said were irrelevant to the government concerns. 

“They took a lot of the furniture,” he said. “They took practically all of the paintings and icons, which are where now—who knows?”

If found guilty, the couple would face significant penalties for violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), a law on the books since the 1970s that has been used since the beginning of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine to place punitive embargoes on Russia. Each of the two is charged with one count of conspiracy to violate the IEEPA, one count of violating the IEEPA, and one count of conspiracy to commit international money laundering. Each count comes with possible of 20 years in prison. Separately, Anastasia Simes faces similar charges and jail time for the second indictment. Both are believed to have fled to Russia, the DOJ said.

Dimitri emigrated to the US in 1973. He served as an advisor to President Richard Nixon before leading a think tank called Center for the National Interest. The Times described Simes as an “influential person in Washington for years,” who, during the 2016 election, introduced President Trump before he gave one of his most important speeches on foreign policy.

The charges against the Simeses are part of a broader effort by the US government to combat Russian influence in the United States. On September 4 the DOJ shut down 32 websites “used in Russian government-directed foreign malign influence campaigns…in violation of U.S. money laundering and criminal trademark laws” and indicted two Russian nationals employed by the Russian state-controlled media network RT.

According to Bloomberg, US authorities have since 2023 been cracking down on sanction violators by targeting the art world, focusing on ultra-wealthy Russian tycoons. Federal prosecutors in New York issued subpoenas to high-end auction houses, demanding records of dealings with sanctioned individuals, including Russian billionaires Andrey Melnichenko, Viktor Vekselberg, and Roman Abramovich. The investigation seeks to uncover whether art was smuggled offshore or proceeds from sales were laundered to avoid US sanctions.