The U.S. government put Viktor Vekselberg on a sanctions list in spring of 2018, which caused the Russian oligarch problems with his business interests: the two big Swiss bank temporarily blocked his stakes in industrial companies Sulzer, OC Oerlikon and Schmolz+Bickenbach. Also, he is said to have had some 2 billion Swiss francs ($2 billion) of money frozen on Swiss accounts.

Legal Woes

Vekselberg decided to fight the blocking of assets by UBS and Credit Suisse with the help of lawyers, as was reported in May. The legal action is being delayed, according to a report by «Schweiz am Wochenende» newspaper (print edition only).

The Russian oligarch is facing difficulties finding lawyers who are willing to help him filing a suit against the Swiss big banks, the newspaper said. The banks naturally also are clients of all the big Swiss legal firms. It is not clear when the suit will be filed and the 2 billion francs in assets remain blocked for the time being.