US Prosecutors Demand $80Mln Bond to Release Novatek CFO Gyetvay - Document

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US prosecutors have asked for $80 million bond as a condition for releasing Mark Gyetvay, Florida-based CFO of the Russian energy company Novatek, the court's documents say.

On Thursday, the US authorities arrested Gyetvay on tax evasion charges related to a sum of $93 million stored offshore. The Justice Department said from 2005 to 2016, Gyetvay allegedly engaged in a scheme to defraud the United States by concealing his ownership and control over substantial offshore assets and by failing to file and pay taxes on millions of dollars of income.

"The United States respectfully moves the Court to set the following conditions of release for Defendant Mark Gyetvay: an $80 million bond; to secure that bond, posting certain securities, held in Defendant’s Morgan Stanley account; having two financially responsible sureties sign the bond; and home monitoring, with a bracelet," the document said.

The conditions are needed as the defendant is a multi-millionaire who has an opportunity to leave the United States and live lavishly for the rest of his life, according to the prosecutors.

"What is more, the defendant has somewhere to go: he is a citizen not only of the United States but of Russia – with whom the United States has no extradition treaty – where he is the Chief Financial Officer of one that country’s largest corporations," the document added.

"The defendant is also a citizen of Italy. As a result, without serious precautions in place, the defendant can easily leave the United States without suffering a serious financial burden, and the government will have little-to-no recourse to secure his return."

On late Thursday, the Russian Embassy to the United States told Sputnik that Gyetvay had not asked the diplomatic mission for consular assistance.