"The Magnitsky Act is not a substantive law, it is a declarative act, and sanctions under the act could be applied only through administrative, but not legal procedures. Its prerequisites are a combination of dirty politics and financial interests of people, who strive to avoid investigation into the real facts of money laundering and actual money trail, as well as other serious crimes against US citizens through spreading a false story about Magnitsky and facts about embezzlement of funds from the Russian budget," Veselnitskaya said.
"It has become one of the tools for legalizing illegal revenue and granting a guarantee of safe movement to those individuals, who had been in fact robbing states for many years," the lawyer said.
Veselnitskaya’s client, Denis Katsyv the owner of the real-estate company Prevezon Holdings, has been accused by the United States of involvement in a massive tax fraud exposed by Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky working for UK millionaire and Hermitage Capital Management CEO William Browder. The lawyer has repeatedly claimed that the case was fabricated to create a precedent for Magnitsky Act. Federal prosecutors in New York announced that Katsyv and the US government reached the case settlement, with Prevezon Holdings agreeing to pay about $6 million until May 15, the date a trial was set for.
