I have a few hundred shares of Lukoil and Sberbank and a few thousand Gazprom and Rozneft shares. They’re all ADRs. I hold them in a Fidelity individual account and they’re just frozen.
My best friend is a Moscow-born, US citizen, and his parents are stuck in Russia because his grandparents are sick and elderly and his parents aren’t going to leave them behind. As a disclaimer, they’re not at all sympathetic to the government, or it’s invasion of Ukraine. I’ve met them, and they’re great people. They would leave and want to reconnect with their children in the US eventually. My friend renounced his Russian citizenship, as did his sister.
I read OFAC website, and US persons can divest interest in Russian securities to non-US persons under current regulations. It seems like a huge waste to hold these frozen securities with a high chance of the companies being nationalized, or foreign investors’ assets being seized when there’s significant value. Current mark-to-market in Moscow MOEX of my holdings is about 50k USD and 12k of dividends in rubles in a “Type-C” segregated account. I don’t really care if nothing comes my way because of it, and I definitely don’t want to break the law or end up on a list, so I’m just asking if this is feasible. Does anyone have any relevant information on this?
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