The Federal Bureau of Investigation executed a search warrant at a condominium unit owned by a Russian corporation in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, in Miami-Dade County.
According to the Miami Herald, the investigation took place on Thursday at the Sunny Isles Beach Trump Towers, a trio of 45-story luxury condominium structures on the oceanfront.
Condominium unit 4102 in Trump Tower III at 15811 Collins Avenue was the target of the inquiry.
MIC-USA LLC is the owner of the unit, according to The Detroit News.
Oleg Sergeyevich Patsulya and Agunda Konstantinovna Makeeva are the owners of MIC-USA LLC, according to records from the Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations.
Friday, a representative from the FBI’s Miami field office told reporters that the agency “was conducting court-ordered law enforcement activity in the vicinity of that location,” as reported by The Detroit News and Miami Herald.
The spokesperson provided no additional information regarding the raid.
The purchase of the $1.65 million, three-bedroom, three-bathroom apartment by Patsulya and Makeeva was financed by BAC Florida Bank, according to Miami Herald.
The bank filed a lawsuit against the couple in 2020 for defaulting on their $975k mortgage.
Eventually, the parties settled their legal dispute.
Detroit News reported that since then, the shell company MIC-USA has continued to maintain ownership of the apartment.
The Miami Herald was unable to obtain comment from Patsulya and Makeeva.
Roza Pereira, Patsulya’s wife, who is also listed on state corporation records, told the publication, “I can’t talk about it.”
“The lawyer [for my husband] said not to talk to anyone. … I have no idea what it’s about,” Pereira said.
Insider reports that Sunny Isles Beach has earned the nickname “Little Moscow” due to its popularity among affluent Russians seeking to purchase property in the United States.
According to data from the American Community Survey conducted by the Census Bureau in 2020, there were 1,079 Russian-born residents in Sunny Isles Beach, representing the highest proportion of foreign-born residents from Europe and Central Asia, as noted by the Insider.
However, U.S. sanctions on Russian oligarchs following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have raised concerns among some in the affluent community that they might suffer “backlash,” according to Miami Herald.
The Trump Organization does not own the Trump Towers in Sunny Isles Beach.
However, the property’s developers had obtained permission to use the Trump brand in order to name the structures after the former president.