Exclusive: New York City to auction sanctioned Venezuelan mogul's apartment

Sanctions block those designated from accessing the U.S. financial system, freeze their U.S. assets

New York City plans next month to auction a midtown Manhattan apartment owned by a Venezuelan media mogul with ties to socialist President Nicolas Maduro's government, after U.S. sanctions forced him to miss condominium payments, court records show, Qazet.az reports.

Raul Gorrin, who owns Venezuelan TV channel Globovision, paid $18.8 million for the 4,500-square-foot, 47th floor unit in the Baccarat Hotel & Residences in November 2017, at the height of Venezuela's economic collapse.

Now, Gorrin stands to lose the apartment, which boasts views of the Empire State Building and Central Park, after being sanctioned in January 2019 as part of the Trump administration's push to oust Maduro. The city's sheriff is scheduled to conduct the auction on July 6, previously-unreported court records show.

Sanctions block those designated from accessing the U.S. financial system, freeze their U.S. assets and generally bar Americans from transacting with them.