Tipsters could get $5 million for snitching on Russian oligarchs.

The U.S. government launched a program Wednesday that offers rewards up to $5 million for information leading to the seizure of stolen assets linked to Russia or other foreign governments.

Western nations hit Russia with harsh sanctions in response to the country's invasion of Ukraine, and European countries have impounded multimillion-dollar yachts.

The U.S. plan, known as the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Rewards Program, was approved by Congress during the Trump administration as part of a defense spending bill. It was officially launched this week by the U.S. Department of Treasury.

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The program is part of a coordinated effort from different government agencies to "use all the tools that they can and put a lot of teeth into the economic sanctions," said Joe Valenti, a lawyer with the firm Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr.

To be eligible for a reward under the program, a tipster must provide information that leads to the restraint, seizure, forfeiture or repatriation of stolen assets "linked to foreign government corruption."

The assets, Valenti said, could include anything of value, from real estate to art to jewelry, as well as financial holdings.

The $5 million reward could be considered low compared with other whistleblower programs, said Jason Short, an attorney with the law firm Kobre & Kim.

The IRS whistleblower program, for example, awards up to 30% of proceeds collected as a result of the tipster's claim, allowing for potentially large sums of money.

The anti-kleptocracy program considers the reward amount on a "case-by-case basis" and allows the department head to award more than $5 million if the situation warrants it, according to the Department of Treasury.

U.S. government employees and people who were involved in stealing the assets are ineligible for the award.

Short said the program was written "fairly vaguely," noting it doesn't specify what constitutes foreign government corruption.

"It's written broadly in that sense to provide greater discretion for the program, the Treasury Department and the investigators to work with this program," Short said. "But because it has such a broad language, it can create some uncertainty, particularly amongst whistleblowers or people who are wondering whether or not they can avail themselves of that program."

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The hunt for oligarchs' assets

The U.S. program isn't the only effort to track down assets linked to Russia's wealthy.

To facilitate international cooperation in targeting Russian assets, the United States unveiled on Wednesday the Multilateral Russian Oligarch Task Force, which has counterparts in Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, France, Japan, the United Kingdom and the European Commission.

This week, the Department of Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued an alert warning banks of potential tactics by Russian elites to avoid U.S. sanctions through transactions involving real estate, luxury goods and other assets.

As the government rolls out the program and issues alerts, Short said, "people need to be mindful about perfectly legitimate activity that shouldn't trigger those kinds of red flags and shouldn't be considered reportable."

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: US rewarding up to $5 million for information on Russian oligarchs