As the Treasury Department prepares to lift sanctions on Oleg Deripaska's businesses, Yahoo News reports several Western financial institutions and hedge funds lobbied the U.S. government on behalf of the oligarch tied to both Vladimir Putin and Paul Manafort.
“Other than his paid help, they [the hedge funds and financial institutions] were his only important advocates,” one of the sources said.
The business sanctions had been imposed just last April and hit three companies: Deripaska’s holding company, EN+, which had an IPO in November 2017 in London that raised $1.5 billion; Rusal, a large Moscow-headquartered aluminum company EN+ controls, which according to the Treasury statement produces 7 percent of global aluminum output; and JSC EuroSibEnergo, Russia’s “largest independent power company,” according to its LinkedIn page. After the sanctions were announced, Rusal’s share price dropped more than 50 percent, and the ruble also fell.
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In announcing it would lift the sanctions against Deripaska’s companies, the Treasury Department said it had originally sanctioned these companies “because of their ownership and control by sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, not for the conduct of the companies themselves. These companies have committed to significantly diminish Deripaska’s ownership and sever his control.”
While Deripaska was forced to give up direct control of his firms, he remains far and away the single biggest shareholder, Bloomberg reported. “Longstanding allies hold many of the remaining shares,” the news agency said.
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In his effort to remove sanctions on his companies, Deripaska has deployed a number of top Washington and London advocates. These include Lord Barker of Battle, a protégé of former British prime minister David Cameron and the chairman of EN+. He retained Mercury Public Affairs of Washington, which was paid $108,000 per month, according to the New York Times.
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Deripaska’s visa was revoked in 2007, but he was later allowed to come to the United States to meet with hedge funds and other businesses, such as Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. The State Department also approved Deripaska’s visits on a diplomatic passport in 2015 and 2016 to assist the FBI with ongoing investigations, according to the New York Times report on the attempt to turn him.
It is unclear what current U.S. travel restrictions are on Deripaska. In response to questions from Yahoo News, a State Department spokesperson said it could not respond because of the government shutdown. “Communications with the media will be limited to events and issues involving the safety of human life or the protection of property, or those determined to be essential to national security,” the spokesperson wrote.
Deripaska has long spread money around Washington, hiring lobbyists and media relations specialists, and even donating to major think tanks in the hopes of winning favor and enabling him to travel to the United States.
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People familiar with Deripaska say with sanctions lifted on his businesses, he will step up his campaign to be allowed to travel freely to the United States
Hedge funds and banks prodded Trump administration to lift sanctions on Russian oligarch (Yahoo News)