Oleg Deripaska

United Company RUSAL– Deripaska- World’s 2nd Largest Aluminum company, overtaken by China Hongqiao Group in 2015; RUSAL(Russian Aluminum)  merged with Glencore in March 2007. 

December 19, 2018 Oleg Deripaska reduced ownership of EN+ Group PLC, which wholly owns JSC EuroSibEnergo (ESE), and owns United Co. Rusal PLC, from 70% to 49.5% and will not have a vote. Deripaska is to be structurally shielded from having any influence in the companies. “With this letter, we wish to provide you with notification that Treasury intends to terminate the sanctions imposed on En+ Group plc (“En+”), UC Rusal pie (“Rusal”), and JSC EuroSibEnergo (“ESE”)in 30 days. Deripaska will remain sanctioned. All of Deripaska’s property and interests in property, including entities in which he owns a fifty percent or greater interest, will remain blocked, and foreign persons will continue to be subject to secondary sanctions should they knowingly facilitate a significant transaction for or on behalf of Deripaska or entities in which he owns a fifty percent or greater interest. None of the transactions to be undertaken to divest Deripaska of his interests in these companies will allow Deripaska to obtain cash either in return for shares relinquished in, or from future dividends he may receive from, En+, Rusal, or ESE. OFAC reserves the right to relist any or all of these companies should the change in circumstances represented by their implementation of the agreement with OFAC be reversed, including by a material breach of the terms of the agreement.” Letter from the US Treasury, Andrea M. Gacki, Director, Office of Foreign Assets Control to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell

Deripaska and Allies Could Benefit From Sanctions Deal, Document Shows NYTimes By Kenneth P. Vogel January 21, 2019

“DERIPASKA PAYDAY REVEALED: Washington lawyers who negotiated a deal with to lift sanctions on the Russian oligarch’s companies were paid “a multiple” of the $600k+ that was paid to Mercury Public Affairs for lobbying to lift the sanctions, per last week. VIDEO: Here’s a link to the full hearing from Wednesday of the hearing of the U.K. parliament’s foreign affairs committee, which was quite skeptical of both the U.S. lobbying & the sanctions relief for DERIPASKA’s companies, as this clip makes clear.” @KenVogel.  UK Parliament TV. “FARA LOOPHOLE: The law firms that helped negotiate the sanctions relief for DERIPASKA’s companies — including , & — were not required to disclose how much they were paid under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, because it exempts legal work. NEW DERIPASKA DETAILS: Under ‘s sanctions relief deal, 10.5M shares (current value: $94.5M) of Deripaska’s EN+ were transferred to a mysterious entity called the LIBERI FOUNDATION. *Despite the name, Liberi is actually a trust fund for Deripaska’s kids, I can confirm. The transfer of $94.5M worth of shares to a trust fund for DERIPASKA’s kids means that the sanctioned Russian oligarch’s family will benefit from a TRUMP administration deal intended to punish him.” @KenVogel

Manafort offered to give Russian billionaire ‘private briefings’ on 2016 campaign Washington Post September 20, 2017By Tom Hamburger Rosalind S. Helderman Carol D. Leonnig Adam Entous     “‘If he needs private briefings we can accommodate,’ Manafort wrote in the July 7, 2016, email, portions of which were read to The Washington Post along with other Manafort correspondence from that time.

Deripaska, one of Russia’s richest men, is widely seen as an important ally of President Vladi­mir Putin. A U.S. diplomatic cable from 2006, published by WikiLeaks, referred to Deripaska as “among the 2-3 oligarchs Putin turns to on a regular basis.

The billionaire has struggled to get visas to travel to the United States because of concerns he might have ties to organized crime in Russia, according to the Wall Street Journal. He has vigorously denied any criminal ties.

Russian officials have frequently raised the visa matter over the years with U.S. diplomats, according to former U.S. officials familiar with the appeals.

In 2008, one of Manafort‘s business partners, Rick Davis, arranged for Deripaska to meet then-presidential candidate John McCain at an international economic conference in Switzerland.

At the time, Davis was on leave from Manafort’s firm and was serving as McCain’s campaign manager. The meeting caused a stir, given McCain’s longtime criticism of Putin’s leadership.

The Post reported in 2008 that Deripaska jointly emailed Davis and Manafort after the meeting to thank them for setting it up. Davis did not respond Wednesday to a request for comment.

At the time of the McCain meeting, Manafort was working in Ukraine, advising a Russia-friendly political party. He ultimately helped to elect Viktor Yanukovych as president in 2010. In 2014, Yanukovych was ousted from office during street protests and fled to Moscow.

Manafort and Deripaska have both confirmed that they had a business relationship in which Manafort was paid as an investment consultant. In 2014, Deripaska accused Manafort in a Cayman Islands court of taking nearly $19 million intended for investments and then failing to account for the funds, return them or respond to numerous inquiries about exactly how the money was used. There are no signs in court documents that the case has been closed.

The emails under review by investigators also show that Manafort waved off questions within the campaign about his international dealings, according to people familiar with the correspondence.

Manafort wrote in an April 2016 email to Trump press aide Hope Hicks that she should disregard a list of questions from The Post about his relationships with Deripaska and a Ukrainian businessman, according to people familiar with the email.

When another news organization asked questions in June, Manafort wrote Hicks that he never had any ties to the Russian government, according to people familiar with the email.

Hicks, now the White House communications director, declined to comment.

Former campaign officials said that Manafort frequently told his campaign colleagues that assertions made about him by the press were specious. They also privately shared concerns about whether Manafort was always putting the candidate’s interests first.

The emails turned over to investigators show that Manafort remained in regular contact with Kilimnik, his longtime employee in Kiev, throughout his five-month tenure at the Trump campaign.

Kilimnik, a Soviet army veteran, had worked for Manafort in his Kiev political consulting operation since 2005. Kilimnik began as an office manager and translator and attained a larger role with Manafort, working as a liaison to Deripaska and others, people familiar with his work have said.

People close to Manafort told The Post that he and Kilimnik used coded language as a precaution because they were transmitting sensitive information internationally.

In late July, eight days after Trump delivered his GOP nomination acceptance speech in Cleveland, Kilimnik wrote Manafort with an update, according to people familiar with the email exchange.

Kilimnik wrote in the July 29 email that he had met that day with the person “who gave you the biggest black caviar jar several years ago,” according to the people familiar with the exchange. Kilimnik said it would take some time to discuss the “long caviar story,” and the two agreed to meet in New York.

Investigators believe that the reference to the pricey Russian luxury item may have been a reference to Manafort’s past lucrative relationship with Deripaska, according to people familiar with the probe. Others familiar with the exchange say it may be a reference to Ukrainian business titans with whom Manafort had done business.

Kilimnik and Manafort have previously confirmed that they were in contact during the campaign, including meeting twice in person — once in May 2016, as Manafort’s role in Trump’s campaign was expanding, and again in August, about two weeks before Manafort resigned amid questions about his work in Ukraine.

The August meeting is the one the two men arranged during the emails now under examination by investigators.

That encounter took place at the Grand Havana Club, an upscale cigar bar in Manhattan. Kilimnik has said the two discussed “unpaid bills” and “current news.” But he said the sessions were “private visits” that were “in no way related to politics or the presidential campaign in the U.S.””

How Putin’s oligarchs funneled millions into GOP campaigns Dallas News itten by Ruth May

Oleg Deripaska is said to be one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s favorite oligarchs, and he is founder and majority shareholder of Russia’s Rusal, the second-largest aluminum company in the world. Blavatnik holds a stake in Rusal with a business partner.

Further, nearly 4 percent of Deripaska’s stake in Rusal is owned by Putin’s state-controlled bank, VTB, which is currently under U.S. sanctions. VTB was exposed in the Panama Papers in 2016 for facilitating the flow of billions of dollars to offshore companies linked to Putin.

Viktor Vekselberg is one of the 10 richest men in Russia. He and long-time business partner Blavatnik hold a 20.5 percent stake in Rusal. (They met while attending university in Russia.)

In 1990, Blavatnik and Vekselberg co-founded the Renova Group for large-scale investments in energy, infrastructure, aluminum and other metals. One of their earliest investments was in Tyumen Oil Co. (TNK), founded in 1995. TNK is best known for its contentious partnership with British Petroleum after the two entities formed a joint venture in 2003. That rocky relationship ended 10 years later when they sold out to the state-controlled energy giant, Rosneft, under pressure from the Russian government.

As for BP, that pressure took the form of growing harassment and intimidation from Russian authorities who at one point, according to Forbes, refused to renew visas for BP employees, forcing BP’s joint venture chief Robert Dudley (who is now chief executive of BP) to flee Russia and manage TNK-BP from a foreign outpost in a secret location.

Vekselberg has connections to at least two Americans who made significant GOP campaign contributions during the last cycle. They are among several Americans who also merit Mueller’s scrutiny.”