MOSCOW, October 19. /TASS/. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is conducting searches in the homes of Oleg Deripaska's relatives in New York and Washington, Larisa Belyaeva, the official representative of the Russian businessman, told TASS.
According to her, the searches are related to the sanctions imposed against the businessman.
"The FBI is currently conducting searches in the houses of Oleg Deripaska's relatives, indeed. Oleg Deripaska is not their owner," Belyaeva said.
Earlier, an FBI official confirmed to TASS that the agency is searching one of the private houses in Washington, which, according to the American media, belongs to Deripaska.
Meanwhile, a TASS correspondent in New York reported that the atmosphere outside the building in New York, presumably owned by Oleg Deripaska, is calm.
At the address in Manhattan, where, according to media reports, the real estate associated with Deripaska is located, there are no US FBI or other law enforcement officials. No investigative actions are being taken.
Sanctions against Deripaska
On April 6, 2018, the United States imposed sanctions against Oleg Deripaska and the companies he controlled such as Rusal and the En+ Group, the Basic Element industrial group and the Russian Machines machine-building holding, B-Finance and Eurosibenergo and the GAZ Group.
Together with a number of other Russian businessmen who came under US sanctions, Deripaska was banned from entering the US. His assets in the US were frozen and American businessmen were banned from doing business with his companies.
On January 27, 2019, the US Treasury Department announced the lifting of sanctions imposed on Rusal, En+ and Eurosibenergo. However, this cost Deripaska his control over these companies. In particular, his share in the En+ holding decreased from 70% to 44.95%, in Rusal he still owns directly only 0.01% of shares, on which he had no right to receive dividends. The entrepreneur himself remained on the sanctions list.
In March 2019, Deripaska sued the US Treasury Department, stating that the sanctions against him were unfair and illegal, and the damage they caused was estimated at more than $7.5 billion. The businessman demanded that the sanctions be lifted since the conditions for their introduction were no longer relevant. In response, the US Treasury declassified some of the documents, which also became the basis for the introduction of restrictive measures. Deripaska called this data false.