Russian oligarch and Putin ally sues Treasury, demands lifting of U.S. sanctions

Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska sued the Treasury Department and Secretary Steven Mnuchin in U.S. federal court to demand the lifting of remaining U.S. sanctions against him, alleging the measures were illegal and harmed his finances and reputation.

Deripaska, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, claimed that Washington’s 2018 sanctions were “completely untethered” from “legal criteria.”

The lawsuit, filed in district court in Washington, D.C., said the oligarch’s net worth has fallen by more than $7.5 billion, or 81 percent, since he and some of his companies were sanctioned for what Treasury called his support of “the Kremlin’s global malign activities.”

In January, the Treasury Department lifted sanctions on three Deripaska-connected companies, but left in place the sanctions on Deripaska himself.

Read the full article and more in The Washington Post.