Russian tycoon sues US’s Mnuchin, Treasury Dept.

Deripaska filed the lawsuit in the US District Court in Washington on Friday, saying the sanctions imposed on him in April last year made him “the latest victim” of “political infighting and ongoing reaction to Russia’s purported interference” in the 2016 US presidential election.

According to the complaint, Deripaska, the founder of En+ Group and United Co. Rusal, has been unfairly and illegally targeted by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.

He said that the measures have resulted in “the utter devastation” of his wealth, reputation, and economic livelihood.

According to the suit, his net worth has dropped by $7.5 billion because of the sanctions imposed by the administration of President Donald Trump against him last April.

In April 2018, Mnuchin announced sanctions against seven influential Russian businessmen, including Deripaska, 12 companies they owned, 17 senior Russian officials, and a state-owned arms export firm over a range of alleged activities including Moscow’s purported meddling in the 2016 US presidential election.

Washington said the punitive measures were in response to Russia’s policies regarding Ukraine and Syria, as well as its cyber activities and attempts to subvert Western democracies.

In late 2016, the then-administration of US President Barack Obama alleged that Russia had influenced the US presidential election in November that year to help Donald Trump get elected, an allegation that Russia strongly denies.

In January, the US lifted sanctions on three companies linked to Deripaska, though he remained personally under US sanctions, with his property blocked.

“Deripaska has been effectively shut out from the international business community and the global financial system,’’ the complaint says.

Deripaska slammed the Treasury Department’s measures as “arbitrary and capricious,” saying they violated the US Administrative Procedures Act.

He asked the court to lift the sanctions against him.

“His investments have become toxic, and defendants have caused his former companies to separate from him through the irrevocable divestiture of his interests and severance of his control,” according to the lawsuit.