The United States has indicted Russian metals tycoon Mr Oleg Deripaska as well as his girlfriend and two associates for sanctions evasion. The US imposed sanctions on Deripaska and his aluminum giant Rusal in 2018 for malign activity in countries including Ukraine and annexed Crimea. The penalties bar him from doing business with US citizens and entities. According to the Justice Department indictment, Mr Deripaska allegedly retained luxury US properties, conducted financial transactions and arranged for his girlfriend to give birth to their baby in the US through two associates in 2018-2022. The Justice Department said US prosecutors plan to launch a forfeiture of Deripaska's proceeds from transactions including the USD 3 million sale of his California music studio and his New York and Washington homes. FBI agents raided Deripaska's luxury properties in New York’s Greenwich Village and Washington's Embassy Row last year as part of an investigation into whether he had violated the 2018 sanctions. The indictment charges Deripaska's Russia-based associate Natalia Bardakova and naturalized US citizen Olga Shriki with conspiring to violate US sanctions for facilitating transactions on the oligarch’s behalf and funneling the proceeds to him through shell companies. Ms Shriki was arrested and released on USD 2 million bond later that day. Mr Deripaska, Ms Voronina and Ms Bardakova are considered fugitives, according to the US attorney’s office. The charges of conspiring to violate US sanctions carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. In 2020, the department said Deripaska’s girlfriend Ms Yekaterina Voronina traveled to the US with the help of the two assistants to give birth, granting the child US citizenship by birthright. Ms Voronina attempted a similar move this year but was denied entry, charged with making false statements and returned to Istanbul, a transit hub for Russians after most Western destinations closed their airspace to Russian planes over the invasion of Ukraine. She had arrived in Los Angeles in June on a private jet paid for by Deripaska.
The United States has indicted Russian metals tycoon Mr Oleg Deripaska as well as his girlfriend and two associates for sanctions evasion. The US imposed sanctions on Deripaska and his aluminum giant Rusal in 2018 for malign activity in countries including Ukraine and annexed Crimea. The penalties bar him from doing business with US citizens and entities. According to the Justice Department indictment, Mr Deripaska allegedly retained luxury US properties, conducted financial transactions and arranged for his girlfriend to give birth to their baby in the US through two associates in 2018-2022. The Justice Department said US prosecutors plan to launch a forfeiture of Deripaska's proceeds from transactions including the USD 3 million sale of his California music studio and his New York and Washington homes. FBI agents raided Deripaska's luxury properties in New York’s Greenwich Village and Washington's Embassy Row last year as part of an investigation into whether he had violated the 2018 sanctions. The indictment charges Deripaska's Russia-based associate Natalia Bardakova and naturalized US citizen Olga Shriki with conspiring to violate US sanctions for facilitating transactions on the oligarch’s behalf and funneling the proceeds to him through shell companies. Ms Shriki was arrested and released on USD 2 million bond later that day. Mr Deripaska, Ms Voronina and Ms Bardakova are considered fugitives, according to the US attorney’s office. The charges of conspiring to violate US sanctions carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. In 2020, the department said Deripaska’s girlfriend Ms Yekaterina Voronina traveled to the US with the help of the two assistants to give birth, granting the child US citizenship by birthright. Ms Voronina attempted a similar move this year but was denied entry, charged with making false statements and returned to Istanbul, a transit hub for Russians after most Western destinations closed their airspace to Russian planes over the invasion of Ukraine. She had arrived in Los Angeles in June on a private jet paid for by Deripaska.
