Russian metals tycoon sues US over sanctions

WASHINGTON: Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska sued the United States on Friday, alleging that it had overstepped its legal bounds in imposing sanctions on him and made him the “latest victim” in the US probe into Moscow’s alleged election interference.

In what legal experts called a long shot attempt, Deripaska asked a federal court in Washington to block the US Treasury Department from using the “devastating power” of such sanctions, which he claims were arbitrarily applied to him last April and violated his right to due process under the US Constitution.

Deripaska, his lawsuit says, has been unfairly swept up in a “general hysteria” based on unfounded allegations about him spread by members of US Congress and others, set against the backdrop of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.

A Treasury spokesman declined to comment on a litigation matter and referred Reuters to the Justice Department, which declined to comment.

Washington dropped the sanctions on Deripaska’s two main companies, Rusal, the world’s largest aluminium producer outside China, and its parent En+ Group, in January after an intense lobbying campaign in which the oligarch agreed to relinquish control over his corporate empire. But Deripaska himself remains blacklisted.