FBI searches D.C. mansion connected to Russian oligarch

FBI agents conducted a search Tuesday of two homes — one in Washington and one in New York — that are both connected to sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, as part of an unspecified criminal investigation into the activities of a man who has not set foot on U.S. soil in years, according to people familiar with the investigation and property records.

Deripaska, a politically connected tycoon whose name came up repeatedly in recent investigations involving Russia and the 2016 presidential campaign of Donald Trump, is tied to the northwest Washington home through a company incorporated in Delaware, according to property records. Property records also link him to a home in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan

that officials said was also searched Tuesday.

Deripaska is a billionaire and has long been a key ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Deripaska also did business for years with Paul Manafort, a New Britain, Conn., native, and Trump’s onetime campaign chairman.

What role, if any, Deripaska may have played in the 2016 U.S. presidential race remained one of the mysteries of special counsel Robert Mueller's probe.