Report: Sanctions deal actually boosts Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska

Oleg Deripaska.
(Image credit: Olga Maltseva/AFP/Getty Images)

The sanctions agreement reached by the Trump administration and Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska actually appears to benefit Deripaska, The New York Times reports.

Last April, the Treasury Department announced sanctions against Deripaska — a onetime business associate of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort — and three of his companies, as well as six other Russian oligarchs and their companies; Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the sanctions were in response to "a range of malign activity around the globe." In December, Mnuchin said the Treasury Department reached an agreement to lift the sanctions on three companies controlled by Deripaska: The aluminum company Rusal; EN+, the holding company that owns Rusal; and EuroSibEnergo.

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In a statement, the Treasury Department said Deripaska's companies have "committed to provide Treasury with an unprecedented level of transparency into their dealings to ensure that Deripaska does not reassert control." The Times reports that privately, Deripaska associates are happy with the agreement, and after the deal was announced, share prices of Rusal and EN+ went up, boosting Deripaska's portfolios. For more of the details in the agreement, visit The New York Times.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.