According to leaked 2006 U.S. diplomatic cables, the aluminum magnate and longtime ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin was “more or less a permanent fixture” on the president’s trips abroad and one of the few oligarchs Putin reportedly met with on a regular basis. The U.S. also believes that he laundered money on behalf of the president.

Once a business partner and client of disgraced American political lobbyist Paul Manafort, he has for years been accused of having links to organized crime. Upon sanctioning him in 2018, U.S. authorities said he had been accused of threatening the lives of corporate rivals, bribing a Russian official and ordering the murder of a businessman.

Deripaska’s press secretary told OCCRP that he had never been involved in any illegal scheming, that his assets were acquired by fair mains, and that he has fallen victim of a witch-hunt driven entirely by political motives.

Polina Yumasheva (ex-wife), Pavel Ezubov (associate)