OREANDA-NEWS. The US Treasury explained the imposition of sanctions against Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska (Forbes estimates his fortune at $ 4.6 billion) by the participation of a businessman in investment projects in Sochi before the Olympics.

This was reported by The Financial Times, which published a letter sent by the Department of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury to Deripaska's lawyers. The agency doesn't disclose the source of information. The OFAC accusation list includes Deripaska’s alleged participation in a meeting of senior representatives of Russia and Kyrgyzstan, during which the businessman allegedly complied with Putin’s verbal instructions.

In March 2019, Deripaska sued the US Treasury and its head, Stephen Mnuchin. The businessman said that the sanctions against him were imposed unfairly and illegally, as a result of which he suffered damage of $ 7.5 billion, which equals approximately 81% of his condition. In November 2019, Deripaska petitioned OFAC to lift his sanctions, and in December the U.S. Treasury promised to declassify materials that served as the basis for imposing sanctions against the businessman.