Private office, mansion and assets: Russian oligarch Deripaska first spoke about property frozen in the USA

Oleg Deripaska in the US court for the first time revealed what property he had frozen in America due to sanctions. This is Basic Element Inc., which operated as the representative office of the Basic Element group, writes RBC.

Oleg Deripaska. Photo: YouTube video screenshot /Rain

Representatives of billionaire Oleg Deripaska in an American court, where they seek his exclusion from the sanctions list, first named the businessman’s assets that were blocked in the United States as a result of the sanctions imposed in 2018.

For example, a controlling interest in Basic Element Inc. (Delaware), writes Deripaska's lawyer Eric Ferrari of Ferrari & Associates. This company worked as a representative office of the Basic Element group in America, the lawyer explained.

"Basic Element Inc. held bank accounts and owned leasehold rights when sanctions were imposed against Deripaska. In particular, these are accounts at Wells Fargo Bank, ”the document says, filed by Deripaska with the court on November 5 (available to RBC).

On the subject: Russian oligarchs bought up luxury real estate in New York

Basic Element Inc. Accounts Wells Fargo was blocked, and the corporate registration services provider ended its relationship with her. As a result, now she has no employees left - the company is paralyzed. The document does not disclose what amounts of money were blocked.

Vast Assets in the USA

Ferrari also names RUSAL America Corp., an American company that sells aluminum in the United States. RUSAL America has offices in a New York building owned by Basic Element Inc. After entering UC Rusal Deripaska's sanctions list, RUSAL America Corp. at JPMorgan Chase Bank were closed. RUSAL America returned to full-fledged business at the beginning of the 2019 year, when the US Treasury Department lifted sanctions against Rusal after the Deripaska ceded control of the company.

“The defendants (US Department of the Treasury and its sanctioning division OFAC. - RBC) are well aware of the vast assets that Deripaska owned in the United States at the time he was listed on the sanctions list,” his lawyer writes, making it clear that others have not been frozen. named assets of a businessman. RBC sent a request to Eric Ferrari. The representative of Deripaska in Russia declined to comment.

Private Office in New York

Basic Element Inc. was established in 2006, it follows from an entry in the corporate registry of Delaware. Now the registration agent, laid down by the laws of any state, she does not have, it follows from the information in the registry. In addition, the site of the Basic Element holding is down; the British company Basic Element UK was liquidated shortly after the imposition of sanctions.

About Basic Element Inc. in 2017, the former Russian businessman Alexander Gliklad wrote in a lawsuit against Deripaska. He claimed that the company at 100% belongs to the Russian Basic Element, is based and has accounts in New York. "Gliklad claims that the Basic Element office on Madison Avenue in New York functions as Deripaska's private office," the American court said.

According to Gliklad, in 2013, Deripaska, as a landlord in New York (by subleasing office space), "raised $ 2,5 million." Gliklad also claimed that Deripaska through Basic Element allegedly acquired 50% of the “Russian newspaper” published in New York.

Mansions in the Trust

In 2018, the NY Post reported, citing sources in the US administration, that Deripaska had frozen real estate assets - mansions in New York and Washington. Formally, these houses are recorded on anonymous Delaware companies, and representatives of Deripaska never confirmed the fact of their arrest. One of these companies traces a possible connection with Deripaska's cousin Pavel Yezubov, RBC wrote with reference to documents from the public services of New York. Deripaska himself in an American court in 2016 explained that New York real estate is controlled by an irrevocable trust in the British Virgin Islands: Deripaska was its founder, but lost the ownership of the assets transferred to the irrevocable trust.

Earlier, Deripaska's lawyers reported in a US court that Oleg Deripaska’s wealth was reduced by 81% (or $ 7,5 billion) due to US sanctions. Now Forbes magazine estimates Deripaska’s fortune at $ 3,6 billion. The result of US sanctions was “the complete destruction of Deripaska’s wealth, reputation and sources of income,” the businessman’s lawsuit against OFAC said. He was “expelled from the international business community”, “squeezed out of the controlling interests in his largest businesses”, and he was denied access to real estate in the United States.

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