MOSCOW/NEW YORK-  A law firm appointed to act as a buffer between Russian metals magnate Oleg Deripaska and one of his businesses, under a deal that allowed Washington to lift sanctions on the firm, has worked closely with Deripaska for years. Asked about the law firm, the U.S. Treasury Department said it would vigorously monitor arrangements to ensure Deripaska cannot influence board members of the businesses. A representative for Deripaska said there was no scope for the businessman to influence how the law firm acted.

But a senior U.S. senator said the connection between Deripaska and the law firm further bolstered the argument, being made by U.S. President Donald Trump’s Democratic opponents, that the sanctions should not have been lifted. The U.S. Treasury Department agreed to lift sanctions on three businesses controlled by Deripaska on condition that the tycoon – who will still be under sanctions himself – reduces his ownership in the businesses and severs his control.

As part of the deal, some of Deripaska’s voting rights as a shareholder in his main company, En+, were handed over to a “voting trust obligated to vote in the same manner as the majority of shares held by shareholders other than Deripaska,” according to the Treasury Department. On Monday, announcing names of this and other trustees, En+ said that one of the trustees exercising the voting rights was called “Ogier Global Nominee (Jersey) Limited.”(Reuters)…[+]