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Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP
In 2018, the US imposed sanctions on the aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, who is considered a confidante of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The US Federal Police have now searched two of his properties in Washington and New York.
The FBI spoke on Tuesday of a court-approved course of action, but did not provide any further information.
"We cannot provide any further information at this time," said an FBI spokesman.
Searches in New York's posh Greenwich Village neighborhood
In 2018, the US Treasury Department said Deripaska was being investigated for money laundering and extortion, among other things.
"There are also allegations that Deripaska bribed a government official, ordered the murder of a businessman, and had connections with a Russian criminal gang."
The federal police searched a villa in a Washington area that is also home to numerous embassies.
According to a report in the New York Times, the investigators also targeted a house in New York's posh Greenwich Village district.
Contacts with Trump's campaign manager
In March 2019, the oligarch filed a lawsuit in the United States against the sanctions imposed on him.
Among other things, he complained about losses of billions as a result of the punitive measures.
Deripaska announced that these losses would have to be borne by "investors, suppliers and customers" of his companies.
The sanctions ruined "the life of a man, his businesses" and put hundreds of thousands of people at risk, including workers and domestic and foreign investors.
The lawsuit was dismissed.
After the Russian aluminum group Rusal reduced Deripaska's stake and ended its control over the companies, the sanctions against Rusal and two pending companies were lifted.
Deripaska was also apparently in contact with Paul Manafort, Donald Trump's campaign manager ahead of the 2016 presidential election. According to court documents, Manafort offered Deripaska confidential briefings and polls on the presidential race.
Manafort was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison in 2019, among other things for tax and banking fraud.
However, it was not about his work on Trump's campaign team.
Trump pardoned Manafort last December, a few weeks before the end of his term in the White House.
muk / AFP
