Russian foreign minister, lobbyists push for U.S. visa for aluminum tycoon

Russia’s foreign minister is hoping to resolve the U.S. visa status of one of his country’s richest men, according to Justice Department records.

Aluminum tycoon Oleg Deripaska, whose personal fortune totals $10.7 billion, according to Forbes magazine, has struggled to gain entry to the United States and has hired lobbyists to help him secure a visa.

Deripaska has reportedly fallen under FBI scrutiny in the past for allegations of money laundering, though no criminal charges have ever been filed against him.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, Deripaska emerged as a dominant figure in the aluminum trade in the 1990s, making him a billionaire several times over. Business rivals of Deripaska have accused him in lawsuits of having ties to organized crime, which he denies.

In a Sept. 15 letter to an American attorney representing Deripaska that is on file with the Justice Department, Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, says Deripaska is key to U.S.-Russian relations. Underscoring the importance of the case, he notes that Deripaska’s businesses are a driver of Russia’s economy.

Lavrov says on behalf of the country’s foreign ministry that he would like to “express full support and appreciation” for the attorney’s efforts to gain “unambiguous, multi-entry visa status” for Deripaska.

“Over the past several years, there has been certain ambiguity upon his visa status in the United States. A persistent state of limbo regarding Mr. Deripaska’s ability to travel freely between our two countries has become an impediment to the promotion of mutually advantageous contacts between the business communities of the two countries,” Lavrov writes.

In the letter, the foreign minister said Russia has raised the issue of Deripaska’s visa status with both the White House and the State Department.

The Russian embassy did not return messages asking for comment for this story.

Lavrov was writing to Adam Waldman, founder and managing partner of the Endeavor Group.

Waldman, a former Clinton administration Justice Department lawyer, and another attorney at the firm, Carolyn Mansfield, have been representing Deripaska for about a year and a half. So far, the firm has earned more than $367,000 in legal fees from the Russian tycoon, according to Justice records.

“Mr. Deripaska does not have a visa application submitted to travel to the United States,” Waldman said. He would not comment beyond that statement. 

In July 2009, Deripaska ended his lobbying contract with Alston & Bird. The firm earned $270,000 in fees during almost six years of work for Deripaska; former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole （R-Kan.）, among others, lobbied on his behalf.

According to its contract with Deripaska, Endeavour is helping him prepare his U.S visa application along with assisting in his “commercial transactions,” including the unsuccessful purchase of General Motors’ （GM） European operations, such as Opel.

Endeavor is also providing periodic updates on Deripaska’s visa status to the Russian foreign ministry, according to recent documents filed with the Justice Department.

Deripaska was part of a failed bid with a Russian-based consortium to buy Opel during the Obama administration’s auto industry bailout.

In May 2009, according to Justice records, Deripaska’s lawyers met with Steven Rattner, then head of the auto task force, and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke to try and smooth the way for the acquisition of Opel. The deal fell apart late that year.

It seems Deripaska has had better luck with entering the United States. According to an October 2009 Wall Street Journal report, the tycoon visited America several times that year, meeting with GM executives in Detroit as well as with banking officials, including Goldman Sachs head Lloyd Blankfein.