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Oleg Deripaska
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Oleg Deripaska

Former Rusal controlling shareholder; OFAC-designated 2018; forced out in sanctions settlement.

Last refreshed: 21 May 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic

Key Question

How did removing one shareholder unsanction an entire aluminium company?

Timeline for Oleg Deripaska

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Common Questions
Why did Oleg Deripaska have to leave Rusal because of US sanctions?
OFAC designated Deripaska personally under CAATSA in April 2018. Under the 50% rule, Rusal — which Deripaska controlled through En+ Group — was automatically treated as designated. To lift sanctions on Rusal, Deripaska had to reduce his ownership stake below 50%, which he did under a negotiated settlement.Source: OFAC
Is Oleg Deripaska still sanctioned by the US?
Yes. Deripaska remains on OFAC's Specially Designated Nationals list. Only Rusal's sanctions were lifted in January 2019 following his ownership restructuring. His personal designation under CAATSA was not removed.Source: OFAC
Why is Oleg Deripaska used as a sanctions precedent in the Iran oil case?
Deripaska's 2018 OFAC designation caused Rusal's aluminium supply chains to collapse within days as Western counterparties suspended contracts. Analysts cite the speed and severity of that episode to argue that a comparable OFAC action against Hengli Petroleum could similarly disrupt China's private refinery sector FAR faster than Beijing publicly acknowledges.Source: Lowdown iran-conflict-2026 Update 21 May 2026

Background

Oleg Deripaska was the controlling shareholder of Rusal, Russia's largest aluminium producer, until OFAC's April 2018 designation of Rusal under Executive Order 13662 forced his removal as part of a settlement to lift the sanctions . Deripaska held majority control through the holding company En+ Group. The OFAC action tied the Rusal designation explicitly to Deripaska's status under CAATSA, making the settlement's core requirement his reduction below the 50% ownership threshold. Sanctions on Rusal were lifted in January 2019 after his stake was restructured.

Deripaska is a Russian oligarch and businessman. He was placed on OFAC's Specially Designated Nationals list in April 2018 under CAATSA Section 231(d) for acting in the interest of the Russian government. He subsequently filed litigation in US federal courts challenging the CAATSA mechanism. He remains on the OFAC SDN list.

His case is relevant to the Hengli precedent as the enforcement mechanism that made Rusal a viable OFAC target: CAATSA's 50% rule means any entity more than 50% owned by a designated individual is itself treated as designated. The parallel in the Hengli context is that the targeting is through the entity's sanctioned supplier (Sepehr Energy, the IRGC oil Arm) rather than an individual shareholder.

Source Material
OFAC CAATSA Deripaska / Rusal designation, April 2018