Future Of British Business
When £500,000 Isn’t Enough to Represent Sanctioned Oligarch
- Deripaska faces steep legal bill to prepare for March trial
- His opponent in court says £500,000 is “handsome war chest”
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A £500,000 ($604,000) cap on what sanctioned Russian oligarchs can pay their UK lawyers is already being tested in London, after attorneys expected to represent billionaire Oleg Deripaska warned it wasn’t enough.
Deripaska was ordered to prepare for a trial in March that could see him handed a jail term or fined for allegations of contempt of court. It’s part of a long-running and bitter dispute between the billionaire and Vladimir Chernukhin, whose wife is one of the largest donors to the UK’s Conservative Party. Chernukhin says that Deripaska broke undertakings relating to his shares in EN+ Group International PJSC that Chernukhin alleges were put “beyond the reach of the court.”