U.S.-approved trustee for Russia's Deripaska has worked with him for years

MOSCOW/NEW YORK (Reuters) - 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.

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 holding 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."

A source close to En+, when asked about the nature of the trustee, said Ogier Global was “a very respectable Jersey law firm”.

Jersey-based Ogier Global has handled multiple deals involving Deripaska's firms.

Ogier's Cayman office represented Deripaska in a 2014 case against equity fund Pericles Emerging Market Partners, court documents showed. Pericles was run by Paul Manafort, who was briefly campaign chairman for Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Ogier also acted on behalf of aluminum giant Rusal , which is controlled by En+, in 2017 when it placed the first “Panda Bond” offering by a Russian company, the name given to overseas debt sold in the Chinese market, Ogier said in a statement at the time.

“Rusal is a long-standing client and we are particularly pleased to have worked with them again,” a partner in Ogier's Jersey office was cited by the law firm as saying at the time.

One of its Jersey lawyers “has worked on several headline deals including the $1.5 billion IPO of En+ Group,” Ogier's website said.

Like Ogier, Rusal is also registered in Jersey. As of Jan. 28 2019, its registered address was the same as that of the Ogier law firm: Ogier House, 44 Esplanade, St. Helier, Jersey.

According to the Jersey Financial Services Registry, Ogier Global Nominee (Jersey) Limited is at that address, as is Ogier Global, and Ogier Global is listed as providing an office for Ogier Global Nominee.

Asked about ties between Deripaska's businesses and Ogier, En+ declined to comment. Deripaska's representative and the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which administers U.S. sanctions, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Ogier also did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Michael Dobson, who worked on sanctions policy toward Russia at OFAC and is now at the Morrison & Foerster law firm, said he was not overly concerned that Ogier had done work for Deripaska in the past given the amount of scrutiny it will be under.

“They have a pretty strong incentive to play above board,” Dobson said, adding that having a law firm that understands Deripaska's business could be seen as a benefit in terms of compliance. As opposed to someone going in blind who doesnt know if they are being manipulated."