Bid to Jail Russian Billionaire Called Harassment by U.K. Judge

(Bloomberg) -- Billionaire Oleg Deripaska fought off an attempt to see him sent to jail after a London judge rebuked a former business associate, saying he had sought to “vex and harass” the tycoon.

The long-running legal spat between Deripaska and Vladimir Chernukhin, a onetime Russian government minister, took another turn this week when Chernukhin claimed Deripaska breached a court commitment. But the judge called the request to find Deripaska in contempt an “abuse of process.”

Chernukhin pursued the strategy “out of a deep rooted and personal animosity” toward Deripaska, Judge Andrew Baker said Wednesday.

Chernukhin, whose wife is one of the largest donors to the U.K. Conservative Party, filed the request after winning a $100 million lawsuit against Deripaska. The billionaire, who is subject to U.S. sanctions, initially struggled to pay the money before finally sending the funds via a German account held by VTB Bank PJSC, according to Deripaska’s legal filing.

A representative for Deripaska declined to comment while Chernukhin couldn’t immediately be reached.

Deripaska’s attorneys said Chernukhin, a former Russian deputy minister who later fled to the U.K., had pursued a “vendetta.”

The London court hearing this week is part of a years-long dispute between the two that stretches back to a spat over the ownership of a ritzy Moscow development. Deripaska still faces personal sanctions from the U.S. government, and was forced to step away from his companies as part of conditions for lifting restrictions on his aluminum producer.

The billionaire -- “an international pariah,” according to Chernukhin -- was forced to open the Frankfurt account after other banks refused to accept his funds, according to Deripaska’s legal filing. He also offered up a block of shares in En+ Group International PJSC before finally making the payment at the end of last year.

The stock offer was rendered futile when En+ moved its domicile to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, Chernukhin said in his legal filing.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.