Spox says Manafort consulted Russia’s Deripaska on investments

MOSCOW, Mar 22 (PRIME) -- Former aide of the electoral campaign of U.S. President Donald Trump Paul Manafort consulted Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska on investments, a spokesman for Deripaska told PRIME on Wednesday.

“Mr. Manafort indeed provided consultation services to Oleg Deripaska at some point in the framework of contracts concerning solely business interests of Oleg Deripaska. These contracts with Manafort are a matter of court litigations now,” the spokesman said.

Associated Press reported earlier that Manafort used to work for Deripaska in order to lobby Russian interests in the U.S., Europe and the post-Soviet area. Manafort and Deripaska signed a U.S. $10 million annual contract which came into force in 2006 and were in business relations until at least 2009.

In 2016, Deripaska’s representatives accused Manafort of a fraud and announced plans to recover money from him but after the election of Trump, Deripaska’s representatives said that they will not discuss the case anymore.

Manafort told Associated Press that he has never lobbied any Russia’s political interests.

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