Russia's Deripaska sues U.S. over sanctions -court filing

Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska sued the United States on Friday, alleging that it had overstepped its legal bounds in imposing sanctions on his companies and made him the "latest victim" in the U.S. probe into Moscow's alleged political interference.

In a legal filing, Deripaska asked the U.S. District Court in Washington to block the U.S. Treasury Department from using the "devastating power" of such economic sanctions, which he said were inconsistent with the U.S. Constitution. Aluminum company Rusal and its parent company En+ were hit with the U.S. sanctions in April 2018 when Washington blacklisted billionaire Deripaska along with several other influential Russians because of their ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Deripaska agreed in late 2018 to reduce his stake in En+ to 44.95 percent from 70 percent in a deal that allowed the punitive measures against Rusal and En+ to be lifted. A spokeswoman for Deripaska said he had filed the complaint against the Treasury Department in order to not let his hard work be destroyed by "political scheming." The Treasury Department could not immediately be reached for comment.

The decision to lift the sanctions defied a Democratic-led push in the U.S. Congress to maintain the restrictions. Russia has denied meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. (Reporting by Nathan Layne and Susan Heavey; Writing by Meredith Mazzilli, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)