Controversial Oligarch Makes Play for GM's Hummer
Oligarch barred from the U.S. reportedly keen to buy struggling brand.
August 12, 2008— -- U.S. car buyers may have soured on the iconic gas-guzzling brand Hummer, but a controversial Russian oligarch barred by the State Department from entering the U.S. may be keen to buy the struggling mark, according to Russian press accounts.
Moscow-based Russian Machines, owned by multibillionaire Oleg Deripaska, is one of a handful of companies vying to purchase the Hummer brand from General Motors, Russian business publication Vedomosti reported.
In lawsuits in the U.S. and Great Britain, business rivals have accused Deripaska of bribery, extortion and other unsavory business practices. None of the claims have been substantiated, and no successful suit against Deripaska has been reported.
According to the German publication Der Spiegel, law enforcement officials in Germany have suspected the oligarch of having ties to organized crime, though they have not brought any charges against him. The U.S. State Department revoked Deripaska'a entry visa because of questions concerning the alleged ties to organized crime and concern about whether he had been honest in his statements to the FBI, according to the Wall Street Journal.
In an email to ABC News, Sergey Babichenko, a representative of Deripaska-owned Basic Element, the parent company of Russian Machines, said that the allegations against Deripaska are "groundless…insulting and false, and we vehemently reject them."
Babichenko also wrote that "Mr. Deripaska is a respected member of society, a leading Russian businessman, a philanthropist and an outspoken champion on vital global issues of sustainable development and climate change. He has never been convicted of any crime." He did not address reports of Deripaska's interest in buying Hummer.
The allegations add a layer of irony to the possible purchase, as the Hummer has been popular with the would-be outlaw set in the United States. Gangsta rappers like now-deceased Tupac Shakur and "Gangster's Paradise" artist Coolio owned Hummers, as did Christopher Moltosanti, the young ill-fated capo in HBO's The Sopranos.
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