Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, made political contributions to Sen. Chuck Schumer

A Russian oligarch appears to have made political contributions to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) in 2002 that his Senate campaign has yet to refund nearly two decades later, an OpenSecrets analysis of campaign finance records found.

OpenSecrets’ analysis revealed that Viktor Vekselberg — the Ukrainian-born Russian aluminum baron who founded Russian energy conglomerate Renova and has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin — gave Schumer’s Senate campaign $2,000 in political contributions in 2002. Federal Election Commission records do not indicate that the contribution was refunded.

Federal election law bans political contributions from foreign nationals but permanent residents who hold green cards are allowed to legal donate. Vekselberg has openly affirmed that he holds only Russian citizenship but held a green card at one point prior to renouncing his status. The Russian oligarch was described as a permanent resident in court records as early as 2005.

The U.S. imposed new sanctions on Vekselberg on March 11 as part of a sweeping package that sanctioned Putin’s allies and their families. On March 15, the United Kingdom announced additional sanctions freezing assets and restricting the travel of Vekselberg and several other Russian oligarchs.

Japan followed suit on the same day, freezing Vekselberg’s assets in the country as a part of sanctions on a list of Russian individuals. Expanded sanctions announced by Australia last week also named Vekselberg.

The Treasury Department’s 2018 sanctions imposed on Vekselberg for having a key role in “advancing Russia’s malign activities” that thwarted access to more than $1.5 billion in overseas assets, Vekselberg told Forbes Russia in 2021.

Vekselberg’s address listed in campaign finance disclosures matches a 2,700-square-foot luxury condo in New York that Vekselberg purchased for $3 million in 2002, the same year the contributions to Schumer were made.

Federal law’s ban on foreign national political contributions took effect with the Federal Election Campaign Act in 1972. But there is a five-year statute of limitations for both criminal and civil violations of federal campaign finance law, meaning a violation may not result in consequences if it is uncovered years later.

Erin Chlopak, senior director for campaign finance, noted that some legislative proposals would extend the statute of limitations but only to 15 years for civil campaign finance violations and to 10 years for criminal violations – meaning there would likely be no impact on this specific example.

Federal law bars candidates from knowingly accepting a contribution from a foreign national but simply receiving a contribution is not necessarily enough to suggest wrongdoing on the side of a campaign or candidate. 

Schumer’s campaign and his Senate office did not respond to requests for comment. Attempts to contact Vekselberg were unsuccessful.

Vekselberg associates‘ multimillion-dollar influence

While Schumer’s campaign cash is Vekselberg’s only political contribution, the oligarch’s associates have poured millions more into U.S. influence.

Millions of dollars in political contributions and influence spending can be traced to Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska and billionaire Leonard “Len” Blavatnik, a native of Soviet Ukraine who grew up in Moscow and now has dual U.S.-U.K. citizenship. Both are business associates of Vekselberg.

Companies tied to Vekselberg, Blavatnik and Deripaska collectively own about three-quarters of Rusal, one of the world’s largest aluminum producers.

After a multimillion-dollar lobbying effort that helped Deripaska publicly distance himself from the companies, the Treasury Department lifted sanctions on Rusal in January 2019 as well as sanctions on its majority owner, EN+ Group, a hydropower-to-metals company once officially controlled by Deripaska.

Deripaska remains subject to U.S. sanctions imposed in 2018 due to his role in Russia’s 2016 election interference efforts as well as allegations that he “bribed a government official, ordered the murder of a businessman, and had links to a Russian organized crime group.”

Though Deripaska publicly distanced himself from EN+ and sanctions restricted his transactions, the Treasury Department still allowed him to transfer 10.5 million shares of EN+ estimated to be worth more than $78 million to his two children in May 2019. A December 2020 assessment from European officials found that Deripaska “retained significant day-to-day influence” over the companies’ operations.

Consolidated financial statements show that as of the end of 2020, Rusal remained majority owned by EN+ Group. SUAL Partners Ltd, a company whose principal beneficiaries are listed as Vekselberg and Blavatnik, held around a quarter of shares in RUSAL according to the information disclosed at the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong and detailed in the company’s annual report.

Rusal’s ownership stake in Australian companies fueled sanctions against Vekselberg and Deripaska last week.

Blavatnik, a native of Soviet Ukraine who grew up in Moscow, was a college friend of Vekselberg who went on to become his business partner. In light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a swath of politicians are now reevaluating whether to return political contributions from Blavatnik due to his ties to Russia.

​While Blavatnik made his fortune as a business partner of Vekselberg, a foreign national with citizenship in Russia but not the United States, Blavatnik has dual U.S. and U.K. citizenship. Blavatnik has also gone to great lengths to distance himself from Putin and, unlike Vekselberg, has not been sanctioned by the U.S.

“All his main money, he made here in Russia, with me,” Vekselberg once said of Blavatnik, according to Financial Times reporting.

More than $10 million in state and federal political contributions have come from Blavatnik, his wife and his company, Access Industries, over the years with contributions as recently as 2022.

Of those contributions, about $9.2 million went to federal groups or candidates and $1.25 million were state level contributions.

While Blavatnik’s political giving has benefited Democrats and Republicans alike, his wife has given more to benefit Democrats and Access Industries LLC has primarily been used to give to groups boosting Republicans. The company’s biggest contributions came in 2016 with $1.5 million to the Senate Leadership Fund and more than $1.2 million Conservative Solutions PAC.

Schumer is also a top recipient of Blavatnik’s campaign contributions at the federal level.

Other top recipients in Congress include Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.), Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.).

New York politicians are some of the top beneficiaries of contributions from Blavatnik, who has a residence in New York.

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) is the top recipient of Blavatnik-linked funds with over $416,100 in total contributions from Blavatnik, Blavatnik’s wife and Access Industries. About $246,400 of that came from Access Industries and $164,800 came directly from Blavatnik.

Current New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is also a major beneficiary of Blavatnik-linked contributions with $69,700 from Blavatnik.

Former New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman has received about $276,000 in Blavatnik-linked political contributions.