US, Gapontsev File Motion To Close Oligarch Delisting Case After Agreement Reached- Filing

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US, Gapontsev File Motion to Close Oligarch Delisting Case After Agreement Reached- Filing

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th September, 2019) The US government and Russian businessman Valentin Gapontsev's attorneys have filed a joint motion to close the so-called oligarch delisting case after both parties reached an agreement, a court document revealed.

Gapontsev has argued that he does not belong on the list, which critics say was arbitrarily copied from a 2017 Forbes magazine ranking of Russian billionaires. The US Treasury Department never denied this allegation.

"Plaintiffs, Dr. Valentin Gapontsev and IPG Photonics Corporation, and Defendants, the United States Department of the Treasury and the Honorable Steven Mnuchin, Secretary of the Treasury (the "Parties"), respectfully move for an order staying and administratively closing the above-captioned proceeding (the "Proceeding") until the earlier of September 11, 2022, or the Court lifts the stay at the request of either of the Parties," the court document said on Wednesday. "The parties further request that on September 11, 2022, the conclusion of the stay's three-year period, the Court dismiss the Proceeding with prejudice.

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The document said the parties filed the motion during the court-ordered mediation period after they reached the agreement to resolve this litigation.

On Tuesday, the Treasury Department sent a letter to Gaspontsev's attorneys admitting that he should not have been included in the oligarch list.

In June, both parties reached an agreement to remove Gapontsev from the oligarch list and blamed the error on a lack of information available to them when they first made their determination.

Gapontsev's company IPG Photonics, a leading developer of high-performance fiber lasers, is now based in the United States.

In 2017, as part of sanctions over alleged election interference, US Congress required the Trump administration to compile a listing of senior Russian political figures and so-called oligarchs.