Sen. Ron Wyden has questioned the relationship between the Kentucky aluminium mill and the previously sanctioned Russian aluminium company Rusal. He addressed a letter to Craig Bouchard, CEO of Braidy Industries and questioned whether Braidy Industries had established a relationship with Rusal before the removal of U.S. sanctions against the company.
Rusal was formerly owned by Russian oligarch Demetri Deripaska, who was a close ally of Putin. A number of companies controlled by Deripaska including Rusal were sanctioned by the U.S. in April 2018 as part of the Countering America's Adversaries through Sanctions Act. Sanctions on Rusal were removed after Deripaska cut down his stake to less than 50 per cent, and his voting rights to less than 35 per cent.
Democrats voted against the lifting of sanctions but were defeated by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. McConnell denied the aluminium rolling mill in his home state Kentucky had anything to do with his decision. Rusal's US$200 million investment on Braidy mill was officially announced in April.
Wyden, in his letter, referred to a meeting mentioned in the Time article between the CEO and an unnamed Rusal sales executive in January. As the timing of the meeting was just before the lifting of sanctions, he questioned the content of the meeting conversation, and about the identity of the Rusal executive.
Wyden also referred to a book called America for Sale written by Bouchard and James Koch in 2009, which talked about the danger of foreign investments influencing the U.S. economy and Vladimir Putin's growing influence over the U.S. economy because of his wide ownership over the U.S. steel industry.
Wyden compared the Braidy Industries deal with Rusal with the situation described in the book and expressed concern over the fact that Bouchard’s aluminium-centered deal with Rusal might one day allow Putin to have a control over the U.S. economy.
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