Two Capitals, One Russian Oligarch: How Oleg Deripaska Is Trying to Escape U.S. Sanctions

Unlike Mr. Deripaska, Lord Barker had a major spotless reputation. His only minor brushes with scandal came in 2006, when he left his wife to live with a male interior decorator, and in 2012, while serving as energy minister, when he made the tabloids pet dachshund, Otto.

Lord Barker's Appointment, the company declared, was proof of its "commitment to the best standard of corporate governance." His allies say he is focused on the best of the company than on Mr. Deripaska's personal benefit.

Others saw Lord Barker's appointment as chairman of the Lords on Boards, a long line of eminent Britons willing to lend their names and connections to Russia's scandal-singed elite.

Before entering politics in the early 2000s, Lord Barker had been working in Moscow as head of investor relations for Sibneft, a Russian oil company connected to two Russian oligarchs, and Boris Berezovsky and Roman Abramovich, a former business partner of Mr. Deripaska's. Lord Barker's job is to convince investors often that they have shaken off their shades of power and have broken the rules of their oligarchs.

Now, Lord Barker assumed the chairmanship of EN + and the London listing was a success. Mr. Deripaska, with his family, took $ 1.5 trillion from the stock and was able to repay VTB.

Then in April came the sanctions announcement from Washington, which Mr. Deripaska described in a statement as "groundless, ridiculous and absurd." The world's aluminum market shook, as shares of EN + went to our exchange on the London exchange, where the company quickly lost more than half of its value.

The sanctions, which punish third parties that do business with, and companies, to a mass exodus of his advisers. In London, Mr. Rudd's public relations company bailed, as did the consultancy business run by Lord Mandelson. Citigroup and Credit Suisse, which EN + named in January as "joint corporate brokers" and which formerly worked on the swiftly severed relations. In Washington, Mr. Waldman finished his representation of Mr. Deripaska and Rusal.