IPG CEO, Treasury miss deadline to settle oligarch suit
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Valentin Gapontsev
IPG Photonics CEO Valentin Gapontsev and the U.S. Department of the Treasury, given until Friday to try to reach a resolution regarding Gapontsev’s name being included on a list of Russian oligarchs, apparently need more time.
In a joint filing Friday in federal court, both sides said they need more time to come to a settlement. This marks the second request for additional time since a D.C. magistrate judge on April 26 ordered both parties to settle the matter by May 24.
They were given another three weeks, but on Friday again said the issue isn’t resolved despite a fruitful mediation session. Both parties suggested a new deadline of June 28.
Gapontsev, both a Russian national and U.S. citizen, was labeled an oligarch in early 2018 in response to Congress asking the Department of the Treasury to compile a list of Russian state actors and oligarchs in response to Russian actions, including election meddling.
Gapontsev, however, lives in Worcester and maintains he has nothing to do with the Russian government.
The list of oligarchs, Gapontsev claims and the government admitted, comes from Forbes’ list of Russian billionaires. The publication has since moved him to the American billionaires list.
In court filings, Gapontsev said he was born in the former Soviet Union in 1939 and spent his childhood in Ukraine. He became an expert in the lasers industry after education in Ukraine and Moscow, Russia.
He started his company in 1993 and moved it to Massachusetts, building its headquarters in Oxford in 2000.
Gapontsev claims his career and company were only the product of hard work and not the help of the Russian government.
A Russian government-backed business entity, Rusnano, did invest $45 million into the company beginning in 2010, but no evidence suggests the deal was improper, nor has the Treasury mentioned the event in court filings.
According to lawyers for Gapontsev and the company, no Russian entities are currently investors in the company.
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