WASHINGTON -- A Russian billionaire with ties to Vladimir Putin is suing The Associated Press for defamation over a story about his connections to a former chairman of Donald Trump's presidential campaign.
Aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska filed a federal defamation and libel lawsuit Monday over the March 22 story about his business ties with Paul Manafort.
Deripaska said the article was inaccurate and hurt his career by falsely accusing him of criminal activity.
The AP's general counsel, Karen Kaiser, said the news organization stands by its story and will defend itself.
The news agency reported that before signing up to help with Trump's campaign, Manafort secretly worked for Deripaska with a plan to "greatly benefit the Putin government."
The story was based on interviews with people familiar with payments to Manafort and on business records obtained by the AP.
A Section on 05/17/2017