MOSCOW, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Russian metals tycoon OlegDeripaska attacked U.S. "stupidity" in a mocking social mediapost on Wednesday after FBI agents raided Washington and NewYork properties linked to his family.
Washington imposed sanctions on Deripaska, 53, and otherinfluential Russians in 2018 because of their ties to PresidentVladimir Putin after alleged Russian interference in the 2016election, which Moscow denies.
"Watching everything that is happening in America, I cannothelp but marvel at the utter stupidity of part of the Americanestablishment who persist in spinning this story about theallegedly colossal role of the Russians in the 2016 U.S.presidential election," Deripaska said.
"It is convenient to feed one's electorate (brought up onHollywood movies about horrible Russians) with all sorts of crapfor another 10 years," he added.
The two homes that, according to Deripaska, belong to hisrelatives were raided by the FBI on Tuesday. Two sourcesfamiliar with the investigation told Reuters the U.S. Attorney'soffice in Manhattan was leading the probe. Deripaska said in his social media post that no one wasliving in the properties.
"I have to ask: how much of Putin's money was found in thoseabandoned houses yesterday?" he said, sarcastically inquiringwhether investigators had discovered any mouldy jam or vodka inthe cupboards.
Deripaska is the founder of Russian aluminium giant Rusal, in which he still owns a stake via hisshares in its parent company En+ Group. Deripaska relinquishedcontrol in both in 2018 as part of his deal with Washington that removed those companies from the blacklist but kept him onit.
Rusal's Hong Kong-listed shares were down 3% on Wednesday.
The Kremlin declined to comment when asked about the FBIraids on Wednesday, adding that it did not know what prompted(Reporting by Polina Devitt, additional reporting by DmitryAntonov; editing by Mark Trevelyan and Alex Richardson)