Who's an oligarch? Rich Russians fret over US sanctions label

Russia's billionaire class is in the throes of a kind of helpless anxiety

When Debevoise & Plimpton lawyers held a seminar in Moscow to explain the impact of new US  sanctions legislation, they had to rent out a hall in a hotel to hold all the worried clients who signed up.

A big reason for the interest is a provision in the law that gives President Donald Trump’s executive branch until February to identify “oligarchs” close to Vladimir Putin who can be slapped with visa bans and asset freezes as further punishment for Kremlin election meddling.

With the Treasury Department, which is leading the effort, giving little indication of how the list is being compiled,