US congressman urges Biden to ban six UK lawyers for ‘enabling’ oligarchs

Steve Cohen, a democratic congressman, said in a letter to the US secretary of state: ‘The nature of [the UK’s] libel laws … make it an ideal place for oligarchs to abuse the law to harass and intimidate.’ Photograph: Rex/Shutterstock

A US congressman has urged the Biden administration to ban six British lawyers from entering the US amid accusations that the lawyers have “enabled” “Putin’s” oligarchs by engaging in “abusive” lawsuits against journalists as part of an alleged effort to silence them.

Steve Cohen, a Democratic congressman from Tennessee, said in a letter to the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, that the US needed to begin establishing “deterrents” against lawyers whom he accused of performing “unscrupulous work” that ultimately undermined democratic values.