The search continues … Why does Trump put Russia, and its free-wheeling Businessmen Moneymen, in such high regard? What are the unpinnings, both public and private, that keeps Trump “captivated” by the endless “opportunities” that Russian Millionaires represent?
Here are a few more of those tenuous, behind-the-scenes threads, that kind of illuminate Trump’s enduring attraction to Russian connections. Starting with Trump pick for Commerce Secretary
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by Khatya Chhor, france24.com — 2017-02-17
Wilbur Ross, commerce secretary nominee
Wilbur Ross, Trump's pick for commerce secretary, has been in a long-standing business partnership with Viktor Vekselberg, a Russian billionaire and Putin ally. The men worked together on refinancing the Bank of Cyprus, once a favourite offshore destination for some $30 billion in Russian wealth. The bank collapsed in 2013, and during its restructuring a large portion of its assets were converted into shares, ostensibly giving Russian nationals majority ownership of the bank. In 2014, Ross led a €1 billion takeover of the bank that offered Russian shareholders a buyout. In the process, Vekselberg’s Renova Group became the bank's largest foreign stakeholder.
Ross proposed a new 16-member board of directors in October that year that included six Russian businessmen as well as several former Bank of Cyprus executives. Ross was named a vice chairman as was Vladimir Strzhalkovskiy, who previously sat on the bank’s board and who reportedly served with Putin in the KGB in the 1980s.
Jared Kushner, senior adviser
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In May 2015, Kushner’s company paid $295 million for a majority share in the former New York Times Building in a deal with Lev Leviev, an Uzbek-Israeli diamond tycoon who serves as chairman of one of Russia’s largest real estate firms and is a self-professed “true friend” of Vladimir Putin.
It seems Jared Kushner, Trump son-in-law and now senior advisor, has even more financial connections with Millionaires of Russia, from within his own aspiring Real Estate empire …
by Danielle Wiener-Bronner @CNNMoney — Jan 31, 2017
Kushner, who is married to Trump's daughter Ivanka, said he would step down from his role as CEO of Kushner Companies to avoid any conflicts of interest while working in the White House.
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Kushner also co-founded the real estate investment company Cadre with his brother Joshua.
Neither Cadre or the White House responded to CNNMoney’s requests for comment.
Apart from his real estate and media interests, the extent of Kushner's personal wealth is unclear. Kushner has never held a government position and he's never run for office -- so he hasn't released his tax returns to the public or listed his debts and assets.
About that investment clearinghouse called Cadre, owned by Kushner and his brother, VOX.com summarizes it this way …
- Goldman Sachs has lent money to the Kushner Companies and invested in Cadre, a real estate technology firm that Kushner cofounded. Kushner was a leading voice urging Trump to appoint Gary Cohn, president of Goldman Sachs, as his chief economic adviser. [...]
- Foreign investors, including some from Russia and China, have invested in Kushner’s companies, including Cadre and the real estate firm. Foreign investors on some projects were rewarded with visas through the EB-5 program, which gives investors putting at least $500,000 into American companies a two-year visa and path to citizenship. Congress is responsible for renewing the EB-5 program, and the Government Accountability Office, in the executive branch, has raised concerns about it.
Real Estate Alert, Nov 30, 2016
A growing New York investment shop that primarily provides joint-venture equity is aiming to fund more than $1 billion of commercial real estate purchases in the coming year.
Cadre, launched two years ago by Ryan Williams and brothers Jared and Josh Kushner, supplies equity to investors that have lined up acquisitions. Using a $250 million capital commitment from an unidentified family office, the firm typically provides equity up front, then syndicates the deal to a stable of pre-approved investors.
Those investors include nearly 200 wealthy individuals and institutions. All go through a vetting process to qualify for access to the firm’s web-based platform, where they can choose to participate in any of Cadre’s individual deals.
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Cadre, formed in November 2014, has attracted some $70 million in venture capital from backers including Alibaba chairman Jack Ma, Goldman, Founders Fund of San Francisco, General Catalyst Partners of Cambridge, Mass., Russian billionaire Yuri Milner and New York REIT SL Green.
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Well Apprentice Jared appears to have learned his lessons well, from the Chief Misdirector of the Deal — and what “an Art” it is …
by: Tom Burgis, Financial Times — October 19, 2016
A Financial Times investigation has found evidence that one Trump venture has multiple ties to an alleged international money laundering network. Title deeds, bank records and correspondence show that a Kazakh family accused of laundering hundreds of millions of stolen dollars bought luxury apartments in a Manhattan tower part-owned by Mr Trump and embarked on major business ventures with one of the tycoon’s partners.
As Mr Trump runs for the White House, the revelations raise questions about what steps his business takes to ensure that the funds that pour through it are clean.
Jennifer Shasky Calvery, then director of the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, warned in January that “corrupt foreign officials, or transnational criminals, may be using premium US real estate to secretly invest millions in dirty money”.
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Just “shell” the transactions through Limited Liability Corporations, and family members whose names won’t arise any suspicion or eyebrows … and Voilà! The uber-rich become uber-richer …
Fortune.com:
[...] the Financial Times reported Wednesday.
The FT said that three apartments in the Trump SoHo hotel-condominium, which he owned jointly with the real estate companies Bayrock and Sapir Organization LLC, were sold in April 2013 for a total of $3.1 million to shell companies ultimately controlled by Elvira Kudryashova, the daughter of Viktor Khrapunov, a former energy minister and Mayor of Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city. That was two years after Khrapunov and other members of his family were charged with fraud and other financial crimes in their homeland. The FT said its reporting was backed by "title deeds, bank records and correspondence."
It’s a prime example of what using Other People’s Money is all about — no matter where that “magical money” may have ultimately came from … Out of sight, No Trouble of mine!
OPM Shhh! It’s the key to Uber-greatness for the top 0.0001 percent. That, and deadpan Opaqueness and constant Misdirection, whenever in the Public Eye.
What a Deal!