Strzhalkovsky
<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">RS</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Calluna, serif; font-size: 18px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In 2013, amid a financial crisis in Cyprus, the country’s largest financial institution, the Bank of Cyprus, collapsed and was bailed out. Billions of dollars in deposits were held by wealthy Russians, with presumably a good chunk of these funds deposited to evade notice or taxes</span>. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">As part of the bank’s rescue, much of its holdings were converted into shares of the bank, giving Russian plutocrats majority ownership of a European bank—a notion that unnerved European financial powers. <b>In swooped Ross, the billionaire investor whose specialty was snatching up troubled ventures. He led a 1 billion euro buyout of the Bank of Cyprus in 2014, and his group became the leading investor </b>in the institution. On the heels of that deal, Vekselberg’s Renova Group entered the picture and became the bank’s second-largest shareholder. </span></p><div id="InContent_Banner_1" data-adunit="InContent_Banner_1" data-size-mapping="InContent" class="dfw-unit display-none" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 1em; text-align: center; position: relative; z-index: 2000; font-family: Calluna, serif; font-size: 18px;"><p style="text-align: left; margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;">As might be expected of any Russian financial titan, Vekselberg had the confidence of Putin. He had earned the Russian leader’s favor by spending more than $100 million to acquire the <a href="https://www.faberge.com/the-world-of-faberge/the-imperial-eggs" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url("");">famous Fabergé eggs</a> and repatriating them to Russia. Vekselberg was also placed in charge of a Russian initiative to bring high-tech firms into the country. So here was Ross in bed with a Russian oligarch, both of them looking to make big bucks by taking over a bank with a somewhat shady background. </p><p style="text-align: left; margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;">After Trump nominated Ross to be commerce secretary, several Democratic senators <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/congress/article135343334.html" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url("");">asked</a> Ross about his involvement with Vekselberg. A group of these lawmakers led by Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) sent him a list of questions about his ties to the Bank of Cyprus and the oligarch. (After being n<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">ominated, Ross had said he would divest his financial interest in the bank.) In a conversation with Nelson, Ross dismissed talk of his relationship with Vekselberg and claimed that he had only met the Russian once for an hour. But prior to the confirmation vote, the White House refused to release Ross’ answers to the senators’ questions—a move that angered several Democrats in the body. And in a written <a href="https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-115shrg25974/pdf/CHRG-115shrg25974.pdf" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url("");">response</a> to one question submitted to Ross by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ross insisted that Vekselberg had not been his partner. </span></p><p style="text-align: left; margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;"><b>But Ross and Vekselberg had been working together.</b> In October 2014, Ross <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-board-proposed-for-bank-of-cyprus-278229181.html" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url("");">announced</a> his proposal for a new board of directors for the bank. The directors on his list would include Maksim Goldman, a representative of Vekselberg’s Renova. And the chairman of the board—<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-11-11/davos-man-ackermann-lured-to-cyprus-bank-by-billionaires" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url("");">recruited</a> by Ross and Vekselberg—would be Josef Ackermann, a <b>former CEO of Deutsche Bank</b>who was then a director of Renova Management AG, an industrial holding company controlled by Vekselberg. As Bloomberg reported at the time, <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Ross, whose group owns 17 percent of the bank, plans to share the vice-chairman post with <b>Vladimir Strzhalkovskiy,</b> who served with Putin in <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-03-29/putin-may-cap-golden-parachutes-after-ally-s-100-million-payout" target="_blank" rel="noopener" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url("");">the KGB</a> in the 1980s.”</span></p><p style="text-align: left; margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;">So let’s rewind the tape: Ross was collaborating directly with Vekselberg to profit from the revival and reorganization of the Bank of Cyprus, and this included proposing to place Vekselberg’s associates in key leadership roles of the bank. This was not an unusual move, given Vekselberg’s large holdings in the institution. But Ross’ relationship with the oligarch went far beyond a one-time, hour-long meeting. A good follow-up question for the senators would be why Ross had indicated he had little to do with Vekselberg.</p><p style="text-align: left; margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;">Ross is not Vekselberg’s only connection to Trump World. In early 2017, <b>Andrew Intrater,</b> the CEO of Columbus Nova, the lone American subsidiary of Renova Group, <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/08/a-putin-friendly-oligarchs-top-us-executive-donated-285000-to-trump/" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url("");">donated</a> $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Intrater had no previous record of making large political contributions. In June 2017, he also kicked in $35,000 to a joint fundraising committee for Trump’s reelection and the Republican National Committee.<b> Intrater, an American citizen, is Vekselberg’s cousin, </b><a href="http://sec.edgar-online.com/columbus-acquisition-corp/s-1a-securities-registration-statement/2007/05/18/section25.aspx" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url("");">according </a>to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.</p><p style="text-align: left; margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;">In announcing its recent sanctions on Russia, the Treasury Department suggested that Vekselberg runs a corrupt outfit. Its press release noted, “In 2016, Russian prosecutors raided Renova’s offices and arrested two associates of Vekselberg, including the company’s chief managing director and another top executive, for bribing officials connected to a power generation project in Russia.” And Mnuchin declared, “Russian oligarchs and elites who profit from [Russia’s] corrupt system will no longer be insulated from the consequences of their government’s destabilizing activities.” <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Well, Ross was doing business with this profiting-from-corruption oligarch until Ross was tapped by Trump to join his cabinet. And this remains one of the Trump-Russia connections that still warrants greater explanation</span></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 1em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: nyt-franklin, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem; line-height: 1.125rem;">=</p></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a53475/trump-cabinet-russia-business/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I have to say that, judging from his press availability, and as a first impression, Congressman Devin Nunes, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, is a very impressively arrogant fellow. From contemptuously shuffling the Logan Act aside ("You a Logan Act guy?" he asked one reporter.) to his arch dismissal of the calls for a special prosecutor, to his clammy misuse of the word "McCarthyism," to his robotic insistence that the real problem here are the leaks about possible Russian influence over the administration—rather than, say, Russian influence over the administration—Nunes is going to be someone to watch going forward. But let's write something new about Russia anyway.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">RELATED STORY</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">All of the Trump Administration's Ties to Russia</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The essential folks at McClatchy have raised some questions about the ownership stake in a <b>Cyprus bank </b>held by Wilbur Ross, who by eight o'clock tonight likely will be your Secretary of Commerce. The bank that does a lot of business with various Russian oligarchs, including, it is alleged, as a spin cycle for money that the Russian kleptocracy would like to have cleaned.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">More recently, he led a rescue of Bank of Cyprus in September 2014 after the Cypriot government — in consultation with Russian President Vladimir Putin — first propped up the institution</span>. "Cyprus banks have a long and painful history of laundering dirty money from Russians involved with corruption and criminality," said Elise Bean, a former Senate investigator who specialized in combating money laundering and tax evasion. "Buying a Cyprus bank necessarily raises red flags about suspect deposits, high-risk clients and hidden activities." The Russian business and government elite have often sought financial security in the Mediterranean island's banking system<b>. Oligarch Dmitry Ryvoloviev took a nearly 10 percent stake in Bank of Cyprus in 2010<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">.</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Two years earlier, amid the U.S. financial crisis when real-estate prices were softening, Ryvoloviev purchased Donald Trump's Palm Beach mansion for $95 million.</span> The transaction generated questions because of its inflated market price, about $60 million more than Trump had paid for the Florida property four years earlier.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> When Europe's debt crisis spread and affected Cyprus in 2012 and 2013, that nation's second biggest bank, Laiki Bank, was closed. The government imposed losses on uninsured deposits, many belonging to Russians.</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">As you might imagine, this whole business came up to no great effect during Ross's confirmation hearings.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ross had little history in global banking, but in 2011 he took an ownership stake in Bank of Ireland, the only bank in that nation the government didn't seize. Ross tripled his investment when he sold his Irish stake in June 2014, then months later, he took a gamble on Bank of Cyprus. Six Democratic senators, led by Florida's Bill Nelson, asked for details about his relationship with <b>big Russian shareholders in Bank of Cyprus, including Viktor Vekselberg, a longtime Putin ally, and Vladimir <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Strzhalkovsky, </span>a former vice chairman of Bank of Cyprus and a former KGB agent believed to be a Putin associate</b>. Aides to several of the senators confirmed late Friday that Ross hadn't responded to their questions. The White House sent McClatchy to a Commerce Department transition aide, who didn't respond to questions.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(David Cay Johnson's DC Report adds that, when Ross took over the Bank of Cyprus, he installed as chairman a guy who had left Deutsche Bank under a cloud, including a $650 million fine for laundering Russian money. Deutsche Bank, Johnson reminds us, is the president*'s largest known lender.)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It is nothing close to McCarthyism to point out that the entire Cabinet will be full to the gunwales with people who have done serious business with the Russian kleptocrats. At least they'll all have a lot to talk about over vodka at lunch.</font></div><div><i><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></i></div><div><i><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></i></div><div><i><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></i></div>