And this is what I think the Russian connection is, not Putin's official
government, but all these dubious business connections.
Miriam
Alternet
Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > Donald Trump's Financial Ties to Russian Oligarchs and Mobsters
Detailed In Explosive New Documentary from the Netherlands
Donald Trump's Financial Ties to Russian Oligarchs and Mobsters Detailed In
Explosive New Documentary from the Netherlands
By Steven Rosenfeld [1] / AlterNet [2]
May 12, 2017
Donald Trump's business partners have included Russian oligarchs and
convicted mobsters, which could make the president guilty of criminal
racketeering charges.
That's one of the eyebrow-raising takeaways from a 45-minute Dutch
documentary that aired last week, titled The Dubious Friends of Donald
Trump, Part 1: The Russians. The first installment of the investigative
reporting series, produced by Zembla [3], does what no American TV network
has yet dared to do-take a deep look at the organized crime links and
corrupt international business strategies used by Trump and his partners in
his properties.
It starts with Trump's luxury tower in the lower Manhattan neighborhood of
Soho, where his partner in building that highrise was Bayrock LLC, whose
primary investor was a Russian mining oligarch and another major investor
was a convicted Russian mobster named Felix Sater.
"Why did 60 Minutes pass on the Bayrock story in 2016? Why did ABC News'
Brian Ross pass on the Trump Soho [Tower] story in 2015? Why has no major
network done any kind of documentary on what the Dutch just did?" asks James
Henry, a corporate lawyer-turned-financial investigative reporter who writes
for DCReport.org. Henry is one of several investigative reporters whose work
on Trump's shady business empire is profiled in the film.
The documentary shows how Trump not only helped hide the identity of his
mobster business partner, prompting an ongoing lawsuit accusing Trump of
criminal racketeering, but also how Trump used that internal company crisis
to demand more money. It goes on to show how Russian oligarchs saw Trump's
properties as a way to get their money out of Russia, and describes the
international financial networks that are akin to a pyramid scheme for money
laundering. It also notes how the law firm of Trump's political adviser,
former New York City mayor Rudy Guiliani, helped set up a money-laundering
account in the Netherlands used by Bayrock.
The exposed financial trail raises questions about whether Trump fired FBI
director James Comey because the FBI investigation of his campaign's
collusion with Russia was encroaching into Trump's world of dark money and
dubious business partners.
"Although still in its early days, Donald Trump's presidency is coming under
fire. The Russians are alleged to be in possession of sensitive information
about Trump. And that exposes Trump to blackmail. Fake news, tweets Trump:
'I have nothing to do with Russia-no deals, no loans, no nothing!' Trump
swears he has no ties with the Russians. But is that actually the case?" the
filmmakers describe the first installment of the series.
They go on to show that while Trump denies his ties with Russia, many
Russians have deep financial ties to him.
"For months, the FBI has been investigating Russian interference in the
American presidential elections," the fimmakers continue. "Zembla is
investigating another explosive dossier concerning Trump's involvement with
the Russians: Trump's business and personal ties to oligarchs from the
former Soviet Union. Powerful billionaires suspected of money laundering and
fraud, and of having contacts in Moscow and with the mafia. What do these
relationships say about Trump and why does he deny them? How compromising
are these dubious business relationships for the 45th president of the
United States? And are there connections with the Netherlands? Zembla meets
with one of Trump's controversial cronies and speaks with a former CIA
agent, fraud investigators, attorneys, and an American senator, among
others."
The documentary's YouTube description barely does justice to the film's
investigative reporting. While American journalists are following Trump's
tweets and tantrums, they followed the money into a world where the lines
between outright profiteering and organized crime are blurred. What they
found on a fact-based money trail reveals much about who the real Trump is
and how he operates.
Steven Rosenfeld covers national political issues for AlterNet, including
America's democracy and voting rights. He is the author of several books on
elections and the co-author of Who Controls Our Schools: How
Billionaire-Sponsored Privatization Is Destroying Democracy and the Charter
School Industry [4] (AlterNet eBook, 2016).
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Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/video/donald-trumps-financial-ties-russian-oligarchs
-and-mobsters-detailed-new-documentary
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/steven-rosenfeld
[2] http://alternet.org
[3] https://zembla.vara.nl/
[4]
http://www.alternet.org/education/who-controls-our-schools-how-billionaire-s
ponsored-privatization-destroying-democracy-and
[5] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Donald Trump's
Financial Ties to Russian Oligarchs and Mobsters Detailed In Explosive New
Documentary from the Netherlands
[6] http://www.alternet.org/
[7] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
