Ukranian Oligarchs, Money Laundering, Impeachment Hearings, Real Estate Moguls and US President Trump?

The Ukranian Oligarchs, the Ties to the US Government, Power and Money 

Dear Reader, 

LM began investigating the story of the Ukranian Oligarchs deeply embedded in US political affairs in 2019 as part of the investigation into the arrest of other Ukranian nationals tied to the government.  Actually, the investigation started earlier when LM began looking into the Dan Gertler stories in 2016.

More recently, our inquiries have  included Rudolph Giuliani’s pursuit of business in the Ukraine. The Magnitsky Act sanctions against Gertler which were toppled by executive order (more on that in a later story) and now a recent investigation into Ukranian oligarchs heavily leveraged in a number of US states who allegedly laundered and stole billions of dollars.

The story about these men and their somewhat intricate ties to high level US Government officials included a number of significant news articles about Arsen Avakov, Ukraine’s Interior Minister and Marie Yovanovitch (who, if you will recall was ousted from her position as the US ambassador to the Ukraine). We posit that Yovanovitch knew what was going on, wanted to put an end to the wholesale purchase of parts of the US to powers that be in the Ukraine and got tossed aside for that reason. Her testimony during the impeachment hearings likely missed far too much about what she knew than it brought to light. 

The information we uncovered along the way, we believe, should have been part of the US impeachment inquiry, which itself was unsuccessful; but only because of the political climate. The mistakes of that inquiry were far more about what was ignored during hearings than anything else, namely that likely all the President’s men were playing both sides of the Ukranian double-edged sword to establish relationships and with Ukranian power-brokers thereby yielding themselves significant political power and financial benefits. No politician worth his weight in corrupt political salt would have been immune to the money and power these connections could help wield.

As of today, headlines in the Washington Post detailed a multi-billion dollar theft and money laundering scheme. To those of us reviewing the story, this should have been uncovered long ago. It was obvious.

Ukrainian who made appearance in Trump impeachment saga accused by U.S. of stealing, laundering billions

The Justice Department on Thursday accused a Ukrainian oligarch who has been considered an ally of Ukraine’s president of stealing billions of dollars from a bank he once owned, then using a vast array of companies to launder that money in the United States and all over the world.

In a civil forfeiture complaint seeking to seize commercial properties in Kentucky and Texas, the Justice Department alleged that Ihor Kolomoisky and his business partner, Gennadiy Boholiubov, stole so much from PrivatBank that Ukraine’s national bank had to give the institution a $5.5 billion bailout “to stave off economic crisis for the whole country.”

Kolomoisky, one of Ukraine’s richest men, has ties to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and he played a role in the events that led to President Trump’s impeachment last year. He made a fortune in the rough and tumble capitalism that swept Ukraine after the Soviet Union’s collapse, amassing assets including airlines and financial institutions, and created a larger-than-life image for himself, going by the nickname “Benya,” and keeping a shark aquarium in his office.

A Ukrainian governor’s billions couldn’t save him from being fired

Kolomoisky and Boholiubov were the two major owners of PrivatBank before it was nationalized in response to the fraud, the Justice Department said, and the men basically used it as a personal account to build a business empire in the United States. They requested money from PrivatBank — which they always received because they were owners — then moved the money through a network of companies to “thoroughly disguise their nature, source, ownership, and control,” the Justice Department alleged.

To the current story making the news, the FBI raids of the businesses of the Ukranian oligarchs in Cleveland and Miami suggest that the defendants are unrepresented. This may be true. But in 2019 at least some of the Defendants charged were represented by another of Trump’s attorneys in separate though related litigation.  

There is additional information that follows, though we will do more to connect the dots in further stories. Suffice it to day, there are a lot of dots.

REFERENCES:

A powerful Ukrainian is playing both sides of Giuliani’s Ukraine project

KYIV, Ukraine — One of the Ukrainians whose names have surfaced in Rudy Giuliani’s ongoing crusade to tar the Bidens is a powerful politician with a knack for playing all sides to his advantage.

Documents and testimony released by Congress as part of President Donald Trump’s impeachment investigation have revealed how Ukrainian Internal Affairs Minister Arsen Avakov helped Giuliani associate Lev Parnas gain access to Ukraine’s powerful business and political elites as he dug for dirt on the Bidens, exchanging more than 100 messages with Parnas.

But they also show that Avakov warned U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch and other U.S. Embassy officials about Parnas’ activities on behalf of Giuliani and about their efforts to oust her from her job. In fact, Avakov is now overseeing the Ukrainian government’s investigation into whether Giuliani associates improperly surveilled Yovanovitch by tracking her phone and computer.

 

Trump Lawyer Kasowitz Bolsters Defense of Wealthy Ukrainian

(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump’s longtime lawyer has several new clients in a money-laundering lawsuit, all co-defendants of the Ukrainian billionaire who launched the career of that country’s recently elected president, Volodymyr Zelinskiy. Marc Kasowitz, a New York lawyer who has frequently worked for Trump over the years and helped him coordinate his response to the U.S. special counsel

Read more at: https://www.bloombergquint.com/politics/trump-lawyer-kasowitz-takes-on-ukrainian-billionaire-as-client
Copyright © BloombergQuint

Ukraine tycoon hopes to resume talks on PrivatBank as lawsuits fly

KIEV (Reuters) – Tycoon Ihor Kolomoisky told Reuters he hoped Rothschild bank could help broker an out-of-court deal with the Ukrainian authorities over PrivatBank, to end his legal tussles with the state.

One option he hopes could be agreed upon is for Kolomoisky to regain a 25 percent stake in the country’s largest lender, he said.

Kolomoisky was PrivatBank’s main owner until December 2016 when the government nationalized the lender as part of a donor-backed clean-up of the financial system. He has fought a series of legal battles to overturn the nationalization.

The authorities say overturning the nationalization would rock investor confidence and rupture relations with the International Monetary Fund, which helps keep Ukraine’s economy on an even keel with a $3.9 billion aid-for-reforms program.

A Kiev court ruled in April that the nationalization of PrivatBank was illegal but the central bank said on Friday it had appealed the decision, as it had previously said it would.

To continue reading click here.