The following is
from Foreign Policy: http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/07/12/doj-settled-massive-russian-fraud-case-involving-lawyer-who-met-with-trump-jr/
"Democratic
congressmen on the House Judiciary Committee want to know why Attorney General Jeff Sessions
abruptly settled a money laundering case in May involving the same Russian
attorney who met with Donald Trump Jr. during the presidential election to
offer “dirt” on Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
"The civil forfeiture case was filed in 2013 by Preet
Bharara, the former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York — who
was fired by Trump in March. The case alleged that 11 companies were involved in a tax fraud
in Russia and then laundered a portion of the $230 million they got into
Manhattan real estate.
"The forfeiture case was heralded at the time as “a
significant step towards uncovering and unwinding a complex money laundering
scheme arising from a notorious foreign fraud,” Bharara said. “As alleged, a
Russian criminal enterprise sought to launder some of its billions in ill-gotten
rubles through the purchase of pricey Manhattan real estate.”
But Instead of proceeding with the trial as scheduled, the
Trump Justice Department settled the case two days before it was due to begin.
By then, Bharara had already been axed by the president. Bharara’s assistant
did not immediately respond to request for comment.
"In May, the Justice Department settled the case for $6
million instead of $230 million and did not demand any admission of wrongdoing.
According to the lawmakers’ letter to Sessions, Veslnitskaya was surprised by
how generous the settlement was, telling one Russian news outlet the penalty
appeared like `an apology from the government.'”
Quoniam res ipsa loquitor. The thing
speaks for itself
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