Trump’s former campaign manager didn’t just do business with accused gangsters. One of them transferred millions into a Manafort account, allegedly used for money laundering.
By Betsy Woodruff
Buried deep in Robert Mueller’s indictment of Paul Manafort is a new link between Donald Trump’s former campaign and Russian organized crime.
The indictment (PDF),
unsealed on Monday, includes an extensive look into Paul Manafort’s
byzantine financial dealings. In particular, it details how he used a
company called Lucicle Consultants Limited to wire millions of dollars
into the United States.
The
Cyprus-based Lucicle Consultants Limited, in turn, reportedly received
millions of dollars from a businessman and Ukrainian parliamentarian
named Ivan Fursin, who is closely linked to one of Russia’s most notorious criminals: Semion Mogilevich.
Mogilevich is frequently described as “the most dangerous mobster in the world.”
Currently believed to be safe in Moscow, he is, according to the FBI,
responsible for weapons trafficking, contract killings, and
international prostitution. In 2009, he made the bureau’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.
“Ivan
Fursin was a senior figure in the Mogilevich criminal organization,”
Taras Kuzio, a non-resident fellow at Johns Hopkins-SAIS’ Center for
Transatlantic Relations and a specialist on the region told The Daily
Beast.
Martin Sheil,
a retired criminal investigator for the IRS, said the indictment, with
its connections to Fursin, helps illuminate the murky world Manafort
operated in before taking the reins of Trump’s presidential bid.
“This
indictment strongly indicates the existence of a previously unknown
relationship between an alleged Russian organized crime leader and Mr.
Manafort,” Sheil told The Daily Beast.
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Source: The Daily Beast
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