Marani Brands Inc. (MRIB)

[Matthew Berg]

Obviously there's a distillery. Just not what MRIB says it is. My theory is it is a shell company controlled by MRIB and/or an affiliate that gets paid way more than they should for the vodka who then contracts someone else to produce the vodka. What is clear is that there is no distillery in the village of Eraskh let alone one that has been there for 47 years with 170 employees and in 14 years has never done business with anyone but MRIB.

Here's how it works if you didn't know. Start a shell company in a foreign company in an impoverished tax free zone. Wire them funds for product far beyond what's needed and at a premium price like $50 a bottle. Go to a contract distiller and pay them $5 a bottle for the order and pay it through the Armenian shell. Take the $45 net per bottle and wire it back in broken up small payments to personal accounts in the US totally under the radar of the IRS. Nice money laundering deal imo.