"Bribe Cases, a Jared Kushner Partner and Potential Conflicts"
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has maintained investments in a shipping firm with close connections to a Russian oligarch subject to U.S. sanctions and to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s son-in-law. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo
By BRENT D. GRIFFITHS
11/05/2017 04:48 PM EST
The group behind the release of last year’s Panama Papers has published a new collection of documents about offshore finance that touches the Trump administration.
The so-called Paradise Papers show financial connections between wealthy Russians and two members of President Donald Trump's administration, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and White House adviser Jared Kushner, who is also the president's son-in-law.
The more than 13 million documents — most of them leaked from Appleby, one of the world’s largest offshore law firms — were obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, the outlet that also obtained the Panama Papers documents. The Washington, D.C.-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and nearly 100 news organizations including the New York Times dug into the trove of documents.
The revelations so far do not relate directly to Russian interference in the 2016 election or to special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe. But the New York Times reported .. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/05/world/wilbur-ross-russia.html?_r=0 .. that even after joining the administration, Ross has maintained investments in a shipping firm with close connections to a Russian oligarch subject to U.S. sanctions and to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s son-in-law.
The company, Navigator Holdings, has as a top client a Russian energy company called Sibur whose owners include Gennady Timchenko, who the Times identified as Putin’s friend and Judo partner, and Kirill Shamalov, who is married to Putin’s youngest daughter. A spokesman for Ross told the paper that he had never met the Russians and has recused himself from related issues.
New "Paradise Papers" Disclosures of Trump-Russia Ties Warrant Immediate Congressional Hearings
Nov 5, 2017 @ 05:52 PM 6,628
Charles Tiefer , Contributor I cover government contracting, the Pentagon and Congress.
Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.
(From L) Secretary Tillerson, President Trump, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and advisor Jared Kuchner take part in meetings on May 20, 2017. / (MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)
Ties between several Trump Administration key figures, and Russia, figure prominently in the newly disclosed “Paradise Papers” about the workings of secret offshore tax havens. (The papers were leaked from Appleby, one of the world's largest offshore law firms.) These warrant immediate Congressional hearings.
First, the papers have revelations about a connection between a Kremlin-connected company and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and top adviser. These ties go through Yuri Milner, a Russian tech mogul – a Russian citizen – who lives in Silicon Valley. Milner invested $850,000 in Cadre, a real estate firm co-founded by Kushner.
The papers also show that Milner has enormous connections to Kremlin-owned financial firms. One of those firms, VTB Bank, let Milner have $191 million, which he quietly invested in Twitter. And, a subsidiary of Kremlin-controlled energy giant Gazprom funded a shell company that invested in a Milner-affiliated company that held roughly $1 billion in Facebook shares. This graphically reveals the triangle of Russia – Kushner, and, also, the Russian attention just before the 2016 election in Facebook and Twitter. Congress should call in Kushner, and Milner if he has not fled the country, and the executives of Twitter and Facebook.
Second, the papers show Secretary of Commerce Wilbur L. Ross Jr. retained investments in a shipping firm with very dubious Russian connections. Ross held a large investment in Navigator Holdings, which transported gas for Russia giant firm Sibur. Sibur is owned by a Russia oligarch who is under American sanctions, and by Vladimir Putin’s son-in-law. It is an extraordinary conflict of interest for Ross to have financial connections of this kind, at a time when the Trump Administration has vigorously fought against the obviously necessary sanctions on Russia for invading Ukraine.
Moreover, the papers reveal that much of Ross’s wealth, which may be over $2 billion, has been tied to investment vehicles like Cayman Island tax havens. Congress should demand full financial documents from Ross, including his offshore tax haven connections, and then bring him in for hearings.
Ross has been devious – at best – with the Senate which confirmed him to that post. His ethics agreement filed in January 2017 – which was supposed to be a clean breast of his financial holdings, and, one would think, particularly his Russian connections, was a smokescreen. The ethics agreement listed the partnerships he intended to keep, but not the investments they held. Navigator Holdings had been mentioned in a separate, 57-page description of his holdings for the year ending in December 2016, but with no hint of its ties to Sibur. Those who remember the rush confirmation proceedings will see that Ross must have figured that the Senate minority would not have the opportunity to break through his cover-up of Russian ties and heavy use of tax havens. https://www.forbes.com/sites/charlestiefer/2017/11/05/new-paradise-papers-disclosures-of-trump-russia-ties-warrant-immediate-congressional-hearings/#6975b0e14baa
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Nahum 1:2
New International Version The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The LORD takes vengeance on his foes and vents his wrath against his enemies. http://biblehub.com/nahum/1-2.htm
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