 Photo source: Dmitry Azarov/Kommersant, via Getty Images The Daily Caller published an op-ed authored by Oleg Deripaska on March 8, 2018, criticizing the Mueller special counsel investigation into past and current Russian interference into U.S. elections. Less than a month later, he and his companies have been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department for being among “ those who benefit from the Putin regime and play a key role in advancing Russia’s malign activities.” Deripaska described the infrastructure of long-term professionals in the U.S. government, composed of experts in their fields who remain in their positions regardless of who is in the White House, as the “Deep State.” He described the Deep State as “shadow power exercised by a small number of individuals from media, business, government and the intelligence community, foisting provocative and cynically false manipulations on the public. Out of these manipulations, an agenda of these architects’ own design is born.” As a result of the sanctions imposed April 6,2018, Deripaska's companies EN+ Group and Rusal, listed on the London stock exchange, have lost significant stock value: 20 percent for En+ Group and 12 percent for Rusal. Deripaska has been unable to travel to the U.S. since 2005, when he was denied a visa due to his ties to organized crime and his role as a suspect in the murder of businessman Vadim Yafyasov. Oleg Deripaska is a longtime associate of Paul Manafort, Donald Trump’s campaign chairman in the spring and summer of 2016. Deripaska hired Manafort in 2006, for $10 million per year, to provide positive public relations messaging for Vladimir Putin in the United States. This relationship continued for a number of years. Deripaska sued Manafort and his partner Rick Gates, who are both now under indictment on federal money laundering and conspiracy charges, in the Cayman Islands in 2015. Manafort continued to contact Deripaska through Konstantin Kilimnick, believed to be an officer of Russian security services. (John Schindler, security expert and former National Security Agency analyst, discussed Kilimnick here.) Deripaska’s private jet, with tail letters M-ALAY, visited the U.S. in August of 2016, shortly after the Republican National Committee declared Donald Trump the Republican nominee for president. According to independent reporter Scott Stedman and the Washington Post, Kilimnick and Manafort had dinner at 666 Fifth Avenue in New York City on August 2. Deripaska’s jet landed in New Jersey, a short distance from the dinner, hours after the meeting concluded. The plane took off again the following evening and flew back to Moscow. It then ferried Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Prikhodko to Deripaska’s private yacht in Norway for a meeting with Deripaska. Alexy Navalny, Russian political leader who was prevented from running in the recent presidential election, released a video with details about this secret meeting. An article from the Telegraph newspaper from 2012 describes some of the evidence of Deripaska’s ties to the global mob. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financial-crime/9387913/Oligarch-linked-to-politicians-ordered-murder-of-banker.html Deripaska sued the Associated Press over reporting asserting that Deripaska had hired Manafort for years. In December 2017 Deripaska dropped the libel suit. https://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2017/12/06/oleg-deripaska-libel-suit-associated-press-283767 An article from October 2017 in the Atlantic profiled Manafort and highlighted his connections to Deripaska.  Photo source: PHOTOSHOT
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 Semion Mogilevich. Source: New Republic The Trump family ties to organized crime go back at least to Fred Trump, father of Donald. The FBI file on Fred Trump was released in October 2016.
According to Politico, he most recent memo in the file is from 1991. While the memo is highly redacted, there is a check mark next to a line identifying the source of information as OCIS, which stands for the FBI’s Mob Organized Crime Information System. Notes on the document state that it came from a confidential source. The Politico article can be found here. https://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2016/10/fbi-releases-thin-file-on-fred-trump-229361 The FBI documents can be found here. https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000157-a595-ded9-a977-fdddb1a30001 Donald Trump has had multiple dealings with organized crime throughout his real estate career. According to David Cay Johnston, who has done extensive research and reporting on Donald Trump’s financial dealings, two of Donald Trump’s buildings in New York City, Trump Tower and the Trump Plaza apartment building, were built with help from the mob. Trump built the structures with overpriced concrete purchased from two mob chieftains: “Fat Tony” Salerno, who served as underboss and front boss of the Genovese crime family, and Paul Castellano, who became head of the Gambino crime family. (Castellano was known as “The Howard Hughes of the Mob” and “Big Paulie.”) More information about Trump’s mob connections in New York, and his rushed permit for a casino in Atlantic City, can be found here. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/05/donald-trump-2016-mob-organized-crime-213910 Trump’s connections to organized crime in the United States prevented him from being awarded a permit to build casinos in Australia. Authorities in Queensland stated that allowing a Trump project would be “‘dangerous’ on account of ‘Trump Mafia connections,’” according to a Newsweek article from August 2017. The Newsweek article can be found here. http://www.newsweek.com/trumps-alleged-mafia-connections-sydney-casino-651352 In addition to the Gambino and Genovese connections described above, Trump was in business in the mid-1980s with John Staluppi and John Rosatti, members of the Columbo crime family, to build Trump-branded limousines. Staluppi also operated Dillinger Charter Service, a company that provided helicopters to the Trump Organization. Staluppi and Rosatti also bought custom-built megayachts and then sold them after a couple of years for a profit (considered unusual in the yacht business, since new yachts are generally more valuable than used ones.) The ties to the Columbo family are described here. http://www.citypaper.com/news/mobtownbeat/bcp-062817-mobs-trumprussia-20170627-story.html Trump has multiple connections with the Russian mob in the U.S. as well. A Dutch television program, which aired in May, explored the connections that may prove problematic for the Trump administration, and for the national security of the United States. The program can be seen here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bEdMuKq30I A brief synopsis of the program appeared in Salon magazine. https://www.salon.com/2017/05/21/watch-dutch-film-the-dubious-friends-of-donald-trump-connecting-the-dots-on-trumps-ties-with-the-russian-mob/ The New Republic summarized what is known about Trump’s connections to Russian organized crime in an article published in July 2017. The article can be found here. https://newrepublic.com/article/143586/trumps-russian-laundromat-trump-tower-luxury-high-rises-dirty-money-international-crime-syndicate |
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