One More Time: Follow the Money

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Irakly (Ike) Kaveladze, now identified as the “eighth man” in the infamous June 2016 meeting with Junior, Mr. Ivanka and Paul Manafort, is suspected of being involved in Russian money laundering.  Imagine that!

Scott Balber, Kaveladze’s attorney, confirmed to The Washington Post and other news outlets that he had been contacted by a representative of Special Counsel Robert Mueller and complied with a request to identify Kaveladze as among the attendees at the meeting. …

… Kaveladze, whose online resume says he “oversees a global business portfolio that includes large retail ventures as well as commercial and residential real estate projects” figured prominently in a Nov. 2000 story in The New York Times about money laundering.

The Times reported that investigators found that Kaveladze had opened accounts at American banks that were then used to launder more than $1.4 billion from “unknown Russians and other Eastern Europeans.”

Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., speaking with NPR’s Geoff Bennett, said he understood that Kaveladze has “a colorful history.”

According to Reuters, Balber also has ties to the president. The news agency says he “represented Trump himself in the New York businessman’s 2013 lawsuit against comedian television host Bill Maher, demanding the $5 million Maher offered to give to charity if Trump could prove his father is not an orangutan.”

The lawyer says Kaveladze attended the meeting as a translator, but found out nobody needed him to translate, so he didn’t say anything.

Charles Pierce gets to the gist of the matter —

It was always about the money. The reason we never saw the tax returns was because of what they would show about the money. The reason we can’t get a straight answer about the family’s dealings with the Russians is the money. Preet Bharara got fired because of the money and how the money had been allegedly laundered. James Comey got fired because of the money. Without the money, specifically the money from Russia, the Trump empire likely would have collapsed under a hail of writs and the paterfamilias would have been rendered invisible, even in the mirrors of Mar-a-Lago.

It always was about the money. The meeting on June 6, 2016 ultimately was about the money, as we learned today from CNN. The network reported that it had identified the eighth participant in that now-famous Trump Tower confab. Contrary to the previous load of hooey dispensed by Junior and the first family, this dude was not a translator.


This is from the 2000 New York Times story:

In a a nine-month inquiry that subpoenaed bank records, the investigators found that an unknown number of Russians and other East Europeans moved more than $1.4 billion through accounts at Citibank of New York and the Commercial Bank of San Francisco.

The accounts had been opened by Irakly Kaveladze, who immigrated to the United States from Russia in 1991, according to Citibank and Mr. Kaveladze. He set up more than 2,000 corporations in Delaware for Russian brokers and then opened the bank accounts for them, without knowing who owned the corporations, according to the report by the General Accounting Office, which has not been made public. …

… The G.A.O. report said nothing about the sources of the money. In view of past investigations into laundering, this wave was highly likely to have arisen from Russian executives who were seeking to avoid taxes, although some money could be from organized crime.

More than $800 million was wired from abroad to 136 accounts that Mr. Kaveladze opened at Citibank for Russian clients, and most of that was then sent to overseas accounts, said the report, which was provided to The New York Times by government officials who want to see its findings receive maximum exposure. … About $600 million moved through the Commercial Bank, the investigation found.

In spite of the strong appearance of shadiness, it seems Kaveladze was never indicted for anything, much less convicted. But the banks closed his accounts anyway.

On top of everything else, we learned yesterday that Trump had an undisclosed meeting with Vladimir Putin while he was in Germany. This happened after the much discussed public meeting.

Hours into a dinner with world leaders who had gathered for the Group of 20 summit meeting, President Trump left his chair at the sprawling banquet table and headed to where President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia was seated. …

… The dinner discussion caught the attention of other leaders around the table, some of whom later remarked privately on the odd spectacle of an American president seeming to single out the Russian leader for special attention at a summit meeting that included some of the United States’ staunchest, oldest allies.

No one else from the U.S. government was in on this conversation, which was facilitated by a Kremlin translator. No one knows what they talked about for as long as an hour. This might have be en innocent, but Trump’s seeking out Putin, as if Trump were someone currying favor with a patron, looks bad, considering everything else going on.

Getting back to money laundering … I keep giving these lectures that the Trump-Russia collusion thing is about something bigger than just election meddling. Trump has changed positions on nearly everything he ran on, but he keeps coming back to being buddies with Putin. One does wonder why that’s so. What does Putin have on Trump? Earlier this year, John Oliver wondered this, also.

It’s all about the grift, folks. Follow the money.

8 thoughts on “One More Time: Follow the Money”

  1. I think I’ve finally figured out what Trump’s attraction to Putin is…Trump has penis envy. Putin represents everything Trump wants to be. Putin has complete control of his environment, more wealth than Trump could ever amass. Putin has succeeded in the display of male dominance to a place where Trump wants to emulate and even surpass him.
    When you’re consumed by narcissism you’re alway going to be driven by the urge to outshine at any cost whoever it is that threatens your self image. Putin has managed to master all of the traits that Trumps sees as essential to fulfill the demands of his narcissistic ego..
    Keep an eye on the Russian demands that the US return the diplomatic retreats in Maryland and New York without condition.. It will provide a big clue in whether or not Putin has already got Trump on the Kompromat leash. I think Trump is going to have rough decision…because if my suspicions are correct Putin has the power to destroy Trump’s presidency with just the hint that they played a role in getting Trump elected. Even more entertaining for Putin would be to ratchet up the tensions between between the US and Russia to put Trump through the paces and watch him sweat to save himself.

  2. Follow the rubles, folks.
    Watch them be dropped off at the t-RUMP-RealEstate-Laundromat.
    But you can’t see them as they’re seperated, pre-washed, and then professionally laundered into solid US greenbacks!
    All via large real estate deals.
    And if you could get a hold of t-RUMPLE-THIN-sKKKin’s tax returns, you could see how much he skimmed off the top for this service.

    As for what Putin has over t-RUMP?
    Pooty-poot has t-RUMPLE-THIN-sKKKin’s tiny cojones in his large, muscular hands. They’re like tiny orange bird eggs in a gorilla’s fist.

    Putin can absolutely destroy t-RUMP.
    The “pee-pee tapes” are nothing compared to what he has on that orange lump of misplaced vanity.
    My guess is that t-RUMP owes Putin and his Plutocratic and Oligarchical pals his life and his fortune.

    And soon, it’ll come time for the pay-off:
    t-RUMP will be asked to turn his head as Putin makes moves on Eastern Europe.
    Wheher it’ll be Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia – or Belaruss, or other nearby countries – or any combo or all of them,the rest of NATO will be left to decide what to do, as t-RUMP will hem-and-haw and make excuses, or try to extort money – for aid which he neither will want to, nor will he be allowed, to give.

    And so, America’s position in the world will end.
    Not with a bang.
    But with the whimpering of a stupid, ignorant, bigoted, narcissistic, demagogic, Fascistic orange coward.
    A “man” who a better educated, more tolerant population would have laughed off of any stage.
    Ah, butsadly, we in America may not be alone for long.
    The snarling dogs of Fascism are at the gates of far too many of the world’s other representative democracies.

  4. Its always been about the money. Which is likely why this happened:

    “Trump warns Mueller against investigating his family’s finances beyond Russia probe”
    http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/342845-trump-warns-mueller-against-investigating-his-familys-finances-beyond

    Now, if your family’s finances have nothing to do with the “Russia probe,” then why even step out with this?

    I agree, this is bigger than just Russia meddling in the election. The Trump family is crooked nine ways to Sunday, and have been that way for a long time. The Presidency for them was just another opportunity to take that crookedness to another level. Apparently not only Trump but all of them apparently thought on some level that being President was akin to being a King, beholden to no one in government.

    So here Trump is telegraphing the excuse for firing Mueller. Any probe of Russian meddling in our election, and the potential for the Trump family being in cahoots with them cannot be done without looking into the money.

  5. Deja Vu – All over again.

    I’m reading new stuff from the NY Times in an interview with Trump that the Emperor thinks that Muler will cross a line if he investigates Trump finances relative to the Russia investigation. If you wonder where the body is buried, watch this.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QodGxD19_as

  6. Not good news that McCain has a brain tumor.  He has power, a new term, and old style republican moral fiber.  Even with youth, brain tumor prognosis ranks low.  Needless to say, McCain is no spring chicken.  I guess there is a good chance that Lindsey Graham and Susan Collins will hold all the sane power.  The bro with no ho and the near extinct republican female senator.  Let us hope that they become the new dynamic duo.  

    These people are very important when the president and his family have sold their souls to the Russians.  Yes the money trail tells true tales.  

  8. Wait. I’ve been told repeatedly that this is all a distraction. To read this, you’d almost think I should pay a bit more attention.

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