More Bharara vs. the Russian Mafia
from 2016
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/09/22/u-s-prosecutors-are-out-to-crack-russia-s-crooked-money-machine.html?via=desktop&source=twitter
U.S. Prosecutors Are Out to Crack Russia’s Crooked Money Machine
U.S. federal prosecutors just won’t let go of their three-year-old criminal action against alleged beneficiaries of stolen and laundered Russian taxpayer money.
It was launched as part of what’s known as the Magnitsky Affair, a contentious story of scandal, cover-ups and smear campaigns that dates back more than a decade. Over the years, the Kremlin has used every tool it can, including the fate of Russian orphans who might be adopted by Americans, as it tries to thwart calls for justice from the U.S. Congress and the administration.
So far, the Kremlin has failed. (Who knows what will happen if there’s a Trump presidency?) And the prosecutors doggedly keep after a tentacular organization, trying to untangle schemes they allege were just about as complicated as they were brazen.
So when Andrey Pavlov arrived at Washington’s Dulles Airport on September 15, expecting to attend an international conference without incident, the U.S. Department of Justice served him with a subpoena to appear before a grand jury in Manhattan on Wednesday, September 21.
Such proceedings are secret, but Pavlov, described by American officials as the lawyer for a notorious Russian mafia organization, was expected to face tough questioning about his role in what’s alleged to be a far-reaching fraud and money laundering operation in which companies were “stolen”—reregistered without the knowledge of their owner—then used to file lawsuits that were settled for hugely inflated amounts which subsequently had to be paid off with Russian tax money.
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