"Trumps Russian Laundromat How to use Trump Tower and other luxury high-rises to clean dirty money,

[Gabi Hayes]

run an international crime syndicate, and propel a failed real estate developer into the White House."

From the estimable Craig Unger, who wrote "House of Bush, House of Saud"


https://newrepublic.com/article/143586/trumps-russian-laundromat-trump-tower-luxury-high-rises-dirty-money-international-crime-syndicate

In 1984, a Russian émigré named David Bogatin went shopping for apartments in New York City. The 38-year-old had arrived in America seven years before, with just $3 in his pocket. But for a former pilot in the Soviet Army—his specialty had been shooting down Americans over North Vietnam—he had clearly done quite well for himself. Bogatin wasn’t hunting for a place in Brighton Beach, the Brooklyn enclave known as “Little Odessa” for its large population of immigrants from the Soviet Union. Instead, he was fixated on the glitziest apartment building on Fifth Avenue, a gaudy, 58-story edifice with gold-plated fixtures and a pink-marble atrium: Trump Tower.

A monument to celebrity and conspicuous consumption, the tower was home to the likes of Johnny Carson, Steven Spielberg, and Sophia Loren. Its brash, 38-year-old developer was something of a tabloid celebrity himself. Donald Trump was just coming into his own as a serious player in Manhattan real estate, and Trump Tower was the crown jewel of his growing empire. From the day it opened, the building was a hit—all but a few dozen of its 263 units had sold in the first few months. But Bogatin wasn’t deterred by the limited availability or the sky-high prices. The Russian plunked down $6 million to buy not one or two, but five luxury condos. The big check apparently caught the attention of the owner. According to Wayne Barrett, who investigated the deal for the Village Voice, Trump personally attended the closing, along with Bogatin.

If the transaction seemed suspicious—multiple apartments for a single buyer who appeared to have no legitimate way to put his hands on that much money—there may have been a reason. At the time, Russian mobsters were beginning to invest in high-end real estate, which offered an ideal vehicle to launder money from their criminal enterprises. “During the ’80s and ’90s, we in the U.S. government repeatedly saw a pattern by which criminals would use condos and high-rises to launder money,” says Jonathan Winer, a deputy assistant secretary of state for international law enforcement in the Clinton administration. “It didn’t matter that you paid too much, because the real estate values would rise, and it was a way of turning dirty money into clean money. It was done very systematically, and it explained why there are so many high-rises where the units were sold but no one is living in them.” When Trump Tower was built, as David Cay Johnston reports in The Making of Donald Trump, it was only the second high-rise in New York that accepted anonymous buyers.

In 1987, just three years after he attended the closing with Trump, Bogatin pleaded guilty to taking part in a massive gasoline-bootlegging scheme with Russian mobsters. After he fled the country, the government seized his five condos at Trump Tower, saying that he had purchased them to “launder money, to shelter and hide assets.” A Senate investigation into organized crime later revealed that Bogatin was a leading figure in the Russian mob in New York. His family ties, in fact, led straight to the top: His brother ran a $150 million stock scam with none other than Semion Mogilevich, whom the FBI considers the “boss of bosses” of the Russian mafia. At the time, Mogilevich—feared even by his fellow gangsters as “the most powerful mobster in the world”—was expanding his multibillion-dollar international criminal syndicate into America.

[secondwind]

1. Mueller added Mafia Fraud Unit to his

investigation a month ago.

[Ruby the Liberal]

3. The expertise of the people joining this investigation is mind blowing

Someone said to me the other day that these heavy hitters aren't pausing their careers over innuendo and rumor. Smoke means fire.

Thanks for the heads up on the Mafia Fraud expertise being added to the already incredible team. FINCEN, RICO, Campaign Finance Fraud, IC and Russian experts and now Mafia pros.

This is going to be the case of a lifetime for these folks.

[Gabi Hayes]

4. They're going to need hugh numbers....

Remember the Octopus.....Steve kangas?

Danny Casolaro

https://m.facebook.com/Steve-Kangas-152216975297865/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1991/08/31/what-killed-danny-casolaro/ea110460-d4d0-4052-a84c-3660b6989ebe/?utm_term=.c0dabad27f1e

[Achilleaze]

2. Time for republicans to launder the PEE stains from their souls

Lying, stealing, piggery, hate & treason all suck. I'm just sayin... Sizing up the latter day KGOP, Jesus would blow chunks. Seriously.

[Gabi Hayes]

5. What Do the Russians 'Have' on the Trump Family? Fear.

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a56218/trump-junior-russian-meeting/

From Charlie Pierce, channeling Uday:

This, then, is Junior's official explanation: I thought we were colluding to ratfck the Democratic candidate, and the presidential election in general, but then she started talking about getting the mobsters' money back. Bitch set me up.

-----------/-----/

They want their MONEY!

[L. Coyote]

6. RICO. New York law also criminalizes the offense referred to as "enterprise corruption."

New York's Organized Crime Control Act of 1986 -- NO Presidential pardons allowed!

[Gabi Hayes]

7. Yep NY AG is on this....i

One of the few who went after trump U

[L. Coyote]

8. And what a history Trump has with him. 93 Schneiderman tweets by Trump!

Oct 20, 2014 09:36:25 AM .@AGSchneiderman must take a drug test immediately—make results public. NY Attorney General cannot be a cokehead.
Oct 20, 2014 09:36:03 AM It’s been stated that dopey NY @AGSchneiderman used cocaine while he was a state senator. http://t.co/WfuJ9EW6HP
Oct 16, 2014 12:18:40 PM Read about my victory against sleazebag @AGSchneiderman. More people should fight when they’re right! http://t.co/r1xXUORZo3
Oct 15, 2014 07:27:02 PM I just had a great victory against lightweight A.G. Eric Schneiderman. Most of his case re Trump U. was thrown out or gutted. Little remains
Oct 15, 2014 11:18:38 AM Lightweight @AGSchneiderman is driving business & jobs out of NY. Only wants self publicity—a total loser!
Oct 15, 2014 11:18:27 AM John @CahillForAG is one of the most respected people in politics. Dopey @AGSchneiderman is one of the least respected!
...........
http://www.trumptwitterarchive.com/archive

Link to tweet

[Gabi Hayes]

9. Dunno how much more I can take of this

Oops....meant to bring this:

[YCHDT]

10. Under age girls !!!! "with nine young women, two of whom were 16 years old"

[Gabi Hayes]

11. Jeffrey Epstein ii

I started a thread on that monsters trump ties

[eleny]

12. Craig Unger was just interviewed by Brian Williams on The 11th Hour show

Sounds like a must read. And it also sounds a little like the plot of Fargo's most recent season. Offers made that can't be refused.

[Gabi Hayes]

13. Goody ! Taped it.....saw him on C Rose

That's how I found out about it

[eleny]

19. I missed the Rose interview

That would have been the best. Like C-Span, CR goes into depth for at least half an hour. And it's the Nat'l Review, oh my.

[Gabi Hayes]

22. CSPAN has become the broadcast outlet for

AEI

Heritage

Cato

George Mason U faux academics

Used to be right wing Friday; now it's RW weekend, with the occasional "liberal" think tank tokened in

[eleny]

25. Aw, jeez, a we slide into oligarchic rule :(

[Warren DeMontague]

14. Kick and Rec

[Gabi Hayes]

15. How much effort did MSM put into this,

Compared to hillarys stroke, for just one example

Just like with GWB, MSM elected this TRAITOR

[Gabi Hayes]

17. The more things change....I duckducked "party of treason GOP"

and found this bftp high up:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/02/09/17_treason.html

[NightWatcher]

16. Russia played the long game and is finally winning the Cold War, decades after we stopped fighting.

[Gabi Hayes]

18. much like happened with bin laden,

and thanks to massive Repub venality, incompetence, and TREASON, succeeded far beyond their wildest dreams

GOP=Party of TREASON

Time for dems to turn the patriot tables, yes?

[eleny]

20. And Clinton is a problem because she was a hawk on Russia?

I guess being old and of Lithuanian heritage informs my perspective on Russia. The heartbreaking letters from the family in Europe during the 1950s can't be forgotten.

[Gabi Hayes]

23. A friend of mine:

In estonia, His father was conscripted into the Wehrmacht, and fight against his own people

He was hunted by his countrymen as a traitor after the war

He miraculously made it here, where Yuri was born

[eleny]

27. My grandpa fled when he worried about being concripted around 1913

One of his brothers was yanked into the Russian army and never came back home. So gramps got out early and brought grandma and dad over later on.

It was pretty awful, as you've learned. I had relatives marched out of their homes and shot dead in the 50s. I remember the day when the letter arrived telling grandma how certain men in the family "all died yesterday". The details trickled out after that. So I can see why Yuri's dad was hunted even after being forced into the army. It's tragic.

I have many mixed feelings, though, since Lithuania was very antisemitic. But that's another story. Now, I hear that many can be pretty homophobic. And "many" doesn't take much in these tiny countries. But that's another story, too.

The Baltic geography always put them in the crosshairs.

[Gabi Hayes]

28. Ever hear of Alan Furst?

Many novels about Eastern Europe WW I and II intrigue, le carre style, but more detailed, roman a clef.....not Baltic, tho

By far my favorite author of the genre


http://www.alanfurst.net/

[eleny]

29. Thx for the tip!

In recent years I've gotten into spy films. Just the other day i thought it was time to dive into novels. So this is great timing. Thanks, again.

[Gabi Hayes]

30. First one I read was Red Star

There's a movie too

Based on this series, I think

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/741900345

[Gabi Hayes]

31. 2 part series

http://m.imdb.com/title/tt2343137/?ref_=m_nmfmd_wr_1

[eleny]

33. Found the dvd at the library!

Thx, toots! I'm so looking forward to a new period spy story.

[Gabi Hayes]

34. Me too!

Can't remember if it's the one I saw

As Tim Leary said, ahlzheimers is great! You can watch the same movie every day.

Now, google Leary+Mary Pinchot Meyer

If you don't know the story, it involves JFK/LSD

[eleny]

35. Swear to god...

Every time Rear Window is on TCM I'm right there. And it's been airing *a lot* lately.

[Achilleaze]

21. republican criminals against America

and their russian mob buddies, should be locked up

[Gabi Hayes]

24. Mueller

is on it, one would think

[Achilleaze]

26. Yes, one would hope for the sake of American democracy

[Madam45for2923]

32. Report: Russian Mob Money Helped Build Donald Trump Business Empire The 11th Hour MSNBC