A Russian bank gave Marine Le Pen's party a loan. Then weird things began happening.

[Eugene]

Source: Washington Post

A Russian bank gave Marine Le Pen’s party a loan. Then weird things began happening.

By Paul Sonne December 27 at 9:47 AM

ARIS — When French politician Marine Le Pen needed cash for her far-right party, an obscure Russian bank agreed to help.

Four years later, the bank has gone bust. The owner is facing a warrant for his arrest. Former Russian military officers are demanding money. And the party’s treasurer is sending off some $165,000 every few months to a woman in Moscow, unsure of where the payments ultimately will go.

The money failed to deliver Le Pen the French presidency in last year’s election, denying the Kremlin a powerful ally in the heart of Europe. Instead, the 9.4 million-euro loan, then worth $12.2 million, dragged her party into the shadowy underworld of Russian cross-border finance, putting it in league with people accused of having ties to Russian organized crime, money laundering and military operations.

The mysterious saga of the loan offers a rare look inside the Russian influence engine, demonstrating how people, companies and networks outside the Kremlin pursue President Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy aims, often without a centralized plan.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/a-russian-bank-gave-marine-le-pens-party-a-loan-then-weird-things-began-happening/2018/12/27/960c7906-d320-11e8-a275-81c671a50422_story.html

[empedocles]

1. 'As the case unfolds in the Russian courts' . . . Hmmm.

[UpInArms]

2. Ah .... I knew the Russians were a part of

that mess .... looks as though they have been very busy trying to disrupt democracies across the globe