"ElParedon" <ser...@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:1vToj.64401$vt2....@bignews8.bellsouth.net...
> Mogilevich Arrested With Arbat Boss
> By Natalya Krainova, Nikolaus von Twickel and Max Delany
> Staff Writers
>
> Vesti.ru
> A screen grab from a "Vesti" news program showing Mogilevich's
> detention.
>
> Semyon Mogilevich, a suspected organized-crime boss who is wanted by the
> Federal Bureau of Investigations for alleged fraud and racketeering, has
> been arrested along with Arbat Prestige owner Vladimir Nekrasov.
>
> A posse of about 50 armed police commandos detained Nekrasov and
> Ukrainian-born Mogilevich near the city's World Trade Center, the Interior
> Ministry said Friday.
>
> The Ukrainian security service, the SBU, has investigated the purported
> involvement of Mogilevich with RosUkrEnergo, the controversial gas trader
> that acts as a middleman in Russian gas exports to Ukraine.
>
> Mogilevich, 61, was using the name Sergei Shnaider when detained.
>
> Mogilevich's lawyer, Alexander Pogonchenkov, confirmed in a Friday
> interview that his client was born in Ukraine as Semyon Mogilevich, but
> has changed his name to Sergei Shnaider.
>
> The Ostankinsky District Court placed Mogilevich and Nekrasov under arrest
> on suspicion of large-scale tax fraud late Thursday, Moscow City Court
> spokeswoman Marina Malygina said.
>
> Mogilevich, has been wanted by the FBI on racketeering, fraud and
> money-laundering charges since 2003. He is believed to have been living in
> Moscow for several years.
>
> State television showed footage Friday of Mogilevich as police held him
> and some bodyguards up against a car. It also showed footage of the
> seldom-photographed Mogilevich in custody wearing jeans, a leather jacket
> and a cap.
>
>
> Both Pogonchenkov and Nekrasov's lawyer, Alexander Dobrovinsky, said they
> would appeal the arrests Monday.
>
> Pogonchenkov said his client had no relation whatsoever to Arbat Prestige.
>
> The two suspects "are not business partners, just good acquaintances,"
> Pogonchenkov said.
>
> The arrest of Mogilevich comes as newly appointed Ukrainian Prime Minister
> Yulia Tymoshenko is stepping up calls for Gazprom and Ukraine to cut out
> RosUkrEnergo from its role as middleman in Russian gas exports.
>
> The SBU in 2005 investigated the trader over possible ties to Mogilevich.
> The probe was dropped, however, following a change of leadership at the
> SBU.
>
> Tymoshenko is scheduled to visit Moscow next month for talks with Russian
> officials, and is expected to push for the contract with RosUkrEnergo to
> be canceled, a December pricing agreement to be ditched and transit fees
> for Russian gas to be raised.
>
> In Davos last week, however, President Viktor Yushchenko opposed calls for
> higher tariffs.
>
> The Ukrainian investigation into RosUkrEnergo, during Tymoshenko's
> previous term as prime minister, was closed after she was fired by
> Yushchenko in September 2005.
>
> The head of the SBU under Tymoshenko, Oleksandr Turchynov, later claimed
> in an interview that the order to close the investigation had come
> directly from Yushchenko.
>
> No one at Tymoshenko's press office answered calls Sunday.
>
> In January 2006, RosUkrEnergo, jointly owned by Gazprom and billionaire
> Ukrainian businessman Dmytro Firtash, emerged as the major beneficiary of
> the bitter gas-price dispute between Russia and Ukraine, winning control
> over the flow of Russian and cheaper Central Asian gas to Ukraine.
>
> Robert Shetler-Jones, chief executive of Firtash's holding company, Group
> DF, on Friday denied any business links between Mogilevich and companies
> connected to RosUkrEnergo.
>
> Since RosUkrEnergo was handed the export monopoly in 2006, Tymoshenko has
> repeatedly vowed to end RosUkrEnergo's role in the Russian-Ukrainian gas
> trade, which she has dubbed "criminal," and pledged to start buying gas
> directly from Gazprom.
>
> In October, Dmitry Medvedev, first deputy prime minister and Gazprom
> chairman, seemed to back the demands, when he said Gazprom could move to
> "give up" the opaque intermediary structures involved in gas exports to
> Ukraine.
>
> On Friday, state energy firm Naftogaz Ukrainy abruptly pulled out of talks
> with RosUkrEnergo and Gazprom over gas prices and debt, a RosUkrEnergo
> spokesman said, Bloomberg reported.
>
> Zeev Gordon, an Israeli lawyer who has represented Mogilevich in the past,
> said by telephone Sunday from Tel Aviv that Mogilevich had always denied
> any links to RosUkrEnergo and Firtash.
>
> Gordon confirmed that he had personally worked previously for Firtash in
> 2003, when he acted as a trustee for several months to help him set up
> RosUkrEnergo's predecessor as middleman in Russian-Ukrainian gas supplies,
> Eural Trans Gas, in Hungary.
>
> Gordon insisted that this coincidence in no way meant that there were any
> ties between Mogilevich and Firtash.
>
> Firtash's representative, Shetler-Jones, also denied reports in the
> Russian and Ukrainian media that identified Firtash as a major stakeholder
> in Arbat Prestige.
>
> "Neither Group DF nor Mr. Dmitry Firtash personally has any interest in or
> affiliation with Arbat Prestige. Dmitry Firtash also does not directly or
> indirectly own shares in this company," Shetler-Jones said in a statement.
>
> Dobrovinsky, the lawyer for Arbat Prestige owner Nekrasov, also denied
> that Firtash had any stake in the cosmetics firm.
>
> The U.S. indictment against Mogilevich dates back to a 2003 case in
> Philadelphia in which he and two associates were accused of manipulating
> stock of the Pennsylvania-based company YBM Magnex.
>
> The FBI notice on Mogilevich says he set up a "complex network of
> corporations" to "create the illusion that YBM was engaged in a profitable
> international business, primarily the industrial magnet market."
>
> He and the two other suspects were charged with 45 counts of racketeering,
> securities fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering, according
> to the FBI web site, which states that Mogilevich "should be considered
> armed and dangerous."
>
> A U.S. Embassy spokeswoman said the United States was "not involved in the
> recent investigations and arrests in Russia." The two countries do not
> have an extradition treaty.
>
> The embassy spokeswoman referred all questions to the U.S. Justice
> Department, which did not return calls for comment Friday.
>
> Pogonchenkov, Mogilevich's lawyer, said Friday that Mogilevich changed his
> name to Sergei Shnaider after getting married.
>
> Malygina, the Moscow City Court spokeswoman, said the suspect was born in
> 1946 and officially worked as a consultant in a company called Evergate
> Ltd. Mogilevich and Nekrasov have been placed under arrest for two months,
> Malygina said.
>
> Mogilevich has used 17 different names and holds passports from several
> countries, Itar-Tass reported, citing a law enforcement source.
>
> Pogonchenkov said his client had only a Russian passport. "He does not
> have any other citizenships," Pogonchenkov said.
>
> Mogilevich has been based in Moscow for seven or eight years and has not
> left the country for the past few years "for obvious reasons," said
> Gordon, the Israeli lawyer.
>
> Mogilevich's former wife, Olga Shnaider, a 33-year-old lawyer linked in
> the Russian media to Arbat Prestige, was also questioned by investigators
> Friday, Interfax reported, citing law enforcement sources.
>
> But Yevgeny Shedlov, a lawyer for Shnaider, said Sunday that investigators
> had denied that they had detained her and that her whereabouts were a
> mystery. Shnaider had not been in contact with her relatives or lawyers
> since Friday evening, Shedlov said.
>
> "We have not heard anything from her," he said.
>
> Asked whether Shnaider worked with Arbat Prestige, Shedlov said that as a
> lawyer she had the right to choose her clients. "Lawyers can work with
> whomever they want, including Arbat Prestige. It doesn't mean that they
> necessarily commit crimes," he said.
>
>
>
Once again Alex is crying that Jews are doing a better job of being
criminals than his own family of village idiots.
I hope he likes the Siberian climate. He and Khordokofsky can be prison butt
buddies lol
>>