Re: These 13 Wire Transfers Are A Focus Of The FBI Probe Into Trump's Friend Paul Manafort

[Steve]

On Sun, 29 Oct 2017 21:40:25 +0000 (UTC), Ultra Magnus <o...@mack.daddy>
wrote:

>These 13 Wire Transfers Are A Focus Of The FBI Probe Into Paul
>Manafort
>
>BuzzFeed News has learned of a series of wire transfers, made
>by companies linked to Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman
>Paul Manafort, that federal officials deemed suspicious. Many
>of the wires went from offshore companies controlled by
>Manafort to American businesses.
>
>The FBI's investigation of Donald Trump's former campaign
>manager, Paul Manafort, includes a keen focus on a series of
>suspicious wire transfers in which offshore companies linked
>to Manafort moved more than $3 million all over the globe
>between 2012 and 2013.
>
>Much of the money came into the United States.
>
>These transactions — which have not been previously reported —
>drew the attention of federal law enforcement officials as far
>back as 2012, when they began to examine wire transfers to
>determine if Manafort hid money from tax authorities or helped
>the Ukrainian regime close to Russian President Vladimir Putin
>launder some of the millions it plundered through corrupt
>dealings.
>
>The new revelations come as special counsel Robert Mueller’s
>investigation is tightening, with reports that an indictment
>may already have been issued. It is not known if Manafort has
>been charged, or if he ever will be. Manafort has been the
>subject of multiple law enforcement and congressional
>inquiries. A spokesperson for Manafort would not comment for
>this story about the investigation or any of the specific
>transactions, but Manafort has previously denied wrongdoing.
>
>Manafort took charge of Trump’s campaign in May 2016 and was
>forced to resign just three months later, amid intense media
>scrutiny of his ties to the notoriously corrupt former
>Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, who was supported by
>the Kremlin. A political operative for decades, the 68-year-
>old Manafort has worked for Republicans such as presidents
>Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, as well as for foreign
>leaders such as former Philippines president Ferdinand Marcos.
>
>He has emerged as a central figure in special counsel Robert
>Mueller’s investigation into possible collusion between the
>Trump campaign and Russia, in part because of Manafort’s many
>ties to prominent Russians and his work with Yanukovych.
>Manafort is reportedly also being investigated for money
>laundering by federal prosecutors in New York City, but there
>have been no formal charges from that probe. The FBI searched
>his home during a predawn raid this summer, reportedly as part
>of Mueller’s probe. Manafort has consistently maintained his
>innocence.
>
>Robert Mueller
>Alex Wong / Getty Images
>Robert Mueller
>Now, BuzzFeed News has learned that investigators have been
>scrutinizing at least 13 wire transfers between 2012 and 2013.
>The transfers were first flagged by US financial institutions,
>which are required by law to tell an office within the
>Treasury Department about any transactions they deem
>suspicious. Such “suspicious activity reports” do not prove
>wrongdoing. Federal law requires financial institutions to
>file reports on cash transactions that exceed $10,000 in a
>single day, even if those transactions seem otherwise
>legitimate. Banks are also required to file the reports
>whenever they suspect money laundering or other financial
>crimes.
>
>Bank officers flagged unusual behavior among five offshore
>companies that authorities say are associated with Manafort:
>Global Endeavour Inc., Lucicle Consultants Ltd., and three
>others that appear to have no current contact information.
>
>Law enforcement sources say the companies sent funds in round-
>dollar amounts without explanation of what the money was to be
>used for. The countries where these transactions originated —
>notably Cyprus and the Caribbean nation of St. Vincent and the
>Grenadines — are notorious for money laundering. Federal law
>enforcement officials said they saw evidence of “layering,”
>the process by which the origin of money is obscured behind
>many layers of companies. Much of the money ended up in the
>US, sent to home improvement contractors, a hedge fund, and
>even a car dealership.
>
>Manafort’s suspicious financial transactions were first
>flagged by Treasury officials as far back as 2012 and
>forwarded to the FBI’s International Corruption Unit and the
>Department of Justice for further investigation in 2013 and
>2014, a former Treasury official who worked on the matter told
>BuzzFeed News. The extent of Manafort’s suspicious
>transactions was so vast, said this former official, that law
>enforcement agents drafted a series of “intelligence reports”
>about Manafort’s financial dealings. Two law enforcement
>officials who worked on the case say that they found red flags
>in his banking records going back as far as 2004, and that the
>transactions in question totaled many millions of dollars.
>
>It’s unknown what became of the FBI’s Manafort investigation;
>no charges were filed. An FBI spokesperson did not return
>emails and phone calls this week. One FBI agent who was
>actively involved in the investigation told BuzzFeed News it
>“lay dormant” for a while but was never closed.
>
>
>Then, last January, the Senate Intelligence Committee launched
>its probe into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. In
>April, the committee sent the Treasury Department’s Financial
>Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, a letter requesting a
>wide range of financial records “related to Russian attempts
>to influence the 2016 U.S. election or individuals associated
>with it.” Specifically, the committee asked FinCEN officials
>for “any actions” they took to support law enforcement or
>intelligence inquiries; any documents they sent to the FBI;
>and any requests for information they sent to banks. Details
>of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s request have not been
>previously disclosed.
>
>While searching for records to turn over to lawmakers, the
>former Treasury official said, FinCEN found its previous
>reports on Manafort and sent them again to the FBI
>International Corruption Unit, whose agents were working with
>Mueller on his investigation. According to a congressional
>source, this May FinCEN sent the Senate committee financial
>records covering a six-year time frame on Manafort — January
>2011 through May 2017. In June, FinCEN also sent financial
>records on Manafort to the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on
>Crime and Terrorism, which is conducting a separate probe on
>Russian interference. That committee also sought a wide range
>of suspicious activity records on Manafort and his wife,
>Kathleen, among other individuals and businesses. Manafort’s
>spokesperson declined to comment on what FinCEN sent the
>congressional committees about the Manaforts.
>
>Got a tip? You can email ti...@buzzfeed.com. To learn how to
>reach us securely, go to tips.buzzfeed.com.
>BuzzFeed News has learned specific details about 13 of the
>wire transfers, all of which took place between 2012 and 2013.
>At least four of the transfers originated with Manafort’s
>company Global Endeavour, a political consulting firm based in
>St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Global Endeavour was hired by
>Yanukovych to consult and lobby on his behalf. Ousted after
>the 2014 Euromaidan Revolution, Yanukovych lives in exile in
>Russia and is accused of treason by Ukrainian authorities; the
>country’s general prosecutor said Yanukovych’s embezzlement of
>state funds was so egregious it resembled a “mafia structure.”
>
>Wire transfers flagged as suspicious show that during the
>waning months of Yanukovych’s presidency, Global Endeavour
>sent more than $750,000 out of Ukraine. None of these
>transactions have been previously reported.
>
>In November and December of 2013, for example, the company
>transferred almost $53,000 to Konstantin Kilimnik, a Kiev-
>based political operator. It’s not known what the money was
>for. A federal law enforcement official described Kilimnik as
>a linguist trained by the Russian army and about whom the US
>has gathered intelligence. He reportedly attended a military
>school some experts believe to be a training ground for
>Russian spies.
>
>Kilimnik worked with Manafort for more than a decade, and the
>Washington Post reported that Manafort emailed his old partner
>in 2016 to offer “private briefings” to a Russian billionaire
>close to President Vladimir Putin.
>
>Kilimnik declined to comment when reached Saturday by BuzzFeed
>News.
>
>In September 2013, Global Endeavour transferred $500,000 that
>would ultimately end up back in Manafort’s control. First it
>went to a hedge fund in Florida, Aegis Holdings LLC, that is
>controlled by Marc Baldinger, a broker who in 2014 was
>suspended for 18 months for engaging in deals his financial
>institution didn’t know about. Baldinger’s brother, Bruce, is
>a real estate attorney who has worked with Manafort for about
>a decade.
>
>The day after Aegis Holdings received the $500,000, it
>transferred the same amount to a securities clearinghouse,
>which ultimately sent the funds to Lilred LLC in Morristown,
>New Jersey. Lilred is run out of a brick office park. Business
>records show its manager is Manafort; its registered agent is
>Bruce Baldinger. Marc Baldinger told bank officials the money
>was a regular investment contribution from Manafort.
>
>Neither Baldinger brother returned multiple phone calls or
>emails for comment.
>
>Also in late 2013, Global Endeavour sent out $200,000 to a
>remodeling company in Long Island, SP&C Home Improvement.
>Stephen Jacobsen, a representative, told bank officials the
>funds were an advance on a remodeling project.
>
>That project, at 377 Union Street in Brooklyn, has been the
>subject of media reports. The brownstone in the Carroll
>Gardens neighborhood first belonged to a company controlled by
>Manafort and his son-in-law, Jeffrey Yohai. The Senate
>Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism is investigating
>Yohai and requested from FinCEN in June any suspicious
>financial transactions in which he is named, according to a
>copy of a letter reviewed by BuzzFeed News. He declined to
>comment.
>
>SP&C, the remodeling company that received a wire transfer
>from Global Endeavour, was the first company to submit a
>permit to turn the three-story building into a single-family
>home. SP&C’s representative, Colleen Jacobsen, estimated the
>work would cost about $300,000, according to city records.
>
>Stephen and Colleen Jacobsen did not return multiple phone
>calls, but he told bank officials that the money was a payment
>for a large construction project.
>
>Four years later, the project is still unfinished. Last week
>workers from a concrete company — not SP&C — were seen at the
>home. An architect newly hired to work on the building said it
>was about 65% finished.
>
>In addition to transactions involving Global Endeavour, there
>were wire transfers, never before reported, flagged as
>suspicious involving other companies. There were three by the
>Cyprus-based Lucicle Consultants — which has “strong ties” to
>Manafort, according to federal law enforcement sources — in
>March and April 2012. The company transferred a total of about
>$2.5 million, some of it directly to accounts controlled by
>Manafort. No contact information for Lucicle or any of its
>officers could be found.
>
>Jason Leopold is a senior investigative reporter for BuzzFeed
>News and is based in LA. Recipient: IRE 2016 FOI award;
>Newseum Institute National Freedom of Information Hall of
>Fame. PGP fingerprint 46DB 0712 284B 8C6E 40FF 7A1B D3CD 5720
>694B 16F0. Contact this reporter at jason....@buzzfeed.com
>Contact Jason Leopold at jason....@buzzfeed.com.
>Anthony Cormier is an investigative reporter/editor for
>BuzzFeed News and is based in New York. While working for the
>Tampa Bay Times, Cormier won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for
>Investigative Reporting.
>Contact Anthony Cormier at anthony...@buzzfeed.com.
>
>
>
>https://www.buzzfeed.com/jasonleopold/fbi-probe-of-paul-
>manafort-focuses-on-13-suspicious-wire?
>utm_term=.aqo1vLW9w#.mt0zQ74O8


Long before a Trump campaign even existed...



Lefty morons, like many other immature children, seem to
believe that the more fervently they voice their fantasies,
the more likly they are to come true.