45РОССИЯ—ASSANGE CHRGD W/ SPYING—DJT IMPEACHED TWICE-US TREASURY SANCTS KILIMNIK AS RUSSIAN AGNT

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LOOKS LIKE MSM IS FINALLY CATCHING UP TO THE FACT LANNY DAVIS MAY BE PROTECTING HIGHER UPS IN THE RUSSIAN MAFIA BY PROTECTING COHEN!

DAVIS HAS DIRECT TIES TO MOGILEVICH VIA DIMITRY FIRTASH

:whoo:





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Michael Cohen, Lanny Davis and the Russian Mafia
President Trump’s former fixer may not be the most notorious client of power lawyer Lanny Davis at this moment
Seth Hettena August 28, 2018 8:30AM ET
davis.jpg

Lanny Davis

MARTIN DIVISEK/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutt

Something most people don’t know about Michael Cohen’s lawyer, Lanny Davis, is that he’s also currently representing a Ukrainian oligarch whose name is often linked to one of the most powerful mobsters in the world.

For the past four years, Davis — a 72-year-old former special counsel to former President Bill Clinton — has served as a registered foreign agent for Dmitry Firtash, who has been fighting to avoid extradition to Chicago, where he faces charges of international racketeering and money laundering. In registering with the Justice Department as Firtash’s foreign agent, Davis said his firm was being paid $80,000 a month — or about a million dollars a year — by a man described by prosecutors as an “upper-echelon” associate of Russian organized crime. The case against Firtash “seeks to protect this country, its commerce and its citizens from the corrupting influence and withering effects of international organized crime,” prosecutors wrote last year.

Firtash has acknowledged ties to Semion Mogilevich, although the exact nature of their relationship is unknown outside of a classified space. A chain-smoking, hulking Ukrainian-born gangster, Mogilevich appeared on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list during Robert Mueller’s tenure as the bureau’s director. A 1996 FBI report on Mogilevich’s organization said he was involved in prostitution, weapons trafficking, smuggling of nuclear materials, drug trafficking and money laundering. Mogilevich was indicted on racketeering charges in Pennsylvania in 2002 for his role in a publicly-traded magnet company later exposed as a money-laundering front. Several sources, including Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB officer turned whistleblower who was murdered in London, said that Mogilevich had a relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mogilevich lives in Moscow, where some suspect he’s being protected by Russian intelligence.

“Mr. Firtash has denied any business or personal involvement with organized crime, in Russia or elsewhere,” Davis tells Rolling Stone. “Moreover, reports of such involvement have relied on innuendo and words such as ‘linked to’ or ‘associated with,’ not facts, or false allegations in a lawsuit filed many years ago in New York City that was dismissed on jurisdictional grounds and never re-filed.”

Davis is not exactly advertising the fact that he represents Firtash. Although Davis lists his past controversial clients in Africa and Honduras on his website, Firtash’s name is noticeably absent. Davis hardly ever talks about Firtash, at least not on the record, even though Justice Department filings make it clear that he and his colleagues at Davis, Goldberg & Galper frequently contact D.C. journalists about Firtash to pitch stories, issue statements and press releases, or to respond to questions.

Likewise, Firtash wasn’t mentioned in the flurry of coverage that Davis received after Cohen pleaded guilty last week to eight criminal charges, including campaign finance violations. In recent pieces, The Washington Post called Davis the “ultimate Clinton loyalist;” Esquire called him the “da Vinci of spin.” Davis referred to himself a “renowned legal crisis management expert,” but another way to describe his lucrative line of work is representing bad guys and telling us how good they are, something he’s been doing quite effectively with Cohen, Trump’s former fixer. In 2010, Davis was paid a million dollars a year to represent the brutally repressive dictatorship of oil-soaked Equatorial Guinea, and $100,000 a month to represent Ivory Coast, then on the brink of a civil war. “I took on a couple bad-guy countries that I thought I could make into good-guy countries,” Davis told the Post.

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Michael Cohen

Why does this matter for Cohen? For starters, optics.

Davis is sensitive to how his “bad-guy” clients look, something he acknowledged to his friend Hillary Clinton in 2010 in what the Weekly Standard called “D.C.’s most cringe-inducing document ever.” Davis asked Clinton, his old Yale Law School classmate, to speak to a reporter on his behalf and then changed his mind the following morning when he realized her name would appear in the same piece with his clients at the time:

As soon as I wrote last email, I reverted to my old role as your crisis manager and worrier about you, read the word “optics” I suddenly felt – oops

I am registered under FARA [the Foreign Agents Registration Act] for one or more foreign governments or businesses. I don’t think it would look right. I want to avoid any even slight chance of misperception.

So let’s not chance it.

How can I describe what a great friend you are….?

I can’t.

Beyond mere optics, credibility matters, too. “My credibility is the only thing I have,” Davis once told the New York Times in an article that described him as a “front man for the dark side.” It didn’t help when Davis backtracked on his claims that Cohen had information that suggested Trump was aware of Russia’s efforts to undermine Hillary Clinton’s campaign. And emails released by the U.S. State Department show that during Davis’ days as a representative of Equatorial Guinea and Ivory Coast, his credibility was in short supply when he needed it most. Told that Davis had written a letter resigning as a representative of Ivory Coast, Phillip Carter, the U.S. ambassador to the West African nation, wrote in an email “I wonder if this is true…”

Davis’ client roster puts him in the same league as Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman who also made a living representing dictators and Ukrainian oligarchs. Perhaps it’s not a surprise that Manafort, who was convicted last week on eight counts, also did business with Firtash. In 2008, while Manafort was working in Ukraine for the pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych, Firtash’s company Group DF agreed to commit $112 million to Manafort’s vision for “Bulgari Tower,” a $1.5 billion skyscraper project in midtown Manhattan on the corner of Park Avenue and 56th Street,:ohhh: said to be one of the most valuable development sites in North America. The tower deal later collapsed, but not before Firtash wired in a $25 million deposit from Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich AG, an Austrian bank that U.S. officials believed served as a Mogilevich front. :ohhh:Andrey Kozlov, a deputy chairman of the Russian central bank, was gunned down in 2006 after he blew the whistle on large amounts of rubles that were being laundered through Raiffeisen. :ohhh: (Raiffeisen also provided a $310 million construction loan to finance Trump’s tower in Toronto.) :ohhh: In a federal lawsuit filed in New York, Yulia Tymoshenko, a former prime minister of Ukraine, claimed that Firtash was laundering proceeds from sales of natural gas through Manhattan real estate. :ohhh:

Firtash, a former tomato grower and truck driver, rose from obscurity to become one of Ukraine’s richest men through his deal with Gazprom, the natural gas giant controlled by the Kremlin. In 2006, Gazprom gave Firtash a monopoly on all gas trades between Russia and Ukraine. The vehicle for this was yet another a murky company, RosUkrEnergo, half-owned by Gazprom and half-owned by Firtash and a minority partner. In a short time, RosUkrEnergo earned billions — some of which, U.S. government officials suspect, ended up in Mogilevich’s pockets. :ohhh:Notably, Firtash’s stake in the Swiss-registered RosUkrEnergo remained a secret for two years, hidden by the same Austrian bank that was used to wire in money for Manafort’s Manhattan tower venture.:ohhh: Prosecutors in Chicago have moved to seize RosUkrEnergo, along with Firtash’s other corporate holdings.

Firtash himself didn’t deny that he knew Mogilevich during a 2010 meeting with the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, William Taylor. “Firtash acknowledged that he needed, and received, permission from Mogilevich when he established various businesses, but he denied any close relationship to him,” Taylor wrote in a cable released by Wikileaks. :ohhh:Two of Firtash’s companies involved in the natural gas business had links — albeit indirect — to Mogilevich. (Mogilevich’s wife was a major shareholder in one company, while the other listed her as a director.) Firtash and Mogilevich also have shared the same Israeli lawyer, Zeev Gordon, to represent their business and personal interests.:ohhh:

Firtash’s associations with Mogilevich are what may have led to his indictment in Chicago as the leader of an international titanium-mining racket. :ohhh:Under Mueller, the FBI devoted tremendous resources to capturing Mogilevich, or at least, limiting his sphere of influence. The FBI permanently stationed agents in Budapest in 2005, which had been Mogilevich’s base of operations, and sent him scurrying off to Moscow. The FBI also targeted Mogilevich with a “threat fusion cell” staffed with FBI agents and officials from the National Security Agency.:ohhh::ohhh::ohhh::ohhh: Reached for comment by Rolling Stone, the FBI declined to discuss the cell, acknowledging that an investigation is ongoing.

Seth Hettena is the author of Trump/Russia: A Definitive History published by Melville House.

:whoo:
 
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ARE YALL NOT PAYING ATTENTION TO THE RUSSIAN MOBSTERS WHO KEEP GETTING ROUNDED UP!?!?!?!




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Members of Eastern European Organized Crime Syndicate Convicted Of Racketeering and Other Violent Crimes
Defendants’ Crimes Included Setting Fire to a Sheepshead Bay Building Where a Rival Gambling Parlor Operated on the Ground Floor, Trapping Residents on the Floors Above
Earlier today, following more than three weeks of trial, a federal jury in Brooklyn returned guilty verdicts against Leonid “Lenny” Gershman and Aleksey Tsvetkov on charges of racketeering, including predicate acts of illegal gambling, loansharking, extortion, arson and marijuana distribution. The charges arose out of the defendants’ membership in an Eastern European organized crime syndicate that operated predominantly in the Sheepshead Bay, Brighton Beach and Coney Island neighborhoods in Brooklyn. Gershman was also convicted of conspiring to traffick firearms, and Tsvetkov of wire fraud for an insurance scheme at Aces Auto Bodyshop, which he co-owned. When sentenced by United States District Court Judge Brian M. Cogan, the defendants each face up to life in prison.

Richard P. Donoghue, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, James J. Hunt, Special Agent-in-Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration, New York Division (DEA), and James D. Robnett, Special Agent-in-Charge, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, New York (IRS-CI), announced the verdicts.

“Today’s verdicts hold Gershman and Tsvetkov responsible for years of using intimidation, violence and their association with Russian organized crime to inflict crimes on our local communities, including carrying out beatings in broad daylight and committing arson in the dead of night, endangering the lives of tenants and New York City firefighters,” stated United States Attorney Donoghue. “This Office and our partners on the DEA Strike Force have dismantled the defendants’ criminal syndicate and will continue to work tirelessly to prevent organized crime elements from flourishing in the Eastern District of New York at the expense of our residents.” Mr. Donoghue expressed his grateful appreciation to the DEA’s New York Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Strike Force, which is comprised of agents and officers of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, New York, the New York City Police Department, and the New York State Police for their roles in the investigation. Mr. Donoghue also thanked the New York City Fire Department for its investigation of the arson and its heroic efforts in rescuing residents who were trapped in the building.

“This investigation and trial illuminated clues that solved international and domestic crimes committed by members of an Eastern European organized crime syndicate operating in Brooklyn, NY,” stated DEA Special Agent-in-Charge Hunt. “Gershman and Tsvetkov relied on their associates in Russian organized crime known as “Thieves in Law” for some of their criminal acts, which included violence. The Strike Force and the Eastern District of New York should be commended for their professionalism that resulted in today’s convictions.”

“Today’s conviction is a decisive blow against this transnational organized crime syndicate,” stated IRS-CI Special Agent-in-Charge Robnett. “IRS-CI is committed, with our OCDETF partners, to disrupt the flow of ill-gotten gains that is the life-blood for these criminals and unravel their complex networks.”

As proven at trial, between 2011 and May 2017, Gershman and Tsvetkov, together with co-conspirators from states of the former Soviet Union, operated as a racketeering enterprise, committing a host of crimes to enrich themselves. Members of the criminal syndicate were linked to high-level members of Russian organized crime known as “thieves in law.” The “Thieves” authorized syndicate members to use violence to protect their criminal activities.

Beginning in 2016, the defendants partnered in an illegal high-stakes poker game on Coney Island Avenue. The Coney Island poker spot, where the bets wagered on a given night could exceed $800,000, generated substantial illicit profits for the defendants’ criminal syndicate. In the spring of 2016 the defendants and other syndicate members agreed to eliminate a competing poker spot by having two co-conspirators, both of whom testified at trial, set fire to a residential building on Voorhies Avenue where the rival game took place on the ground floor. Two residents of the building, including a young boy, were trapped in their apartment by the resulting fire and had to be rescued by firefighters. Both residents and firefighters suffered smoke inhalation, and one firefighter’s injuries required surgeries.

Additionally, the defendants’ criminal syndicate preyed upon numerous extortion victims in the Eastern District of New York and elsewhere. For example, as the evidence at trial proved, Gershman enlisted the help of “Thieves” in Russia who tracked down the father of an extortion victim in Moscow in order to determine where his son, who owed the syndicate more than $40,000, was living. After locating the victim, Gershman was recorded on a wiretap stating, the “Thieves have found him . . . in Israel,” and “they were at [his] place today.” As another example, Tsvetkov attacked a victim outside Aces Auto Bodyshop. The assault was captured on Aces’ surveillance video, and showed Tsvetkov punching the victim in the face, and continuing to attack him in the middle of the street as the victim lay on the ground. After the videotaped beating, which Tsvetkov saved to his cell phone, he boasted to a co-conspirator about putting the victim “to sleep.” Gershman and Tsvetkov were convicted of pistol-whipping an individual they suspected to have stolen marijuana from their stash house, shattering his teeth with the firearm.

The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Organized Crime and Gangs Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Matthew J. Jacobs, Andrey Spektor and Sarah Evans are in charge of the prosecution.

The Defendants:

LEONID GERSHMAN (also known as “Lenny”)
Age: 35
Brooklyn, New York

ALEKSEY TSVETKOV
Age: 39
Brooklyn, New York

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 16-CR-553 (S-4) (BMC)

John Marzulli Tyler Daniels United States Attorney’s Office (718) 254-6323
 
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∆y = f(∆x) said:
Yo.

Trump is literally mobbed up.

God.

Damn.

I mean who would have thought :wow:

Some of this shyt seemed too good to be true and just links from random researchers...but holy fuuuuccckkkkkk :wow: :damn:
Click to expand...

I knew this already tho...:dahell: why you acting like it's a big surprise... Trump was always afliated with mafia types...
 
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