Stefan Lemieszewski
2003-11-28 22:40:52 UTC
Re: Mogilevich and Menatep -Khodorkovsky -Loutchansky -Avisma -EUB
-18Nov03
================================================
http://english.pravda.ru/printed.html?news_id=11301
[ . . . ]
There was virtually no aspect of what Menatep was doing which wasn't
controlled by, monitored by and directed by these same leaders. This
included providing government-sanctioned services to organised crime.
From its early days the young men at Menatep have provided financial
services to the Solntsevo, Lyubarsky, Uralmash and Izmailova
families.
Through his connections with Semyon Mogilevich Menatep began
moving currencies and investments to and through Hungary and then
to the U.S. Menatep handled the foreign exchange business of Grigory
Luchansky [asa Grigori Loutchansky] in Nordex and moved large sums
into the U.S.
In addition to its foreign currency and money laundering business
Menatep also provided investment services. In the submissions before
a U.S. judge in the "Avisma Case" Menatep was the perpetrator of a
gigantic con in which tens of millions of dollars were diverted from
the
company. Khodorkovsky and fugitive banker Alexander Konenyikin
started the Antigua-registered European Union Bank which was
described in a House Banking and Financial Services Committee as
a "KGB money-laundering operation with stolen funds that were passed
through Khodorkovsky of Menatep Bank as a KGB-controlled front firm"
According to the investigators the entire operation was coordinated
at
SVR headquarters and was personally supervised by Aleksandr Korzakov.
Through Korzakhov and his friendships with Mikhail Stepashin and Yuri
Primakov, Khodorkovsky was given access to the Bulgarian and the
Hungarian services to replicate his work for them. The main person in
charge of security operations in Khodorkovsky's companies has been
Mikhail Yosifovich Shestopalov former head of the Division for
Combatting
Thefts of Socialist Property and Speculation of the Ministry of
Internal
Affairs. The head of Menatep's and Yuko's information and analysis
section was Karabinov, former head of the KGB Centre for Public
Relations (the man who ran the "Miss KGB" contest).
[ . . . ]
===================================================
There are more developments in the Avisma case. The Russia Journal-18Nov03
================================================
http://english.pravda.ru/printed.html?news_id=11301
[ . . . ]
There was virtually no aspect of what Menatep was doing which wasn't
controlled by, monitored by and directed by these same leaders. This
included providing government-sanctioned services to organised crime.
From its early days the young men at Menatep have provided financial
services to the Solntsevo, Lyubarsky, Uralmash and Izmailova
families.
Through his connections with Semyon Mogilevich Menatep began
moving currencies and investments to and through Hungary and then
to the U.S. Menatep handled the foreign exchange business of Grigory
Luchansky [asa Grigori Loutchansky] in Nordex and moved large sums
into the U.S.
In addition to its foreign currency and money laundering business
Menatep also provided investment services. In the submissions before
a U.S. judge in the "Avisma Case" Menatep was the perpetrator of a
gigantic con in which tens of millions of dollars were diverted from
the
company. Khodorkovsky and fugitive banker Alexander Konenyikin
started the Antigua-registered European Union Bank which was
described in a House Banking and Financial Services Committee as
a "KGB money-laundering operation with stolen funds that were passed
through Khodorkovsky of Menatep Bank as a KGB-controlled front firm"
According to the investigators the entire operation was coordinated
at
SVR headquarters and was personally supervised by Aleksandr Korzakov.
Through Korzakhov and his friendships with Mikhail Stepashin and Yuri
Primakov, Khodorkovsky was given access to the Bulgarian and the
Hungarian services to replicate his work for them. The main person in
charge of security operations in Khodorkovsky's companies has been
Mikhail Yosifovich Shestopalov former head of the Division for
Combatting
Thefts of Socialist Property and Speculation of the Ministry of
Internal
Affairs. The head of Menatep's and Yuko's information and analysis
section was Karabinov, former head of the KGB Centre for Public
Relations (the man who ran the "Miss KGB" contest).
[ . . . ]
===================================================
is reporting that a criminal complaint with connections to Menatep and
Avisma has been filed against Khodorkovsky, Lebedev and Golubovich
in Switzerland alleging money laundering and mafia ties (Semion
Mogilevich). The alleged scam involved the looting of Avisma through
"transfer pricing" schemes linked to Menatep via nominee bank
accounts and offshore banks for money laundering.
[BTW, the National Republic Bank of New York was described by
Robert I. Friedman in his piece titled: "The Money Plane" (a chapter
in "Red Mafiya: How The Russian Mob Has Invaded America"; 2000),
whereby hundreds of millions of dollars in crisp new $100 bank notes
of the Federal Reserve were flown weekly by the Republic Bank to
mafia-controlled banks in Moscow during the 1990s as part of the
"dollarization" of the xUSSR economies.]
Earlier, Roman Kupchinsky provided some details of the alleged
conspiracy in his article in the RFE/RL Crime and Corruption Watch
(23May2003). He indicated some of the routes for the diverted cash
flows involved companies such as Valmet and accounts held at the
Bank of New York (the bank involved in Benex/Mogilevich/Kagalovsky/
Menatep and billions of dollars in an alleged money laundering sceme
for the Russian Mafia). Kupchinsky also brings into the scheme the
Rhodes scholar and Harvard Professor, Jonathan Hay. Professor Hay
was part of the Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID)
headed by Professor Jeffrey "shock therapy" Sachs. HIID has since
been the subject of a $120 million lawsuit and has been disbanded.
Sachs is no longer at Harvard, and Hay was dismissed from Harvard.
Hay is also part of a criminal investigation by the US District Attorney
in Boston.
Kupchinsky wrote the following about Hay, Avisma and Menatep:
Stefan Lemieszewski
==================================================
http://www.rferl.org/corruptionwatch/2002/05/20-230502.asp
RFE/RL Crime and Corruption Watch
23 May 2002, Volume 2, Number 20
U.S. SUIT CASTS NEW LIGHT ON 'THE LITTLE GUY'
By Roman Kupchinsky
Are Americans involved in defrauding Russian companies to the
point of near collapse and making millions of dollars in illicit profits
in the process? If so, can such activities help promote the image
of the United States among Russian elites?
[ . . . ]
Court records in the United States suggest that Browder has not
always been so altruistic a fighter for minority-shareholder rights.
In fact, Browder and a group of other investors along with a former
adviser to the Harvard Institute for International Development, are
accused of having entered into a criminal conspiracy to defraud a
Russian company, Avisma Titano-Magnesium Kombinat, in
Berezniki, Russia, in the late 1990s.
[ . . . ]
Avisma is seeking to recover in excess of $150 million in damages
"for harm caused by a scheme of fraud and money-laundering by
which tens of millions of dollars were misappropriated from Avisma
and diverted to bank accounts maintained by or on behalf of the
Investors and/or their agents and co-conspirators," according to
the First Amended Complaint filed by Avisma on 13 December 1999.
The alleged activities, as outlined in that suit by the plaintiff, are
as
follows:
The roots of the allegations extend to when Bank Menatep, a Russian
company, obtained a controlling interest in Avisma in late 1995.
Menatep forced Avisma to sell its main product -- titanium sponge,
a key ingredient in the production of titanium products such as
ingots -- as well as magnesium and other products at less than
market price to offshore companies. Those companies in turn sold
the Avisma products on the international market and kicked back
the resale profits to Menatep, the plaintiff alleges. At the same time,
Menatep also is accused of forcing Avisma to purchase raw materials
at inflated prices from these offshore companies, with the profits
again going surreptitiously to Menatep.
The plaintiff alleges that such fraud diverted tens of millions of
dollars
in profits from Avisma until 1997. The machinery of the ongoing
scheme included the use of offshore conduits. These are said to
have included: TMC Holdings Ltd.; TMC Trading Ltd.; TMC Trading
International Ltd.; and TMC USA Inc. -- collectively known as "TMC."
Avisma Kombinat argues that TMC funneled these funds through its
accounts at Barclays PLC to a number of companies, known as
Valmet, which in turn funneled the resources through bank accounts
maintained at the Bank of New York (BONY) to unknown entities.
The accounts at BONY were alleged to have been established with
the assistance of a BONY officer who had knowledge of the scam
through her husband, the vice-chairman of Menatep Bank
[ie. Konstantin Kagalovsky].
[ . . . ]
The Harvard Institute for International Development [HIID] had
obtained millions of dollars from the United States Agency for
International Development (USAID) to help the Russian Federation
establish a market economy. Some of this money was used to
establish the Institute for Law-Based Economy, where Jonathan
Hay worked.
Hay is accused of using his position at the institute to structure
the transfer of control of Avisma from Bank Menatep to the "investors."
Hay was then elected a member of the board of VSMPO as part of
the effort to retake control of Avisma and gain control of VSMPO in
order to continue the scheme of kickbacks, the plaintiff charges.
Hay is presently the subject of a criminal investigation by the U.S.
Attorney's Office in Boston, Massachusetts.
[ . . . ]
William Browder, grandson of Earl Browder, the former head of the
Communist Party USA, in the meantime has been promoting himself
in the American press as a savior of the "little guy" in Russia. He has
retained the services of a high-profile lawyer to plead his case against
PwC -- a fact that did not stop Gazprom from opting to keep PwC as
its auditor. Gazprom appears determined to defend itself from what it
might perceive as predatory tactics -- and not follow in Avisma's
footsteps.
[ . . . ]
=====================================================
http://www.russiajournal.com/news/cnews-article.shtml?nd=41519
Russia Journal
28Nov03
Criminal complaint filed against Khodorkovsky, Lebedev,
and Golubovich in Switzerland
By Lucy Komisar
MOSCOW - Two ex-bankers on Wednesday, Nov. 26, filed a criminal
complaint with the Swiss attorney general against Mikhail Khodorkovsky,
Platon Lebedev, and Alexei Golubovich, accusing them of money
laundering and support for a criminal organization.
[ . . . ]
The former bankers have requested the federal officials in Switzerland
to open an investigation into the charges and to search the records of
the Swiss offices of Menatep SA, Menatep Finances SA and Valmet
(in liquidation) and of Bank Leu related to investigate claims of fraud
against the Russian company Avisma and money laundering by
Menatep in Switzerland.
[ . . . ]
The complaint says that Khodorkovsky, Lebedev, and Golubovich
are or were owners in Switzerland of the Swiss companies Menatep SA,
Freiburg, Menatep Finances SA, Geneva and Valmet SA, Geneva. It
claims that since its creation, the Bank Menatep SA has been mixed
with the affairs of members of the Russian oligarchy and criminal
organizations, such as Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Alexander
Konanykhine. It is also related to another mafia figure, Semyon
Mogilvich
[asa Mogilevich], called the godfather of organized crime in Russia.
The complaint cites the Avisma case which it says involved fraud and
money laundering whereby tens of millions of dollars were diverted from
Avisma. In the mid-90s, Menatep was the majority owner of Avisma, a
manufacturer of titanium, a substance used in airplanes.
[ . . . ]
===================================================
http://www.infoukes.com/lists/politics/2001/02/0453.html
Mikhail Khodorkovsky's Looting of Avisma/Ukraine Financed Takeover
of Yukos
====================================================
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=%22The+money+plane%22,friedman&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=3F041725.8A69893E%40direct.ca&rnum=4
New York Magazine
22Jan1996 (pp.22-36)
The Money Plane
By Robert I.Friedman
===================================================
http://www.yaleherald.com/archive/xxxii/10.26.01/news/p3.html
Yale Herald
U.S. suit against Harvard seeks $120 million
BY TED DISKANT
===================================================
http://www.harvard-magazine.com/archive/00nd/nd00_jhj_2.html
John Harvard's Journal
Russian Fallout
===================================================
Harvard Crimson
17Aug01
Lawsuits Continue o Pursue Summers After Leaving D.C.
By David H. Gellis
Crimson Staff Writer
===================================================