"Money flowing through the network included cash that can be linked to some of the most notorious frauds committed during Vladimir Putin’s presidency.
In all, it is estimated that $4.6bn (£3.5bn) was sent to Europe and the US from a Russian-operated network of 70 offshore companies with accounts in Lithuania.
Shared with media partners including the Guardian, the data represents one of the largest ever banking leaks."
..........
“This is the pipe through which the proceeds of kleptocracy flow from Russia to the west,” said the anti-corruption campaigner Bill Browder.
For years, Browder has been trying to trace what happened to $230m stolen from the Moscow tax office by a gang that took control of subsidiaries of his investment fund, Hermitage Capital. Evidence from the leak suggests some of the proceeds moved through this network."
cramer said: "More European banks are being drawn into money-laundering allegations centered on dirty Russian money, adding to the scandal in an industry still recovering from the financial crisis. Initially centered on C" itemscope="itemscope" itemprop="StoryLink" title="Company Overview">Danske Bank A/S in Denmark and Sweden’s Swedbank AB, allegations of suspicious transfers widened this week to include Raiffeisen Bank International AG in Austria and several Dutch institutions. Danske has lost half its market value since admitting its role in a money laundering scandal in 2016." .......... "Raiffeisen Bank International AG led declines in European banking shares on Tuesday -- slumping as much as 15 percent -- after Bill Browder’s Hermitage Fund said the bank ignored warning signs that would have helped stop the laundering of funds from Russian criminal activity. Dutch banks fell after a report that the three largest were used to move cash from Russia." .......... "Still, the new revelations and prior reports paint a picture of Nordic banks that, often via their Baltic units, became hubs for Russian criminals who channeled funds to the West. Nordea Bank Abp allegedly handled about 700 million euros ($793 million) in potentially dirty money, some of it linked to the death of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, according to Finnish broadcaster YLE on Monday." https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-05/dirty-money-scandal-widens-with-reports-on-nordea-and-lithuania?cmpid=BBD030519_BIZ&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=190305&utm_campaign=bloombergdaily
Browder pretends to be a humanitarian whistleblower. Also, Magnitsky was an accountant, not a lawyer. They can talk about "dirty Russian money" but there is zero evidence presented in this article.
I will probably have more to post on things related to Browder's efforts which this time are rolling up to Prince Charles.
Remember the offshore conference with the unintelligible videos? They published an audio version, "The Sergei Magnitsky Case: Fact vs. Fiction" which is can be heard clearly. Unfortunately you can't see the slides. I'm listening to it now so I will probably not comment until tomorrow. Here's the link:
Today, or tomorrow I’ll be posting my own “findings” on the various Russian laundromats as an answer to one of nan’s questions. It’s not super exciting, but it will be written by me and will have links.
ridski said: Today, or tomorrow I’ll be posting my own “findings” on the various Russian laundromats as an answer to one of nan’s questions. It’s not super exciting, but it will be written by me and will have links.
That sounds great, but let's first post some basic articles from the Guardian on the Browder-HSBC related laundromat just to give some background information for our "listening audience." It's a big topic with lots of off-shoots. I'll post those in a bit, after I have one more thing to say.
Lucy Komisar posted an article related to the audio file of the Offshore Alert Browder/Magnitsky panel. She also announced that there would be another session April 30th with Alex Krainer and Jamison Firestone:
Here is Lucy's article, which includes a link to the audio file. I would encourage everyone to listen to it, although it's a bit frustrating with out the visuals. There is a combative question and answer session at the end, where they go over some of Jamison Firestone's issues, which Jamie Ross was keen on getting answered.
Offshore Alert Browder/Magnitsky panel, London, Nov 2018
It was called “The Sergei Magnitsky Case: Fact vs. Fiction.” Andrei and I spoke fact, Firestone repeated Browder’s fiction!
There are a few photos, but it isn’t a video. It runs for two hours.
I start at about 6 minutes in, followed by Andrei and then Firestone. I focus on Browder’s corruption: how Hermitage was set up on Mossack Fonseca/Panama Papers shell companies, his partners, his tax evasion schemes, and more. Did you know that his Russian “companies” were listed at an address with more than 1000 companies? And it wasn’t a skyscraper!
Andrei deals with the tax refund fraud and other issues. Firestone repeats the Browder fabrications!
The audience was mostly lawyers, accountants and others who deal with offshore frauds.
And also Euan Grant, who introduced himself as being from the Institute for Statecraft, which we know as part of the UK Foreign Office-funded anti-Russian Integrity Initiative. Its site was hacked last year and the documents revealed. Among the people listed in its “clusters” of operatives is William Browder.
Ok, now moving on to Russian money laundering with an emphasis on Bill Browder and HSBC. I got interested in this topic from following a guy on twitter called "Mr. Ethical" (aka Nicholas Wilson) who was an HSBC whistleblower and continues to research and expose them.
Nicholas does not trust the mainstream media accounts of these laundering activities, especially in relation to HSBC.
But, first we have to look at some of the mainstream articles to get acquainted with the participants and terms, etc. and these are the recommended files:
Wilson does not trust the MSM and has appeared on RT. LOL the "reporters" you chose are fascinating! Do you ever have any non-RT related reporters?
The obsession that people like you and Wilson have over Browder borders on creepy. They never address ANY of the corruption other then Browder - it's like none exists. I admit it is fascinating to watch people essentially lobbying for the oligarchs to get their money back. I hope they're at least getting payments from the likes of Kilimnick for their work.
jamie said: Wilson does not trust the MSM and has appeared on RT. LOL the "reporters" you chose are fascinating! Do you ever have any non-RT related reporters? The obsession that people like you and Wilson have over Browder borders on creepy. They never address ANY of the corruption other then Browder - it's like none exists. I admit it is fascinating to watch people essentially lobbying for the oligarchs to get their money back. I hope they're at least getting payments from the likes of Kilimnick for their work.
imho, the whole Russia/Putin strategy is because of money, specifically the sanctions. They put out a blizzard of claims attacking Browder, as a way to undercut the Magnitsky sanctions. They don't really care about Browder himself, but if going after him helps their anti-sanction goal, they'll do it.
Same with Trump as President. When people point to such-and-such foreign policy move by Trump to say, "See, that's not what Putin wants", I think they're missing the point. Trump made it clear that he wanted to modify the sanctions, if not get rid of them. All signs in the "Trump Tower Moscow" storyline point to Putin dangling Moscow bank participation in front of Trump - which would require eliminating the sanctions.
Happened to come across this on YouTube--Andrei Nekrasov talking about Russia in the 90's and how Bill Browder was able to take advantage of that and other aspects of the case.
jamie said: Wilson does not trust the MSM and has appeared on RT. LOL the "reporters" you chose are fascinating! Do you ever have any non-RT related reporters? The obsession that people like you and Wilson have over Browder borders on creepy. They never address ANY of the corruption other then Browder - it's like none exists. I admit it is fascinating to watch people essentially lobbying for the oligarchs to get their money back. I hope they're at least getting payments from the likes of Kilimnick for their work.
Nothing you say here makes any sense. I have posted lots of information from varied sources. As I've said many times, if the mainstream media did it's job I would not have to post from alternative news sources, including RT. The mainstream news excepts Bill Browder's story without question. That's why I started this thread.
As for Wilson, you can not have even looked over the material I posted, as he hardly mentions Browder at all until recently. He's a British guy, a whistleblower who lost his job who has spent the last 14+ years investigating HSBC. He thinks HSBC can be connected to every major financial scandal--they are that crooked. He's not what you would call a "Putin Apologist" either as far as I can tell. So your idea that these people only focus on Browder is nonsense. I focus on Browder because that's the topic of this thread. Only lately has Wilson been interested in Browder when his connections to HSBC and the Integrity Initiative became suspicious. Remember I had some posts where I said all three of my threads were converging. Wilson is the one pulling the threads together. Here's a recent article:
Integrity Initiative, Browder & The HSBC Connection
Nicholas has been campaigning for 13 years after blowing the whistle on a High Street fraud of excessive bank charges applied to store cards administered by HSBC. He has recently been vindicated by a Financial Conduct Authority ruling and HSBC have had to begin paying back some of the money defrauded from customers. He was dubbed “Mr. Ethical” by his boss at the time for refusing to defraud debtors. In this first of several interviews for Real Media, he connects Government funding and the security services to the recently revealed psyops outfit, Institute for Statecraft and its ‘integrity initiative’. He asks whether there might be a connection with the suspicious death of accountant Sergei Magnitsky, who was working for the Hermitage Fund there. HSBC bankrolled and jointly managed the Hermitage Fund with Bill Browder, who appears in Institute of Statecraft’s documents. Browder, convicted of tax fraud in Russia connected with the Magnitsky affair, has spent years pointing the finger at the Russians over both the killing and the disappearance of nearly quarter of a billion pounds, but a film by Andrei Nekrasov casts suspicion on Browder and HSBC. If the film is to be believed, it would make sense that Browder is involved with a shadowy group set up to counter Russian “disinformation”.
jamie said: Wilson does not trust the MSM and has appeared on RT. LOL the "reporters" you chose are fascinating! Do you ever have any non-RT related reporters? The obsession that people like you and Wilson have over Browder borders on creepy. They never address ANY of the corruption other then Browder - it's like none exists. I admit it is fascinating to watch people essentially lobbying for the oligarchs to get their money back. I hope they're at least getting payments from the likes of Kilimnick for their work.
imho, the whole Russia/Putin strategy is because of money, specifically the sanctions. They put out a blizzard of claims attacking Browder, as a way to undercut the Magnitsky sanctions. They don't really care about Browder himself, but if going after him helps their anti-sanction goal, they'll do it. Same with Trump as President. When people point to such-and-such foreign policy move by Trump to say, "See, that's not what Putin wants", I think they're missing the point. Trump made it clear that he wanted to modify the sanctions, if not get rid of them. All signs in the "Trump Tower Moscow" storyline point to Putin dangling Moscow bank participation in front of Trump - which would require eliminating the sanctions.
Who are you saying put out a "blizzard of claims attacking Browder"?
Also, are you seriously thinking the Trump Tower meeting really involved Putin? For real?
nan said: Happened to come across this on YouTube--Andrei Nekrasov talking about Russia in the 90's and how Bill Browder was able to take advantage of that and other aspects of the case.
Yes, we all know that story. But Magnitsky's still dead.
nan said: Happened to come across this on YouTube--Andrei Nekrasov talking about Russia in the 90's and how Bill Browder was able to take advantage of that and other aspects of the case.
Yes, we all know that story. But Magnitsky's still dead.
True, but he was not a lawyer, or a whistleblower, or close friend of BB or beaten to death and, from what I've read, could have been released had Bill Browder paid his back taxes.
nan said: Happened to come across this on YouTube--Andrei Nekrasov talking about Russia in the 90's and how Bill Browder was able to take advantage of that and other aspects of the case.
Yes, we all know that story. But Magnitsky's still dead.
True, but he was not a lawyer, or a whistleblower, or close friend of BB or beaten to death and, from what I've read, could have been released had Bill Browder paid his back taxes.
So Browder didn’t pay the taxes on the $934MM pulled from Russia in 2016?
jamie said: nan does not care about Magnitsky at all - or about crimes by anyone unrelated to Browder. Again - please provide Lucy and Andrei's answers to these:
I already said to listen to the Q and A at the end of the panel discussion. There is a heated debate between Lucy/Andrei and Jamison and they discuss many of those. There will be another panel with Lucy, Alex & Jamison so hopefully we will get a better video with good audio.
jamie said: Wilson does not trust the MSM and has appeared on RT. LOL the "reporters" you chose are fascinating! Do you ever have any non-RT related reporters? The obsession that people like you and Wilson have over Browder borders on creepy. They never address ANY of the corruption other then Browder - it's like none exists. I admit it is fascinating to watch people essentially lobbying for the oligarchs to get their money back. I hope they're at least getting payments from the likes of Kilimnick for their work.
imho, the whole Russia/Putin strategy is because of money, specifically the sanctions. They put out a blizzard of claims attacking Browder, as a way to undercut the Magnitsky sanctions. They don't really care about Browder himself, but if going after him helps their anti-sanction goal, they'll do it. Same with Trump as President. When people point to such-and-such foreign policy move by Trump to say, "See, that's not what Putin wants", I think they're missing the point. Trump made it clear that he wanted to modify the sanctions, if not get rid of them. All signs in the "Trump Tower Moscow" storyline point to Putin dangling Moscow bank participation in front of Trump - which would require eliminating the sanctions.
Who are you saying put out a "blizzard of claims attacking Browder"? Also, are you seriously thinking the Trump Tower meeting really involved Putin? For real?
You have to admit that there's a lot of anti-Browder stuff (Jamie's post with the picture of the "Big Board of Questions" is an example). But the "blizzard" part of that sentence isn't the point; the point is that Browder is being attacked as a means to reverse the sanctions.
I wrote about "Moscow Trump Tower", not the "Trump Tower meeting". That being said, that meeting also was about sanctions. When the Russians say they want to talk about adoptions, that means they want to talk about the blocking of adoptions by Russia in response to the sanction. So, yes, that meeting ultimately involved Putin as well.
nohero said: You have to admit that there's a lot of anti-Browder stuff (Jamie's post with the picture of the "Big Board of Questions" is an example). But the "blizzard" part of that sentence isn't the point; the point is that Browder is being attacked as a means to reverse the sanctions. I wrote about "Moscow Trump Tower", not the "Trump Tower meeting". That being said, that meeting also was about sanctions. When the Russians say they want to talk about adoptions, that means they want to talk about the blocking of adoptions by Russia in response to the sanction. So, yes, that meeting ultimately involved Putin as well.
Jamie's "Big Board of Questions" is from Jamison Firestone, a Browder supporter and former business partner. There is anti-Browder stuff on this thread because the topic is Browder as a Hoax, but I'm not personally trying to end the sanctions. Of the handful of people who who pursue the truth about Browder, I can't think of one that is motivated primarily by the sanctions. For most, including myself, it is alarm about the Cold War and neoMcCarthysism and not wanting hostile engagement with a nuclear power.
The Trump Tower meeting was also not about the sanctions specifically, although they were mentioned. Lucy Komisar wrote an article on Paul Manifort's notes for the meeting, which were skimmed over in the mainstream media because they wanted to get excited about "collusion" but the real focus was Browder as crook: https://www.thekomisarscoop.com/2018/05/what-paul-manaforts-trump-tower-notes-mean/
nan said: That sounds great, but let's first post some basic articles from the Guardian on the Browder-HSBC related laundromat just to give some background information for our "listening audience." It's a big topic with lots of off-shoots. I'll post those in a bit, after I have one more thing to say.
As an FYI, work got in the way of research this week, so I won't be posting my "findings" on the $230MM and various Russian laundromats. Suffice to say, the one Browder is likely involved in is not the only one, and I'm still trying to find as much 1st and 2nd source data as I can. So maybe something next week before I go to wish goodbye to my home country.
ridski said: As an FYI, work got in the way of research this week, so I won't be posting my "findings" on the $230MM and various Russian laundromats. Suffice to say, the one Browder is likely involved in is not the only one, and I'm still trying to find as much 1st and 2nd source data as I can. So maybe something next week before I go to wish goodbye to my home country.
Sorry about your country - maybe you should start a thread on that. We can wait for the findings while introducing the basics. I'm sure money laundering goes beyond Browder, but on this thread that's the focus. I posted some basic mainstream media sources, recommended by NIcholas Wilson, to introduce the topic:
Also, here is a video about HSBC and their history of corruption, which was revealed by Wilson and others. No mention of Browder, but important background info.
A Danish Libertarian (CATO Institute Fellow) figures out Bill Browder is a hoax. He has the same experience we see whenever Browder gets accused. Browder immediately starts calling his questioner a foreign agent. This guy was not so easily labeled.
Bill Browder and the hunt for foreign agents (translated so not perfect syntax - and I put in whole article because otherwise it is in Danish)
In his own words, Sergey Magnitsky was neither Bill Browder’s lawyer nor a whistleblower. It is in his witness statements. Nor was the relationship between Browder and Magnitsky quite as close as Browder would like it to seem.
Bill Browder is a PR genius. Whenever anyone challenges his facts or questions his motives, they are branded as Russian agents, the Kremlin’s puppets or Putin’s useful idiots. This is useful in deflecting attention away from Browder and towards Evil itself: Putin, the Kremlin, the FSB and the Russian state.
It is also a well-known trick. If you can present your story as a fight of good against evil, as an image that is purely black and white, you don’t need to worry about the devil in the details. Browder has excelled in doing this.
And that was what I was trying to bring attention to in my comment piece on Browder and the gaps and misinformation in his story.
Consequently, I am somewhat satisfied to read his response, as it clearly illustrates my point.
Browder uses nearly a third of his response to speculate about my motives and who I might have been hired by.
I have been there before. Once, in an angry outburst, Mikhail Gorbachev’s close advisor Anatoly Chernyaev called me a CIA agent. During the Muhammed crisis, I was branded a fascist, a Nazi and a neo-conservative, and I was given the special honour of being called an agent of both the Mossad, the CIA and the FSB.
FSB or Danske Bank?
Browder follows the same course of action.
»Is Rose a Russian agent?« he asks.
Having studied my CV, he finds it unlikely. Then he suggests I may be under the sway of Danske Bank.
Well. I thank Mr. Browder for demonstrating an archetypal example of his approach to handling criticism.
Browder keeps repeating a string of undocumented claims about Sergey Magnitsky, an accountant and tax advisor who died a painful death in a Russian prison in 2009: that Magnitsky was his »Russian lawyer«, that Magnitsky was a whistleblower and that on 16 November 2009, Magnitsky was brutally murdered in his prison cell by eight police officers.
Let us address these claims one by one:
Several international media, such as the Financial Times, have noted that Magnitsky was not a lawyer. Magnitsky studied economics and finance and in his own words was the registered CEO and founder of some of Browder’s companies. Yet Magnitsky had no legal training and consequently was not licensed to practise law. This is relevant to understanding the professional relationship between Browder and Magnitsky, as their business relationship was the reason they were both charged with tax fraud.
It is clear that Magnitsky died a painful, unjust and tragic death. He was treated inhumanly and had bruises on his body, but these have not been directly tied to the cause of death. For this reason, unlike Browder, I do not think it possible to conclude that Magnitsky was beaten to death by eight police officers in his cell. A medical review by Western doctors, prepared by Physicians for Human Rights at Browder’s request, states that Magnitsky suffered from gall stones and that he was denied medical treatment in custody. They conclude that this was a significant cause of death but state nothing about him being beaten to death.
Was Magnitsky a whistleblower? That is not the impression you get from Magnitsky’s own statements to the Russian police. He does mention a number of names, including the two police officers whom Browder later identified as central figures in the alleged theft of 230 million dollars, but he does not accuse them of being accomplices to the theft. They are mentioned only as investigators and, most importantly, at that stage Russian authorities had already started to investigate the alleged fraud following a complaint made to an anti-corruption council under the Russian president’s office. So Magnitsky did not blow the whistle, as claimed by Browder. Others had already done so.
Listening to Browder, you get the impression that he had a close relationship with Magnitsky. That is not the picture that emerges on closer scrutiny. When Magnitsky was first interrogated in connection with a tax case against Browder and his partners, Magnitsky stated that he had not seen Browder for three years and did not know where he was.
Tax fraud charges
And three years later, when Russian authorities brought criminal charges against Browder and Magnitsky for tax fraud, Browded responded with a video. At that time, Magnitsky had spent several months in prison, and he died shortly after. But Magnitsky gets only a ten-second mention at the very end of Browder’s ten-minute video.
What changed after Magnitsky’s death? I do not know, but it is undeniable that the martyrdom of Magnitsky has been Browder’s best weapon in his fight against extradition to Russia.
I salute the fight against human rights abuses and personally was active in this fight in the former Soviet Union. But I fear that, by relying on untruths, Browder’s campaign could undermine this fight rather than support it.
Isn't being denied medical treatment in a freezing prison cell the same or worse than being beaten? Does being an accountant merit being locked up incommunicado? Is this case even near the same ballpark as annexing a nation, poisoning people in foreign nations, disrupting our elections and throwing the EU into disarray? Your worldview is strange.
nohero said: Anyone who uses the "Magnitsky was not a lawyer" argument as one of their points is someone I'm less likely to listen to. B
Why would you say that? It's an important argument. In his book, "Red Notice," Browder says he hired Magnistsky, the best tax lawyer in Moscow who was rumored to have never lost a case. Meanwhile Magnitsky had been his tax accountant for ten years helping to set up his schemes.
nan said: Why would you say that? It's an important argument. In his book, "Red Notice," Browder says he hired Magnistsky, the best tax lawyer in Moscow who was rumored to have never lost a case. Meanwhile Magnitsky had been his tax accountant for ten years helping to set up his schemes. So that's a big Browder Whopper.
I say that because it assumes a US model of the Russian legal and administrative system, as if they're the same. They're not. It's less a sign of a "big Browder Whopper" than it is of the limited knowledge of the people who are convinced by that argument.
nohero said: I say that because it assumes a US model of the Russian legal and administrative system, as if they're the same. They're not. It's less a sign of a "big Browder Whopper" than it is of the limited knowledge of the people who are convinced by that argument.
So, in Russia it's common for an accountant who has worked for you for ten years to really be a just hired lawyer who is rumored to have never lost a case?
"Money flowing through the network included cash that can be linked to some of the most notorious frauds committed during Vladimir Putin’s presidency.
In all, it is estimated that $4.6bn (£3.5bn) was sent to Europe and the US from a Russian-operated network of 70 offshore companies with accounts in Lithuania.
The details have emerged from 1.3m banking transactions obtained by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and the Lithuanian website 15min.lt.
Shared with media partners including the Guardian, the data represents one of the largest ever banking leaks."
..........
“This is the pipe through which the proceeds of kleptocracy flow from Russia to the west,” said the anti-corruption campaigner Bill Browder.
For years, Browder has been trying to trace what happened to $230m stolen from the Moscow tax office by a gang that took control of subsidiaries of his investment fund, Hermitage Capital. Evidence from the leak suggests some of the proceeds moved through this network."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/04/banking-leak-exposes-russian-network-link-to-prince-charles-troika-laundromat