In a July 19 audio-taped interview with three reporters from The New York Times, a paper that has been disparaged by strongman President Donald Trump as a failing business reporting “fake news,” Trump had harsh words for the entire upper echelon of the Department of Justice. Trump lambasted Attorney General Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from the “Russia probe” and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein for being a secret Democrat from “Baltimore.” Trump also attacked Special Counsel Robert Mueller, former FBI director James Comey, and acting FBI director Andrew McCabe. Trump made it clear that he would have not chosen Sessions as his Attorney General had he known he would recuse himself from Russian investigatory matters.
The day following the interview, Trump floated the idea that he may pardon himself, members of his family, and business colleagues from any future indictments involving Mueller’s investigation. Earlier, in his interview with the Times, Trump indicated that he has set a “red line,” namely investigation of Trump’s business connections, over which Mueller will cross at his own peril. Trump held out the distinct possibility that he might fire Mueller as special counsel. Trump’s threats have created pandemonium within the Justice Department and FBI, as well as his own White House staff. Trump’s comments to the media resulted in the departure of Trump’s criminal defense legal team of longtime Trump real estate attorney Marc Kasowitz and his spokesman Mark Corallo.
The flurry of resignations and threats came after it was reported that Mueller was focusing his investigation on Trump’s business dealings, including the use of Trump-owned properties for money laundering activities. These Trump money laundering connections involving members of what the FBI calls the “Eurasian mafia,” were previously reported by WMR and the links are illustrated in our massive Trump Syndicate “Road Map.” WMR also previously reported that Trump’s primary vulnerability lies within his business dealings and not the links to members of the Russian government and security services.
In response to a question posed by the Times to Trump about charges of money laundering and Trump properties, the president responded, ” . . . it’s possible there’s a condo or something . . . so, you know, I sell a lot of condo units, and somebody from Russia buys a condo, who knows? I don’t make money from Russia.” Contrary to Trump’s assertion, it is not one person from Russia who has purchased a Trump condo, but dozens. Trump’s sale of condos to reputed Eurasians, including Russian mobsters, according to WMR’s research into Trump’s business empire, goes back decades. Trump outright owns 422 condos from New York City and southern Florida to Las Vegas and Honolulu. That does not include thousands of other condos in buildings bearing the Trump trademarked name, for which Trump receives licensing fees. These condo complexes are found in Panama, Seoul, Chicago, Toronto, and other locations.
There are reports that Mueller’s investigation is also focusing on the business activities of Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort. Here, too, one finds a massive web of real estate and other operations involving offshore shell companies, pass-throughs, and dodgy secret overseas bank accounts. Moreover, Kushner’s and Manafort’s business dealings are connected by solid lines to the operations of the Trump Organization. The major problem for Trump, Manafort, and Kushner is that many of their business associates have previously been investigated by the FBI and Department of Justice, as well as Interpol, for organized crime syndicate activities, including money laundering, smuggling, tax evasion, human trafficking, bribery, and price fixing.
The morning after Trump castigated Sessions and Rosenstein in his interview with the Times, Sessions and Rosenstein held a mid-morning news conference at the Justice Department. The Washington rumor mill was rife with reports that the two senior officials of Justice were going to tender their resignations in protest over Trump’s comments. However, Sessions and Rosenstein announced an action much more perilous to Trump. Sessions, Rosenstein, acting FBI director McCabe, and Rob Wainwright, the director of Europol, announced the takedown of the world’s largest criminal Dark Web markets, AlphaBay and Hansa. Dark Web servers in the Netherlands, Germany and Lithuania were seized by authorities. Tens of thousands of addresses of foreign buyers of stolen and fraudulent identification documents and access devices, counterfeit goods, heroin and fentanyl, malware and other computer hacking tools, firearms, child pornography, and fraudulent services were identified in some 40 countries around the world. One of AlphaBay’s key administrators, Canadian national Alexandre Cazes, was found dead in his Bangkok jail cell after his arrest by Thai authorities on July 5. Police claimed the cause of death was “suicide,” however, the Eurasian mafia is very powerful in Thailand and it has police officers on its payroll.
There are several connections between the Dark Web bazaar operators and the criminal syndicates involving Trump and Kushner, including money laundering banks specializing in crypto-currency transactions and offshore business entities. The morning after Trump’s threats to the Justice Department, Deutsche Bank, charged in the past with money laundering for Eurasian mob rings, including those connected to Trump, Kushner, and Manafort, agreed to hand over information on Trump’s business activities to Mueller. Mueller’s probe is likely extending to Trump’s fellow Mar-a-Lago member, billionaire, and Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. The Bank of Cyprus, where Ross served as vice president before joining Trump’s cabinet, is also a target of Mueller’s investigation, especially in relation to Trump’s and Manafort’s activities. The Bank of Cyprus’s chairman is Josef Ackerman, who just happens to be the former CEO of Deutsche Bank. A major shareholder in the Bank of Cyprus is Dmitry Rybolovlev, a Russian fertilizer oligarch who in 2008 purchased Trump’s mansion in Palm Beach, Florida for $95 million, much more than the assessed value at the time.
The “Eurasian Mafia” predominates in both real estate money laundering and the Dark Web. By not resigning from their jobs, the Justice Department leadership sent a stark warning to Trump. While Sessions recused himself from the Russia probe conducted by Comey and now being handled by Mueller, that did not include a criminal pursuit of the same Eurasian mob elements involved in Dark Web activities. A successful investigation by Mueller of Trump, Kushner, and Manafort will not be successful without the type of international cooperation shown in the Dark Web bazaar take down. Sessions, Rosenstein, McCabe, and Wainwright demonstrated to the Trump White House that it can be done. Trump’s personal legal team quit the very next day. The success at which the Dark Web illegal profiteers were rolled up and indicted can also be applied to the criminal real estate activities involving Trump and his associates. With that as DoJ’s official response to Trump’s threats, it is only a matter of time before indictments of key Trump associates are announced at a similar morning press conference.
Previously published in the Wayne Madsen Report.
Copyright © 2017 WayneMadenReport.com
Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and nationally-distributed columnist. He is the editor and publisher of the Wayne Madsen Report (subscription required).
