Section: Kleptocracy Initiative (USA)
Kleptocracy Daily: September 26, 2017
Russia probe: Those funding Trump’s legal team include “a billionaire investor, a property developer seeking U.S. government visas and a Ukrainian-born American who has made billions of dollars doing business with Russian oligarchs.” (WSJ) Australia has begun returning allegedly stolen cash to China under a joint working group established...
Kleptocracy Weekly: September 22, 2017
Anonymous companies: “The federal government should do more to push back against the states that are helping transform the United States into a global offshore haven—and they should start to publicize the criminals, arms dealers, and kleptocrats that are taking advantage…” Casey Michel advocates an end to beneficial ownership secrecy. (Foreign...
Kleptocracy Daily: September 22, 2017
China: A major new research paper by Anne-Marie Brady delves into Beijing’s aggressive political influence operations worldwide, using New Zealand as a particularly troubling case study. (Summary here). (Wilson Center, NZ Herald) Bannon in Beijing: Steve Bannon secretly met with Wang Qishan, China’s anti-graft chief and the...
Kleptocracy Daily: September 21, 2017
Manafort: Trump’s former campaign manager reportedly offered “private briefings” to oligarch Oleg Deripaska during the campaign. Despite being under investigation,Manafort is still lobbying for foreign interests. (WaPo, NYT) Enablers: “Spray luminol across London’s major PR houses, and you’ll see similar blood spatters,”...
Kleptocracy Daily: September 18, 2017
Compiled by Nate Sibley Trump/Russia: KI Advisory Council member Michael Weiss investigates the finances of Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer who met with Donald Trump Jr. Kyle Freeny, a former Justice Department lawyer who worked on the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative, has joined Robert Mueller’s investigation. Squire...
Kleptocracy Daily: September 12, 2017
Russia is using anonymous companies and smuggling networks to undercut U.S. sanctions on North Korea. Pyongyang is also trying to acquire cryptocurrencies to dodge sanctions. (WaPo, Bloomberg) Spain is investigating the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in Luxembourg for money laundering. (NYT) Rep. Ed Royce, Chairman of the House Foreign...
Kleptocracy Weekly: September 15, 2017
New: How Non-State Actors Export Kleptocratic Norms to the West, a KI/Hudson Institute report by Ilya Zaslavskiy. Fighting back: We live in an era of authoritarian influence, writes Thorsten Benner. How should democracies respond? (Foreign Affairs) Global Magnitsky: An international consortium of NGOs has recommended 15 cases for designation...
Kleptocracy Daily: September 15, 2017
Fighting back: We live in an era of authoritarian influence, writes Thorsten Benner. How should democracies respond? (Foreign Affairs) Anonymous companies: At a Helsinki Commission hearing on Russian disinformation yesterday, Molly McKew responded to Sen. Whitehouse’s question on U.S. shell firms: “The anonymous movement of money… into...
Kleptocracy Daily: September 1, 2017
A Florida lobbying firm has been hired by a Turkish government-controlled bank implicated in a major Iranian money laundering scheme by the U.S. Justice Department. (Daily Caller) Gerhard Schröder is pressing on with plans to join the board of Rosneft, despite mounting criticism. (AP) China is rolling back Western global influence through a...
Advisory Council
The Kleptocracy Initiative has welcomed some distinguished new members to its Advisory Council. Michael Mandelbaum, Minxin Pei, Andrew Wedeman, Michael Weiss, Margaret Whitehead, and Ilya Zaslavaskiy join a team of distinguished experts and thought leaders from the fields of policymaking, academia, and journalism. The Advisory Council supports...
