Manafort, a fixture in Republican politics for decades, was convicted of five counts of tax fraud, one count of failure to file a report of foreign bank and financial accounts and two counts of bank fraud.
Is Trump going to pardon Maria Butina, too? Because she is the one that brought money into the USA from the central bank of Russia (click here).
The facts about Butina is that her benefactor was using two Russian banks, what was the other one, Alpha Bank?
...Suspected Russian (click here) agent Maria Butina received financial support from Russian billionaire Konstantin Nikolaev, according to a source familiar with Butina's congressional testimony. She also, according to Reuters, attended meetings in 2015 with senior officials at the U.S. Federal Reserve and Treasury Department, indicating she was more than just a graduate student as her lawyer asserts....
Really!
January 18, 2018By Peter Stone and Greg Gordon
Konstantin Nikoleav (click here for his position on USA company, American Ethane)
Washington - The FBI (click here) is investigating whether a top Russian banker with ties to the Kremlin illegally funneled money to the National Rifle Association to help Donald Trump win the presidency, two sources familiar with the matter have told McClatchy.
FBI counterintelligence investigators have focused on the activities of Alexander Torshin, the deputy governor of Russia’s central bank who is known for his close relationships with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and the NRA, the sources said.
It is illegal to use foreign money to influence federal elections.
It’s unclear how long the Torshin inquiry has been ongoing, but the news comes as Justice Department Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s sweeping investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election, including whether the Kremlin colluded with Trump’s campaign, has been heating up....
July 30, 2018
By Peter Stone and Greg Gordon
...Republican operative Paul Erickson (click here) also was involved in the financial dealings that drew investigators’ interest – transfers of money exceeding $10,000 to limited liability corporations, including two created in Erickson’s home state of South Dakota, the sources said. Both of these people, including one of the sources and a third individual, also spoke on condition of anonymity because of the confidential nature of the investigation.
Investigators at the Treasury Department received a number of Suspicious Activity Reports “relating to entities tied to Butina and Erickson and funds that were transferred to them,” including some that appear to have come from Russia, one of the people said. Financial institutions are required to flag unusually large movements of money for regulators, mainly to combat money laundering.
Prosecutors have said that Erickson, a longtime NRA member and fundraiser, and Butina were romantically involved, though she privately detested continuing that relationship. Erickson, who has not been charged in the Russia inquiry, is widely believed to be the figure identified as “U.S. Person 1” in an affidavit supporting the conspiracy indictment against Butina....
The representative of the Russian businessman, (click here) Konstantin Nikolayev, confirmed that before the beginning of 2015, Nikolayev provided financial support to Russian citizen Maria Butina who is accused of working as a foreign agent without registration in the US, the newspaper Kommersant reports. However, the spokesman emphasized that the financial aid was terminated after she left Russia.
“Between 2012 and 2014, he provided targeted funding to Mrs. Butina's social organization (the Right to Bear Arms movement) to support her projects in Russia... His interest and support were limited solely to projects in Russia and only within the given period,” the representative told the media.
Butina talked about Nikolayev’s financial support during her speech to the United States Senate Intelligence Committee. According to her, financial aid was contributed for Right to Bear Arms.
Nikolayev’s representative rejects the existence of any relationship with US President Donald Trump’s team. At the same time, The Washington Post reported that Andrei Nikolayev, the businessman’s son who studied in the US, was a volunteer at Trump's headquarters in 2016. According to the newspaper, he was seen at the Trump Hotel in Washington on the eve of the inauguration.
The FBI accuses Maria Butina of participating in a plot to conduct activities in favor of a foreign state on the territory of the United States....
