9 Responses to “A very close friend of Putin’s”

• #1

  Lady Mondegreen

  June 9, 2017 at 6:38 pm

  Reportedly Kasowitz is the best Trump can do, because high-profile lawyers won’t work for him. “The guy won’t pay and he won’t listen.”

  https://www.yahoo.com/news/four-top-law-firms-turned-requests-represent-trump-122423972.html
• #2

  Rob

  June 9, 2017 at 8:36 pm

  Wait. You’re telling us that Trump’s personal lawyer, whose he is using to refute charges he has ties to Russia, himself has deep ties to Russia? That would be priceless, if it wasn’t gob smackingly stupid.
• #3

  Acolyte of Sagan

  June 9, 2017 at 9:00 pm

  Lady M, I read about that yesterday but can’t remember where. One thing that the report you linked to is missing is the back-story to the ‘won’t pay’ part. It seems that some of the lawyers used in the past by Trump to handle cases of his non-payment to contractors then had to sue him themselves for non-payment of their bills. That could turn into an infinite regress all by itself.
• #4

  Dave Ricks

  June 9, 2017 at 9:25 pm

  Lady M beat me to that quote from her link, so I’ll add a link to Washington Monthly where Martin Lognman paraphrased that source to say Why No Lawyers Will Represent Trump:

  1. They won’t get paid.

  2. Their client wouldn’t follow their advice.

  3. They represent clients who have been or might be subpoenaed in money laundering aspects of the case.

  4. It would destroy the image and reputation of their firm.

  5. It would ‘kill’ efforts to recruit top lawyers to their firm.

  6. They’ll be washing their hair that year (“I’m too busy to represent the POTUS.”)

  7. He can’t be saved.

  To me, that’s a damning list. Under ordinary circumstances, I can’t think of anything more prestigious for a law firm than to be able to say that when the shit hits the fan, they’re the ones who take the call from the president. But, with this president, they’re not even confident that the client won’t stiff them on their bill. They’re also savvy enough to realize that the Trump Organization is up to its ears in money laundering and that this will create a conflict with the large banking institutions they represent. And Trump is so toxic, guilty, and unsympathetic that simply advocating on his behalf would cause people to shun and disdain their whole organization. Plus, they’d lose the case anyway in part because their advice wouldn’t be followed.
• #5

  Ophelia Benson

  June 10, 2017 at 3:08 am

  Maybe Dershowitz will take him on…
• #6

  Your Name's not Bruce?

  June 10, 2017 at 6:56 am

  And there’s this:

  http://www.rawstory.com/2016/10/trumps-own-bankruptcy-lawyers-say-he-lies-so-much-they-could-only-meet-with-him-in-pairs/
• #7

  Stewart

  June 10, 2017 at 8:54 am

  https://www.facebook.com/144310995587370/photos/a.271728576178944.71555.144310995587370/1563574243661031/?type=3&theater
• #8

  Dave Ricks

  June 11, 2017 at 12:04 am

  The phrase money laundering is starting to get traction (e.g. in the pages Lady Mondegreen and I linked above). Adam Davidson’s extensive New Yorker article about the Trump Tower Baku mentions launder eight times, and his article was cited in this letter:

  March 30, 2017

  Dear Secretary Mnuchin, Attorney General Sessions, and Director Comey:

  We are writing to express serious concerns about the questions raised by a March 13, 2017 New Yorker magazine article by Adam Davidson entitled, “Donald Trump’s Worst Deal.” We urge you to investigate the questions it raises about: 1) potential violations by the Trump Organization of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA); 2) the possibility that one of the construction entities involved with the developers of the project may have been an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) front organization; and 3) whether the IRGC may have been the ultimate source of certain payments made to the Trump Organization, which would constitute a clear violation of US sanctions law.

  Mr. Davidson’s article chronicles the Trump Organization’s relationship wth Azerbaijan’s Mammadov family in their joint development of the Trump Tower in Baku. It appears that the lack of due diligence by the Trump Organization described in the article exposed President Trump and his organization to notoriously corrupt Azerbaijani oligarchs, and may also have exposed the Trump Organization to the IRGC. Even though the Trump Organization appears to have withdrawn from the Baku Tower deal, serious questions remain unanswered about the Trump Organization’s potential criminal liability. Therefore, we would appreciate your response to the following questions regarding the laws under your enforcement purview.

  Department of Justice

  The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) was enacted to establish anti-corruption controls for business dealings with foreign officials. Since the business relationships described in the Davidson article could involve violations of the FCPA, we urge the Department to assess whether any violations of law occurred. In particular, we ask that you determine he following:

  1. Whether the Trump Organization failed to conduct appropriate FCPA due diligence in assessing business relationships with the Mammadov family (including Ziya Mammadov, the Azeri Minister of Transportation who is a billionaire despite a reported government salary of $12,000 annually) and prospects for the Trump Tower project, involving Ziya’s son Anar, and Ziya’s brother Elton Mammadov, an influential Member of Parliament. Such failures may constitute potential FCPA violations.

  2. Whether the Trump Organization acted with willful blindness regarding its business partners’ illicit acts in the Trump Tower Baku dealings, including the Mammadov family, and whether the Trump Organization could face criminal prosecution.

  3. If the Justice Department determines that no investigation is necessary, please explain why not.

  Department of the Treasury

  Mr. Davidson’s article details the relationships that exist between the Mammadov family and the IRGC, and between what is described as a possible IRGC-controlled construction firm (the Azarpassillo firm) and the Mammadovs, and the Trump Organization. These relationships raise serious questions about whether the Trump Organization may have become entangled with an IRGC front organization in violation of U.S. sanctions. We urge you to investigate the Trump Organization’s foreign partners in the Trump Tower Baku deal, as well as the internal controls of the Trump Organization, and provide us with your conclusions, where appropriate. In particular:

  1. We request a briefing, in coordination with the Director of National Intelligence, on any relationship between the Mammadov family and the IRGC, as well as the Mammadov family’s relationship to the Azarpassillo firm, its chairman Keyumars Darvishi, and his family, and their relationship to the IRGC.

  2. We ask you to direct he Office of Foreign Assets Control to open an investigation into whether the Trump Organization maintained proper compliance controls in this case, and to assess whether or not the Trump Organization violated US sanctions law by conducting transactional activity with a group linked to the IRGC.

  Thank you for your attention to this matter. We look forward to hearing from you.

  Sincerely,

  Sherrod Brown, Ranking Member, Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs

  Ben Cardin, Ranking Member, Committee on Foreign Relations

  Dianne Feinstein, Ranking Member, Committee on the Judiciary

  cc: Mike Piwowar, Acting Chairman, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
• #9

  Ophelia Benson

  June 11, 2017 at 5:07 pm

  Trump just isn’t going to be able to fire people fast enough to make all this go away.