As readers of these pages will no doubt recall, back about three years ago, I wrote a whole bunch of articles about Trump's connection with a highly questionable business partner Felix Sater with what are believed to be Russian mob ties. At the time, during Robert Mueller's investigation, it looked like Sater might get indicted and go to prison -- in fact, even he was reported to be telling friends that he was preparing for that. It ended up not going that far, in part because restrictions were put on Mueller's efforts and that he was limited to only investigation matters connected to the 2016 election, not other areas of criminality. So, the past is past. Jump forward to yesterday, and this headline in RawStory -- "Stunning new allegations further connect Trump to Russian mobster." I saw that and immediately thought, "Oh, my, that can only be referring to one person. That has to be... It just has to." So, okay, guess who they are actually writing about. Just one guess. Yes! Felix Sater. He's ba-ack. Now, to be clear, this isn't exactly clear to me. On the surface, there doesn't appear to be a direct Trump connection -- just some sleazy money laundering deal that Sater set up with Russia on his own. And yes, as likely as it is that he wouldn't do something that major without Trump, there's still seemingly no direct connection. However, reading further, there is a definite connection connection of sorts to Trump. And also, this isn't mere rumors and ruminations -- there are documents that have been filed in federal cout. On the surface, this is the notable part of the story. They write -- Now there are stunning new allegations in federal court documents that this Russian criminal network with worldwide reach hired Felix Sater, one of Trump's closest associates, to hide a fortune stolen in Kazakhstan. Now, as I said, there's no "Trump" in there anywhere. However, if you keep reading deeper, you get to this little nugget -- "Some of the $440 million was intended to finance a Trump tower in Moscow, court papers show." And yes, this is the same Trump Tower that Trump kept insisting throughout the 2016 presidential campaign was not a deal and it did not exist and he had no dealings with Russia. None. It's also the same Trump Tower that Trump's then-lawyer told an aide to Russian leader Vladimir Putin that if the Tower was built, Putin would be given its $50 million penthouse. Gratis. Just as a way of saying, "Hey, thanks!" So, is Trump involved with this? The headline says so -- though RawStory headline's are notoriously overblown and clickbait. However, given that some of the money was meant for Trump Tower Moscow and given that a deal of this size by Sater wouldn't seem to be something he'd do on his own, but with Trump. So...I don't know. But I've felt for three years that there were really problematic issues for Trump with Felix Sater. And Sater has felt he would be going to prison. So...I don't know. We'll see. You can read the full story here. Watch this space.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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