Roger Stone gets commutation
10 July, 2020
covid delay, appeals for more
Convicted last June of seven felonies for obstructing a congressional inquiry and lying to investigators and trying to thwart the testimony of a witness, Stone now has until July 14 2020 to report to a federal prison camp in Jesup, Ga. That is, unless the president intervenes. A commutation would keep Stone from behind bars without wiping his record clean.
Attorneys for Stone on July 6 2020 asked an appellate court that his prison report date of July 14 be postponed to Sept. 3.
Facebook has shut down pages and accounts linked to Roger Stone. The network of more than 100 Facebook pages, accounts and Instagram accounts spent more than $300,000 on Facebook and Instagram ads to promote their posts. Some of the pages and accounts included false personas, an analysis commissioned by Facebook found.
[June 27 2020]
On Saturday morning, [ June 27 2020 ]Trump retweeted a post by a supporter linking to an article on a far-right site that made reference to the signatures that a petition to pardon Stone has received.
Federal Judge Amy Berman Jackson delayed the prison sentence of Trump ally Roger Stone for two weeks, and ordered him to spend that time at home, a de facto quarantine. She said this arrangement “will address the defendant’s stated medical concerns” and will also “protect the health of other inmates who share defendant’s anxiety over the potential introduction and spread of the virus at this now-unaffected facility.” There are currently no confirmed coronavirus cases at the prison. Stone must surrender at the prison on July 14. As Jackson’s order appeared on the court docket, Stone was on Fox Business Network, and suggested that the Justice Department was covering up the existence of a coronavirus outbreak at the prison where he’ll serve his sentence.
In a filing submitted June 23 2020 to U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, Seth Ginsberg, an attorney for Stone asked that the imprisonment date be extended to September 3.
“This motion is based on the exceptional circumstances arising from the serious and possibly deadly risk he would face in the close confines of a Bureau of Prisons facility, based on his age and medical conditions,”
Vance to appeal Manafort NYS dismissal
10 July, 2020
Prosecutors submitted paperwork outlining their appeal in April to the state court’s Appellate Division, but it was not posted to the docket until July 2 2020 because of coronavirus-related closures. Manafort was convicted in federal court on charges alleging he misled the U.S. government about lucrative foreign lobbying work, hid millions of dollars from tax authorities and encouraged witnesses to lie on his behalf.
Vance announced the state charges just minutes after Manafort’s sentencing in March 2019, saying in a statement at the time: “No one is beyond the law in New York.”
The New York indictment alleged Manafort gave false and misleading information in applying for residential mortgage loans, starting in 2015 and continuing until three days before Trump’s inauguration in 2017. Manafort was also charged with falsifying business records and conspiracy.
Deutsche Bank: no Trump documents until after election
10 July, 2020
Trump v. Deutsche Bank AG
Consolidated with:
Trump v. Mazars USA, LLP
Linked with:
Trump v. Vance
Docket No. Op. Below Argument Opinion Vote Author Term
19-760 2nd Cir. May 12, 2020
Tr.Aud. Jul 9, 2020 7-2 Roberts OT 2019
Holding: Although congressional subpoenas for the president’s information may be enforceable, the court below in this case did not take adequate account of the significant separation of powers concerns implicated by subpoenas from the House of Representatives seeking President Donald Trump’s financial records.
Michael Cohen back in custody
9 July, 2020
Jeffrey Levine, lawyer for Michael Cohen said he expected to be fitted with an ankle monitoring device as part of his home confinement.
While at the meeting, Levine said, they were presented with an agreement that would require Cohen to not speak with any reporters, refrain from cooperating with any film or book project, and avoid posting on social media while serving out the remainder of his three-year criminal sentence.
The agreement also would require Cohen to tell relatives and friends not to post on social media on his behalf.
“I’ve never seen any language like this in my life that would strip a person of their First Amendment rights to communicate with the media,” Levine told reporters waiting outside the courthouse.
[3 July 2020 to home confinement]
“I will not leave the area of my furlough without permission, with exception of traveling to the furlough destination, and returning to the institution,” the furlough form specifies. “I am authorized to be only in the area of the destination shown above and at ordinary stopovers or points on a direct route to or from that destination.”
[June 20 2020]
Michael Cohen will be released early from prison on May 21 2020 and is expected to serve out the remainder of his sentence at home. Trump had been irked by reports that Cohen was going to be released early. Cohen iworking on a tell-all book about his time working with Trump,
[May 2 2020 NOT ]
“Following promises and published expectations, Michael Cohen remains in effect in solitary confinement, under quarantine, rather than under home confinement as he was led to believe would occur yesterday, May 1,” Cohen’s legal advisor Lanny Davis said in a statement.
Michael Cohen will not be leaving prison to serve out the rest of his term in home confinement. Other prisoners at Otisville who were granted home confinement have also lost those privileges.
Two weeks ago, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) had notified Cohen that he would be released early from prison due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Cohen would have been allowed to serve the remainder of his sentence from home confinement.
[April 1 2020]
Michael Cohen will be released from federal prison to serve the remainder of his sentence in home confinement because of the coronavirus pandemic. He will remain under quarantine for 14 days before he is released. Federal statistics show 14 inmates and seven staff members at the prison have tested positive for the coronavirus. Cohen began serving his sentence last May and was scheduled to be released from prison in November 2021.
[December 8 2018 Cohen-Trump tape “sounds like a John Edwards case.” ]
In a court filing, prosecutors said former Trump lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen arranged the secret payments at the height of the 2016 campaign “in coordination with and at the direction of” Trump, a remarkable disclosure with potential political and legal ramifications for a president dogged by investigations. The payments are likely to become a target for House Democrats gearing up to investigate the president next year. It’s unclear whether Trump faces legal jeopardy over his role. At trial, John Edwards’s lawyers argued that the payments were aimed at hiding his affair with Rielle Hunter from Edwards’s wife, and were not an election related cover up. Jurors acquitted Edwards on one count related to a payment made after he had already suspended his campaign and deadlocked on five other counts. The judge declared a mistrial, and the Justice Department opted not to retry the case.
[July 25 2018]
Lanny Davis said to NBC News that the content of the Cohen-Trump tape “sounds like a John Edwards case.”
From a legal perspective, the more pressing question is whether the proposed payment to McDougal—whether in the form of cash or a check—would have represented a campaign expenditure, and whether the Trump campaign was planning to disclose it. Since the deal with American Media, Inc., the Enquirer’s parent company, appears not to have gone through, this issue may seem to be moot—but it might not be. Cohen’s payment of a hundred and thirty thousand dollars to the porn star Stormy Daniels, who also claims to have had an affair with Trump, did go through.
[ April 24 2012 Next Witness: Andrew Young, former aide to former U.S. Sen. and presidential candidate John Edwards ]
The 28,200-square-foot Edwards home in Orange County, main house is 10,400 square feet and has two garages. The recreation building, a red, barn-like building containing 15,600 square feet, is connected to the house by a closed-in and roofed structure of varying widths and elevations that totals 2,200 square feet. The main house is all on one level except for a 600-square-foot bedroom and bath area above the guest garage. The recreation building contains a basketball court, a squash court, two stages, a bedroom, kitchen, bathrooms, swimming pool, a four-story tower, and a room designated “John’s Lounge.”
Oct. 10, 2007: The National Enquirer publishes its first report on Edwards’ affair, but doesn’t release the name of the woman. Edwards’ spokesperson says the allegations are “false, absolute nonsense.”
Oct. 11, 2007: “The story is false. It’s completely untrue, ridiculous,” Edwards tells reporter.
Oct. 22, 2007: Edwards has been having an affair with his campaign staff videographer, Rielle Hunter, the Enquirer reports.
Dec. 12, 2007: A pregnant Hunter tells the Enquirer that Andrew Young, a longtime Edwards aide, is the father of the baby. “This has no relationship to nor does it involve John Edwards in any way,” Rielle says.
Dec. 31, 2007: The Enquirer reports that there is a massive cover-up taking place to protect the former senator.
Jan. 30, 2008: Edwards drops out of the race.
July 22, 2008: The Enquirer catches Edwards trying to leave the Beverly Hilton at 2:40 a.m. after visiting Hunter and their daughter.
July 23, 2008: “I don’t talk about these tabloids. They’re tabloid trash and just full of lies,” Edwards tells reporters in Houston.
August 8, 2008: Edwards admits to the affair, telling ABC News’ Bob Woodruff that his political success “fed a self-focus, an egotism, a narcissism that leads you to believe that you can do whatever you want.” But he denies again that the baby is his.
August 6, 2009: Hunter testifies before a grand jury about her relationship with Edwards.
Jan. 21, 2010: Edwards owns up to being the father of Hunter’s daughter. “It was wrong for me ever to deny she was my daughter, and, hopefully, one day, when she understands, she will forgive me,” he said in a statement.
Jan. 27, 2010: Reports emerge that Edwards and his wife Elizabeth have separated.
Jan. 28, 2010: Young tells ABC’s Bob Woodruff that he has a sex tape Edwards and Hunter made a few months before the Iowa caucuses.
Dec. 7, 2010: Elizabeth Edwards dies after battling cancer.
June 3, 2011: Edwards is indicted on six federal felony charges, including conspiring to violate campaign finance laws. more
Deutsche Bank, has agreed to $150 million penalty under a consent order, “failed to properly monitor account activity conducted on behalf of the registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein despite ample information that was publicly available concerning the circumstances surrounding Mr. Epstein’s earlier criminal misconduct.” Payments were made “to Russian models, payments for women’s school tuition, hotel and rent expenses, and (consistent with public allegations of prior wrongdoing) payments directly to numerous women with Eastern European surnames,” according to the department.
Also noted were Epstein’s “periodic suspicious cash withdrawals — in total, more than $800,000 over approximately four years,” the department said. https://www.dfs.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2020/07/ea20200706_deutsche_bank_consent_order.pdf
[September 22 2019 Deutsche Bank to report a meaningful profit in 2021 ]
Going forward, Deutsche Bank is expected to report significant restructuring charges in the next few quarters due to its rundown of assets in the CRU unit and may only return to report a meaningful profit in 2021.
[June 28 2018 Deutsche Bank fails 2d part of Stress Test by feds ]
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/GettyImages-935891024-5ab3e081a18d9e003705d1e9.jpg)
Deutsche Bank AG’s (DBKGn.DE) U.S. subsidiary failed on Thursday, June 28, the second part of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s annual stress tests. “Concerns include material weaknesses in the firm’s data capabilities and controls supporting its capital planning process, as well as weaknesses in its approaches and assumptions used to forecast revenues and losses under stress,” While failing the U.S. stress test would not likely affect the banks’ ability to pay dividends to shareholders, which are typically paid out at the group level, it will require Deutsche Bank to make changes to its U.S. operations. It also means the bank would not be able to make any distributions to its German parent without the Fed’s approval.
Cheryl Schreir, who retired from serving as the Superintendent at Mount Rushmore National Memorial last year said that testing by the National Park Service has also revealed that drinking water at the memorial has high levels of perchlorate, a chemical found in fireworks.
On June 18, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final action regarding the regulation of perchlorate under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). Considering the best available science and the proactive steps that EPA, states and public water systems have taken to reduce perchlorate levels, the agency has determined that perchlorate does not meet the criteria for regulation as a drinking water contaminant under the SDWA. Therefore, the agency is withdrawing the 2011 regulatory determination and is making a final determination to not issue a national regulation for perchlorate at this time.
Queen wishes U.S. Happy Fourth
1 July, 2020
June 26, 2017—Today, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) announced the nationwide expansion of their flagship teen program, Ending the Silence, due to a generous gift from Former Second Lady of the United States, Tipper Gore. Meanwhile, the mother-of-four says she was motivated to bring her activism back into the public eye in part because of what she describes as President Trump’s and Republicans’ “heartless” efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
Former Vice President Al Gore’s sweet Senate pension is mere lunch money next to the wealth Gore accumulated after he left the vice presidency. He logged lucrative time on the lecture circuit (contracts obtained by the Smoking Gun put his fee at $100K; other estimates run higher). He took an advisory job at Google in 2001, before its stock skyrocketed, and in 2003 joined the board of Apple, which came with generous stipends and stock options. He helped found an investment company, which then partnered with a Silicon Valley venture-capital firm. Current TV, the cable channel he founded in 2005, isn’t doing badly either. Fast Company magazine recently estimated his net worth at $100 million.
AUG. 15, 2014 He has filed a lawsuit against the Middle Eastern media group Al Jazeera, accusing it of fraud and breach of contract in its $500 million purchase of Mr. Gore’s Current TV cable channel.
The dispute centers on Al Jazeera’s refusal to turn over “tens of millions of dollars” remaining in an escrow account and still owed to the selling shareholders of Current TV, according to a statement from David Boies, the lawyer representing Mr. Gore and a Current TV co-owner, Joel Hyatt, who are suing on behalf of all the selling shareholders.
“Al Jazeera America wants to give itself a discount on the purchase price that was agreed to nearly two years ago,” Mr. Boies said. “We are asking the court to order Al Jazeera America to stop wrongfully withholding the escrow funds that belong to Current’s former shareholders.”
Al Jazeera America shut down on April 12, 2016, citing the “economic landscape and the highly competitive nature of the American media market, as reasons to shut down the channel. After use by three networks since 1994, the channel space folded after Al Jazeera failed to sell it to another network. The magnitude of Al Jazeera America’s error can be seen in the success of its independent digital-only spin-off AJ+, which operated on a tiny fraction of the budget but generates astronomical social media “ratings” and video views. Most of its short, punchy and anything-but-sober videos received more views than AJAM’s prime-time programs did in a week.
Yet Trump’s ascendance could wind up doing a very big favor for “An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power,” Al Gore’s winning and impassioned, stirring and proudly wonkish follow-up to “An Inconvenient Truth.”
[June 1 2010 Tipper Gore separates ]
Tipper Gore is a professional photographer who in 1996 published “Picture This: A Visual Diary,” which she called “a personal photographic representation of life as wife of the vice president.”
Weinstein settles, personally not out any money
1 July, 2020
Lawyers Douglas H Wigdor and Kevin Mintzer, who represent six accusers, criticised the proposed settlement because it did not require Weinstein to accept responsibility or personally pay out any money.
[ Wigdor drops Tara ]
Douglas Wigdor is no longer representing Tara Reade, just two weeks after he first began working with her. Associated Press said she appears to have exaggerated her educational achievements, was mired in endless financial difficulties and faced frequent lawsuits with individuals who said she defrauded them or failed to pay bills.
Wigdor’s firm originally said Reade had struggled to find a lawyer to represent her because many attorneys in his space “tend to be Democrats or liberals,” and Reade has accused the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee of sexual assault.
[January 19 2020 Harvey Weinstein: another complainant leaves settlement ]
Dominique Huett will remove herself from the Harvey Weinstein settlement in order to pursue her own claim. Huett has retained a new attorney, Douglas Wigdor, who represents two others who have opted out. Wigdor believes the $500,000 Huett was offered was “not fair”. This is a suit for the alleged assault under New York’s recently enacted Child Victims Act, which extends the amount of time a victim has to bring a claim (until their 55th birthday in some cases). Wigdor represemted Nafissatou Diallo, the hotel housekeeper who accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn of attacking her in his suite, https://wp.me/pEe9-kz
[December 21 2019 Harvey and the Polish model with lawyer ]
Douglas H. Wigdor, attorney for three women, Kaja Sokola, Wedil David and Jane Doe – a pseudonym for the same woman who will testify against Weinstein when he is tried next month on charges of rape, predatory sexual assault and criminal sexual act – claim, like many before them, that Weinstein assaulted them. This filing points to a split in approaches. Newly enacted child victims legislation, which extends the age at which a victim can bring a claim for past crimes to 55.
[December 18 2019]
Kaja Sokola alleges she was assaulted in 2002. Harvey Weinstein asked her to lunch in the interest of helping her pursue an acting career. She agreed but alleges his driver brought them to Weinstein’s apartment instead. There, she claims “he terrified and sexually abused her.”Her attorneys, Douglas Wigdor and Kevin Mintzer: “While others may have decided to settle, albeit under some of the most offensive and one-sided terms, we hope that the filing of this complaint encourages other victims and the New York Attorney General to join us as we continue our efforts at holding Harvey Weinstein and his enablers accountable.”
They’re bringing a battery suit for the alleged 2002 assault under New York’s recently enacted Child Victims Act, which extends the amount of time a victim has to bring a claim (until their 55th birthday in some cases).
Deutsche Bank new loan arrangements for Trump?
26 June, 2020
The Trump Organization’s revenue from its hotel operations is way down this year, and it recently requested a rent abatement from Palm Beach County, where the Trumps operate two golf courses on county land. It also negotiated with Deutsche Bank to reduce or delay its payments on loans from the bank, including about $125 million the Trump Organization borrowed when it was buying Doral in 2012, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. The bank agreed to a break, in line with those offered to other borrowers, but the Trump Organization concluded that the offer was not worth taking and turned it down, the people said. A Deutsche Bank spokesperson declined to comment. A Trump Organization spokeswoman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
[May 3 2020]
[April 25 2020]
Four Democratic senators, led by Elizabeth Warren, earlier this month demanded details from Deutsche’s chief executive, Christian Sewing, about the bank’s interaction this year with Trump and his family’s companies.
The bank is one of the largest creditors for Trump’s hotels, golf courses and other properties, according to filings. The senators are concerned that the bank may be giving the family preferential treatment on loan repayments in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak as Deutsche itself remains under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. The bank refuses [implying recent negotiations].
[April 4 2020]
Loans from Deutsche Bank, the Trump Organization’s biggest creditor, have reportedly been used for Trump’s Chicago Tower, the Trump National Doral Miami golf resort — which is now shuttered — and his Washington, D.C., hotel, which has closed its bar and restaurant, The New York Times reported. The loans are backed by a personal guarantee from Trump himself, according to the Times. Deutsche Bank has loaned the Trump Organization some $2 billion since 1998, and there are currently an estimated $350 million in loans outstanding, the newspaper reported.
Trump Organization representatives reached out to Deutsche Bank’s private banking unit in New York last month for preliminary talks to discuss new loan arrangements, according to the Times.
Neither the Trump Organization nor Trump have commented on his business problems and possible debt rearrangement. But son Eric Trump, who helps manage the Trump Organization, told the Times: “These days everybody is working together. Tenants are working with landlords, landlords are working with banks. The whole world is working together as we fight through this pandemic.”
[November 29 2019 Deutsche Bank’s Bowers suicide in Malibu – Trump gatekeeper ]
Thomas Bowers, 55, hanged himself on November 19 at his Malibu home.
The banker was not working for Deutsche Bank at the time. He is among a handful of people who signed off on loans totaling $2 billion to Trump in the decades before he became president, even after other institutions turned him down.
Trump’s dealings with Deutsche Bank is under investigation by two Congressional committees and the New York Attorney General, The New York Times reported.
Investigators are seeking to use Deutsche Bank to probe Trump’s personal and business finances.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-deutsche-bank-money-laundering-exclus/exclusive-u-s-digs-deeper-into-deutsche-role-in-danske-money-laundering-scandal-sources-idUSKBN1Y60ED
A source with knowledge of an FBI investigation into Deutsche Bank said that federal investigators had asked about Bowers and documents he might have.
Another source claimed that Bowers would acted as the ‘gatekeeper’ for financial documents for the bank’s wealthiest customers,
Bowers was the boss of Donald Trump’s banker Rosemary Vrablic, according to a New York Times article in early 2019. Vrablic approved over $300 million dollars in high risk loans for Trump starting in 2010. Bowers personally signed off on the Deutsche Bank loan for Trump’s Doral resort, according to the New York Times report. Vrablic’s other clients have included Jared Kushner and Stephen M. Ross.
Mozambique: Privinvest lost, now try Credit Suisse?
26 June, 2020
Prosecutors from the Eastern District of New York believe Credit Suisse can be held criminally liable for its employees’ crimes if they were committed in the scope of their role and at least partly benefited the bank. But it disputes that testimonies from its former bankers proved its guilt. The bank is of the view that its former bankers were not senior enough to prove failure on the part of the lender. The bank earned $24 million in fees on the loans, but is still waiting for Mozambique to repay a $270 million portion of the loan.
[November 15 2020 trial – Feds rest, acquittal denied ]
then Finance Minister, Manuel Chang
New York federal prosecutors on November 13 2019 rested their monthlong case against Privinvest Group executive Jean Boustani, who stands accused of conspiring to defraud investors in $2 billion worth of loans used to finance state-backed maritime projects in Mozambique.The judge, William F. Kuntz, threw out the defence team’s motion for acquittal, and declared “the government has established clearly and overwhelmingly the basis of this case going to the jury”.
[November 1 2019 Privinvest ’s CFO Najib Allam Spreadsheets shown at trial ]
Privinvest Group’s Chief Financial Officer Najib Allam emailed himself Excel Spreadsheets in November 2014 detailing the expenses he incurred in Mozambique, “meticulously detailing of bribes and kickbacks,” Mozambican figures who had taken bribes from Boustani, including the then Finance Minister, Manuel Chang, and Ndambi Guebuza, and Antonio do Rosario, the former senor security officer who became chairperson of the board of all three Mozambican companies.
One of Allam’s spreadsheets, headed “Ematum” detailed a string of corrupt payments. “ArGe” (Ndambi Guebuza) recived 21 millon dollars, “JB” (Boustani) got nine million, Rosario 8.7 million and Chang five million.
[October 21 2019 tuna scam: Said Freiha and Adel Afiouni ]
A combination photograph shows Detelina Subeva, left, a former vice president in the global financing unit at Credit Suisse Group AG, and Andrew Pearse, right, former managing director at Credit Suisse Group AG, in London.
Andrew Pearse, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy, told the court October 18 2019 that at least four former Credit Suisse bankers besides himself took millions of dollars in bribes from shipbuilder Privinvest Group, including two he hadn’t named before. Surjan Singh and Detelina Subeva, two former Credit Suisse bankers have pleaded guilty. Said Freiha and Adel Afiouni, a pair of former Credit Suisse colleagues introduced Privinvest to the bank.
Jean Boustani, a Privinvest salesman described by prosecutors as the “mastermind” of a plot to defraud U.S. investors.
Four Mozambican officials got kickbacks from Privinvest, and the son of the country’s then-president, Armando Guebuza, illegal payments.
Boustani helped Pearse set up a bank account in the United Arab Emirates to hide the US$45 million he’d paid him, even providing him with the necessary work permit. Asked what job was cited, the former banker said the permit falsely described him as a “tube welder” at a construction site.
Ndambi Guebuza, the former president’s son introduced the defendant to his father and to the ministers in the Mozambique government who were necessary for the project to proceed. Ndambi Guebuza was arrested by Mozambican authorities in February and is fighting charges.
The case is U.S. v. Boustani, 18-cr-681, U.S District Court, Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn).
SEALED INDICTMENT as to Jean Boustani (1) count(s) 1, 2, 4, Najib Allam (2) count(s) 1, 2, 4, Manuel Chang (3) count(s) 1, 2, 4, Antonio Do Rosario (4) count(s) 1, 2, 4, Teofilo Nhangumele (5) count(s) 1, 4, Andrew Pearse (6) count(s) 1, 2, 3, 4, Surjan Singh (7) count(s) 1, 2, 3, 4, Detelina Subeva (8) count(s) 1, 2, 3,
[August 27 2019 Credit Suisse’s Andrew Pearse lied says Mozambique ]
Mozambique sued Lebanese-French billionaire Iskandar Safa on July 31 in the High Court of Justice’s commercial court in London. Represented by Peters & Peters Solicitors LLP, Mozambique last month sued Safa, following the guilty plea from Andrew Pearse to wire fraud in federal court in Brooklyn, New York.
The legal action is the latest in a saga that has seen arrests including the son of Mozambique’s ex-president, former Finance Minister Manuel Chang, and two other former Credit Suisse staff. The U.S. has accused Mozambique government officials, the banker and Privinvest of setting up the project as a front to pay themselves more than $200 million in bribes and kickbacks.
Privinvest and some of its units were the sole suppliers for the project that included a tuna fishing operation, shipyards, and a coastal security system. The deals were signed in 2013 and 2014. The company and Safa ,the chief executive officer and founder of the shipbuilding company, have denied any wrongdoing. “Pearse’s allegations against Privinvest and Safa are entirely unfounded” and were obtained after several months of pressure, which diminishes their value as credible evidence.
[July 31 2019 guilty Mozambique and tuna fishing fleet scam ]
Andrew Pearse, who head Credit Suisse’s Global Financing Group at the time, entered his plea to one count of wire fraud conspiracy before U.S. District Judge William Kuntz in Brooklyn, New York federal court, admitting that he took millions of dollars in kickbacks in connection with the loans.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mozambique-credit-suisse-gp-charges/second-ex-credit-suisse-banker-pleads-guilty-in-mozambique-loan-scheme-idUSKCN1UE2OJ
[January 13 2019 U.S. steps into London scam ]
A 47-page US indictment against banker Andrew Pearse reads like a script to a Hollywood movie. Pearse and the other defendants created maritime projects as fronts to raise money to enrich themselves and intentionally divert portions of the loans’ proceeds to pay at least US$200m in bribes and kickbacks to themselves, officials and others.
[January 7 2019]
Jean Boustany, the top salesman for Privinvest, was arrested on January 2 2019 at New York’s John F Kennedy airport. The scam used loans to Privinvest , which is registered in the UAE, for three maritime projects. According to the indictment, Privinvest representatives were also accused of “inflating the prices of equipment and services” provided to Mozambique, thereby freeing the money for the bribe system.
“It is scandalous that it has required action from the U.S. authorities for this investigation and arrests to be made in London,” said Tim Jones, a policy officer at the British-based Jubilee Debt Campaign.
“It was the London branches of Credit Suisse and VTB which lent the $2 billion, yet there has been a shocking lack of action taken by UK authorities in holding them to account.”
Britain’s finance industry watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), started looking at Credit Suisse’s involvement in Mozambique in 2016. The FCA declined to comment on the latest events.
Former Credit Suisse bankers Andrew Pearse, Surjan Singh, and Detelina Subeva, were arrested in London on January 4 2019. They were charged with conspiring to violate US anti-bribery law, money laundering and securities fraud in an indictment issued in Brooklyn, New York US District Court, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
Prosecutors say that through a series of financial transactions between approximately 2013 and 2016, they created fraudulent maritime projects and used state-owned companies in Mozambique as fronts to raise $2bn. The men have been released on bail in London while the US seeks their extradition.
An inquiry into the loan scandal surrounding Mozambique’s default shows that the money procured via Credit Suisse and VTB Bank served many purposes – just not helping the African nation to develop its economy.
Credit Suisse (CS) so far has flatly denied being at fault for Mozambique’s failure to repay its debt, including in a recently-published inquiry by New York-based Kroll economic research agency. The report by the agency suggests that some questions remain to be answered.
Kroll says that CS and Russia’s VTB, which together organized credit worth more than $2 billion to three state-owned companies in Mozambique, had received $200 million in fees, a claim CS rejects. The loans were intended for a tuna fishing fleet, patrol boats, nautical equipment, maintenance and training.
Bonds Awarded, Fees Distributed
CS in a statement said that it had received $23 million, or roughly 2.3 percent of the loans, a sum in line with market prices. A further $140 million from the $200 million in fees had been so-called contractor fees, passed onto members of the syndicate and investors, intended to boost their return.
CS and VTB had emitted bonds with a coupon of 8.5 percent for parts of the loans granted to Mozambique. CS had not told investors that the bank had granted further loans to the country.
Investors only found out after agreeing to a refinancing in March 2016. The deal had become necessary because Mozambique hadn’t been able to finance the loans. Switzerland’s banking regulator Finma is looking into the transaction, as is the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority, or FCA.
The Role of Abu Dhabi Mar
The Kroll Report shows in detail who received how much of the money provided to the African country. Apart from the banks, it includes officials in the African nation and Abu Dhabi Mar, a company based in the Middle East. Abu Dhabi Mar delivered tuna fishing boats, other vessels and nautical equipment and infrastructure as well as an aircraft. The company received $1.8 billion for the goods and services, paid with money borrowed by Mozambique.
Kroll indicated that there had been a number of conflicts of interest in the provision of the loan, and that a large amount of information had been withheld by authorities and companies in Mozambique that would have helped shed light on the affair.
Where Are the Missing $500 Million?
This included the whereabouts of several hundred million dollars, information about which had not been forthcoming from sources in Mozambique. What is known is that Mozambique had changed the end purpose of some of the loans and attributed them to the budget of the country’s military.
Kroll said that it was unclear where some $500 million of the loan intended for the tuna fishing project went to.
Overpaid?
The agency says that Mozambique paid too much for the boats, further equipment and services. Kroll compared the money the country paid with estimated market prices of the equipment and services and came up with a delta of $713 million.
Abu Dhabi Mar is controlled by Privinvest, an investment company partly controlled by Iskandar Safa, a Lebanese billionaire. A spokesperson for Privinvest told finews.com that Kroll in its calculations had not taken into account a number of elements of the deliveries agreed in the contract.
A Lot of Additional Technology
Privinvest hadn’t delivered individual pieces of equipment, but an integrated system, whose individual elements had been adjusted to the needs and complemented with additional technology.
Privinvest also holds a stake in Palomar, an offshore firm. Andrew Pearse, a former CS banker, is a partner at Palomar.
Role of the Former CS Banker
During his time at Credit Suisse, Pearse is said to have contributed to the awarding of part of the Mozambique loans. He had told finews.com that there had been no conflict of interest between his work at CS and his stake at Palomar.
Kroll says that Palomar had received fees of $30.6 million. More than CS and VTB together. Kroll isn’t able to say why this was the case because of the information that had been withheld.
The report alludes to the conflict of interest of a person only named as «B» who had owned a stake in Palomar and had been a former member of a participating company. The report doesn’t specify whether person «B» is Andrew Pearse, and whether the company involved is Switzerland’s second-largest bank.
A spokesperson for Palomar told finews.com that the Kroll-report contained errors and was misleading. Kroll never had contacted Palomar. Still, Palomar was ready to provide the necessary information at any time.
Projects That Don’t Work Properly
The inquiry also found that Abu Dhabi Mar, Privinvest and Palomar had had leading roles in all the Mozambique projects. They structured the projects, introduced CS as a provider of financing, agreed payments of contractor fees and restructured the credits – which led to the payment of further fees.
The report also says that Privinvest had provided financial support. The projects hadn’t taken off as had been expected, partly because of a lack of infrastructure for fish processing, but also because personnel had been unsuitable.
Palomar Capital Advisors Liquidated
Zurich-based Palomar Capital Advisors was liquidated in November 2016. Pearse was chairman of the company, which had been a key actor in the Mozambique deal and received the fees mentioned. The fees still outstanding will now go to VR Global Partners, a company based in the Caribbean.
Kroll has kept the report neutral and refrained from making assumptions or pointing fingers. Still, the inquiry repeatedly showed that some of the payments and transactions could not be explained on the basis of the information available.
CS Agreed to the Deal Even as Conditions Weren’t Met
Credit Suisse is being cleared by the report’s findings. It says that CS had demanded a number of conditions to be met for it to agree to the deal. They included an agreement from the central bank of the country, an examination of local courts as well as a report to the International Monetary Fund.
The documents Kroll had at its disposal showed that the conditions set out by CS had not been met. Further information would need to be made available to explain why the bank had agreed to providing the finance despite its conditions hadn’t been met.
https://www.finews.com/news/english-news/27878-moza
Revealed: Ex-Credit Suisse banker in business with EMATUM ship-builder
