In part 1 of this story I relayed the actions of Hillary Clinton in vetoing the sale of GM’s Opel division to a Russian oligarch named Oleg Deripaska.
Deripaska
I believe it is important to understand the interest she took in this deal, since she claimed that she took no interest in the Uranium One deal. At the same time a dozen Russian oligarchs own businesses in America from professional sporting teams, steel mills, stakes in Facebook and Twitter, industrial parks and music studios. No interest was taken in these acquisitions…..but oddly the sale of a European car division was blocked by the secretary of state.
Also in Part 1 of Russian Collusion, I told you about a Russian oligarch named Oleg Deripaska. Most likely more than anyone but policy wonks, ever wanted to know. But to understand Russian collusion you have to get a full grasp of just how things operate in that system. I have written several times about that system, so I won’t rehash it here, but suffice it to say, it is an oligarchy…not a republic, not communism, not a market based system…..an oligarchy. An oligarchy is defined as “rule by a few”. These men have no titles, no government position, or no army…..but what they do have is boatloads of cash. Billions and billions. There are some 93 or so oligarchs in Russia, according to Forbes worth, collectively, north of $412 billion dollars, a full third of all the wealth in Russia. These oligarchs determine the policies of the Russian government. But, please, understand, Russia does not care about ideology. They don’t care if Iran has a nuke, they don’t care if Venezuelans are starving, and they don’t care if a democrat or republican is in the WH. They only care about making more money and protecting their sovereignty so they can do that.
Vekselberg
Now let me introduce you to one of the biggest oligarchs in Russia…..Viktor Vekselberg. Reportedly the 4th richest man in Russia, Vekselberg, like the rest of the oligarchs made his money after the Soviet break-up in 1991. Like Deripaska, he made a lot of money in Aluminum. His company, SUAL was one of the top aluminum producers in Russia, RUSAL, Deripaska’s aluminum company, being the largest. In March of 2007, RUSAL and SUAL merged, forming the largest aluminum/alumina company in the world. At that Merger, Vekselberg became the non-executive chairman, while Deripaska retained owner status. By the way, I also find it strange and gratifying when parts of other things I have studied line up with new posts. there was a third company that became part of RUSAL in this merger……GLENCORE! You probably don’t remember GLENCORE, so let me refresh your memory. GLENCORE is the raw material marketer created by Marc Rich…..yes the Marc Rich that was pardoned by Bill Clinton and who I wrote about in INTO THE WEEDS 10. But I digress. Not long after….in December of that year, RUSAL acquired a 25% stake in NORILSK Nickel, one of the largest mining businesses in the world. Deripaska’s plan was to create the largest diversified metals company in the world. Vekselberg didn’t agree with the purchase, or holding it during the meltdown. Again Deripaska had to leverage much of his business to borrow the reported $15.7 billion dollars to buy the 25% plus 1 share stake. Look again at the date…this is just before the world’s economy fell apart. Deripaska was in trouble with his debt. In October of 2008, the Russian state bank, VEB Bank, loaned Deripaska $4.5 billion to pay to Western banks. This would allow RUSAL to stay in Russian hands. Vekselberg wanted out of RUSAL, but it was complicated. RUSAL’s interest in NORILSK is what I’m told is “blocking stock”. They can’t make decisions, but they can stop certain things from happening. If Vekselberg sold his RUSAL stock (some 15.8%), RUSAL may forfeit its blocking status. Another oligarch is trying to gain control over NORILSK Nickel, Vladimir Potanin. Plus, Vekselberg is also very unhappy with RUSAL suspending shareholder agreements and dividend payments. So almost from day one Vekselberg and Deripaska didn’t get along….and by all outward appearances, Deripaska was pushing Vekselberg’s face into the dirt, ignoring him and vetoing many of his decisions. While all this was happening in Russia, in May of 2008, Cisco (the software giant) was answering charges from congress that it provided technology to China to track and censor its citizens. Multiple law suits were filed against Cisco for providing this kind of technology to a totalitarian country. I only mention this, because it will become pertinent later. My guess is Vekselberg wanted to ruin Deripaska without destroying RUSAL. He would need help to achieve this. That help came from Hillary Clinton, in blocking his bid to acquire Opel, but it wouldn’t come cheap. Through a series of very complicated and illegal bank transfers, which is commonly called money laundering, millions of dollars were diverted from the Russian funds provided by Rusnano, allocated for the SKOLKOVO project, which Vekselberg controlled, wound up in a Citibank account controlled by the Clinton Foundation. Incidentally, Rusnano is a 10 billion dollar private equity firm completely controlled by Putin and the Russian government.
SKOLKOVO Technology Center. Moscow, Russia
I have written about SKOLKOVO, but it’s worth restating what it is, because it relates to what I wrote above about Cisco. SKOLKOVO is a city close to Moscow. It was to be transformed into a technology center, hosting entrepreneurs from all over Russia to partner with American and European high tech companies to develop their own Silicon Valley. It was the brain child of Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president. The project was hatched in November of 2009. In June of 2010, Medvedev traveled to Silicon Valley, hosted by Hillary Clinton to meet with CEOs of American Tech companies and to tour Cisco. Shortly there after Cisco announced it would commit 1 billion dollars to the SKOLKOVO project. 28 companies took part….some of the biggest names in American tech. The FBI, the DOJ, and the Army, all warned Clinton that some of this technology had duel use aspects that could be transferred into military purposes. The warnings were ignored. Several projects at SKOLKOVO developed weapons. Once again, we give our enemies the means to challenge us. But that’s another story. The story here, that no one ever investigated when we sold technology to China and North Korea in the 90s, is how much the Clintons got for the technology. 17 of the 28 companies donated openly to the Clinton Foundation. It’s hard to know exactly how much because of the way the foundation reports, but it’s between 15 and 25 million dollars. It’s also important to mention here that, at the same time, John Podesta received 35 million from the same source, Rusnano through Metcombank. Again, that’s a whole other story. You can read that here: Into The Weeds 11
The screen shots below were acquired in secret from a Russian bureaucrat that I found here: Conservative Read These documents, translated from the Russian language, layout the complicated series of bank transfers to get the money from Viktor Vekselberg to the Clinton Foundation without a trail….but there’s always a trail somewhere. By the way, Vekselberg totally owns Metcombank, a small Russian bank in the Ural Mountains, from where the transfers originated. In 2013, it was discovered that $55 million was missing from the SKOLKOVO project funds. The police raided the SKOLKOVO offices. Of course some underlings were arrested and the money was never found…a very, very common occurrence in Russia. Exactly how much of that money ended up in a Clinton bank account is unknown, but I’m going to guess it was a bit more than the 50k that Deripaska gave.
Now it’s impossible to determine if the millions were payment for hurting Deripaska or for selling American technology, but either way, she got the money, and she did what she did. I prefer the former because more recent developments show some details. In 2012, Vekselberg quit his post at RUSAL after not attending a single board meeting, during the entire year. He then filed a lawsuit against Deripaska in a London court. Deripaska was forced to make an accounting and interests and assets had to be distributed. I certainly don’t know all the details….its way above my ability or my pay grade to dig any deeper. But I can report that both men are still alive, which in Russia is unusual.
So did Hillary break the law? As always, there is no smoking gun, but the pattern repeats itself again and again. It’s hard not to see criminality in her actions. I can only imagine that if I could find all this information on the open internet, what could be found if I had access to the documents and witnesses that an honest justice department would have? And that’s the point, isn’t it? An honest justice department. I feel like we, the people, are dragging the law enforcers kicking and screaming, to do the right thing. Will they?
While researching corruption from the Clinton Foundation, I had the opportunity to read hundreds of stories concerning Hillary Clinton. Many of those stories were important to my research, but others were simply background on events, dates and speeches. Reading so many things, I began to see a pattern. I wondered if this pattern couldn’t be used to illustrate a methodology in the corruption I had been studying. It proved fruitful.
I’m sure over the years you have read many stories or watched speeches and news stories, where Hillary Clinton changed her position on an issue. In fact even NPR did an expose on the many position changes on trade. Many of these changes to a position could be called a “flip-flop” and written off as political positioning, but when I began to see money flowing to her, her campaign, and the Foundation, I begin to think this is it! If a connection could be made between the position change and the money flow, then maybe a pattern could be found. Lots of writers have highlighted the position changes, and in every story, they offer a plausible explanation by Hillary as to why she changed her view, but no one has laid out side by side the timing on the position changes, the actions that were took, the meetings that were held, and the money. This is how you indict her for criminality. If a pattern can be clearly shown that every time a position was changed, money exchanged hands, sometime around the position change, then reasonable conclusions of corruption can be made. This is evidence of a quid pro quo. You be the judge: Not all the evidence is of a position “change”. Early on, the original position was beneficial to a big money interest. I know….its all just a big coincidence. After all, positions have to benefit somebody….right? All you can do is read through each case and decide for yourself. Even as the Clinton’s were moving into the White House, there were scandals emerging of corruption in Arkansas when Bill was governor. Only we older folks will recall the cattle futures, Whitewater, travel gate, and many others. But I’m not going that far back. Let’s start with Bill’s presidency in 1993. NAFTA
In early 1994, Bill Clinton signed into law, a trade agreement, crafted by George Bush senior. A trade agreement called NAFTA. Here is what Hillary said about NAFTA in 1996 at a speech in New York at an event titled UNITE:
“I think everybody is in favor of free and fair trade. I think NAFTA is proving its worth.”
In 1998 at an international business conference in Davos, Switzerland she thanked big business for:
“a very effective business effort in the U.S. on behalf of NAFTA.”
Her support remained strong for years to come. In 2003, she wrote in her book:
“Creating a free trade zone in North America — the largest free trade zone in the world — would expand U.S. exports, create jobs and ensure that our economy was reaping the benefits, not the burdens, of globalization.”
And again in 2004, both times, while a sitting US Senator said:
“I think on balance NAFTA has been good for New York and America….”
At every turn she touted and supported NAFTA. Why?
Carlos Slim
Ever here of Carlos Slim? He is the second richest man in the world…..a Mexican billionaire. As we will see later, he is a good friend of Bill Clinton and has made many deals with the Clintons, NAFTA being just one. Slim’s billions come from his dominance of the telecommunications industry in Mexico. He owns and controls 70% of all cell phone use and 80% of all land lines. Just coincidently, written into NAFTA was a ten year exemption from all foreign competition from Canada and the US. He effectively had a monopoly. But he could sell in the US, and created Tracfone. Tracfone is the largest, prepaid cell phone company in the world. Now, knowing all that, I wondered…..Mexico, prepaid cell phones, and billions…..is there a drug angle? Of course. Slim is linked to the drug cartels by the DEA. He’s known as a front man for ex-president, in self-exile, Salinas de Gortari. De Gortari, fled Mexico a few months after leaving the presidency and was accused of stealing billions from the Mexican treasury, leaving the country in shambles. Oddly, Bill Clinton stepped in and gave the new president of Mexico 20 billion US dollars in US aid, to clean up the mess. Carlos Slim, and his connected companies have donated over $10 million to the Clinton Foundation, while pledging another $100 million to the Clinton-Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative, since its inception in 2001.You can read more about Carlos Slim here: http://www.thesocialcontract.com/artman2/publish/tsc_24_4/tsc_24_4_wall.shtmlMy point wasn’t so much to tell you about Carlos Slim, but to focus in on the pattern I’m trying to show. In 1994, when NAFTA was implemented, Mexico was in bad shape economically. Was NAFTA created to save Mexico? One could make that case, I suppose…but we were never told that were we? There can be no doubt that Carlos Slim got a sweetheart deal in NAFTA, and has reaped billions since its creation. There also can be no doubt that a lot of that money found its way back to the Clintons. Of course there is no quid pro quo that can be proved in this single circumstance, but what I want you to see, is that whatever position Hillary and Bill take, somehow, shortly before or after….big money finds its way to their bank account. The strange thing about the story of NAFTA and Carlos Slim is what happened in 2008. Hillary was now running for president, and the money Carlos Slim could give was dwarfed by what the American unions could provide. The unions opposed NAFTA and said so. This is what Hillary said in 2008:
“You know, I have been a critic of NAFTA from the very beginning. I didn’t have a public position on it, because I was part of the administration, but when I started running for the Senate, I have been a critic.”
As you read each episode. Try to connect the dots.
By 1998, Hillary was in full campaign mode planning a run for the US senate in 2000. It may be just another coincidence, but the Clinton Foundation was created in 2001. You see, I believe the two go hand in hand. In order to grant favors, one must be in a position to do so. The partnership of a former president and a senator are in a position to do just that….power! Hillary gets elected as the US Senator from NY in 2000 and the Clinton Foundation is born. Just a coincidence! Hillary laid low in her first term as senator. But the plan was already in the works to get rich using their power. From 1997 through 2004, Bill spent most of his efforts making contacts and raising money to build his presidential library in Arkansas. The price tag was $165 million to construct and operate. The Foundation was created in 2001 in order to raise this money. By 2004, when the library opened, the Foundation had $120 million in assets, and $60 million in cash. Near as I can find, those early contributors were Stephen Spielberg and David Geffen from Hollywood and super market mogul, Robert Burkle. Hillary, too, spent most of her time making contacts while pressing the social agenda of the left. This was the backdrop to Bill’s meeting of Frank Giustra, billionaire Canadian mining mogul, in 2005. Through 2004, Frank Giustra was busy trying to make things happen in Kazakhstan and Columbia for mining, timber and oil rights. He needed a special kind of help. I chronicled this in my 5 part series: “The Corruption Continues”
Frank Giustra
Giustra
In 2005 Bill Clinton traveled to Kazakhstan with Frank Giustra, at the end of a year long negotiation to acquire uranium mining rights in Kazakhstan. They meet with the criminal oligarch, Muchtar Ablyazov, who had stolen the mining rights to three large Kazakh mines and transferred them to Frank Giustra for $350 million. This story is very long and complicated and you can begin to read about it here: The Kazakh Mob The point of mentioning it is to add to the pattern. 2 months after this meeting, Frank Giustra donated $31 million to the foundation. By 2009, Ablyazov had been discovered by Kazakhstan officials. The sale was now in jeopardy. Hillary Clinton, now secretary of state and Tim Phillips, a DNC official stepped in and in some unknown way, pressured those officials to allow the sale to go through. Meanwhile, through 2009 and 2010, millions flowed into the foundation from directors of Uranium One, and Bill Clinton was contracted to give his highest paid speech ever in Moscow, by the Russian Oligarch, Mikhail Prokhorov. The Russians would later buy Uranium One and the Kazakh mining interests. Bill and Hillary would have a long and profitable relationship with Frank Giustra. In 2008, during her run for president, Hillary Clinton began to change her views on trade. She seemed to tow the party line and was against many free trade agreements, which one could argue was the position of the American unions and where much of her money would come from in her campaign. But after she lost the nomination in 2008, she then became Obama’s SOS in 2009.
Columbia Trade Promotion Act
In early 2008, Hillary Clinton was a senator from New York, running for president. The senate was considering a trade agreement proposed by the Bush Administration to create Free Trade with Columbia. The agreement was called CTPA, the Columbia Trade Promotion Act. This is what Mrs. Clinton said in February of 2008, about the deal:
“I will do everything I can to urge the Congress to reject the Colombia Free Trade Agreement.”
Hillary, and many democrats blocked a vote for three years, until 2011. But e-mails that have been revealed, stated that Mrs. Clinton was privately lobbying her fellow senators to pass the legislation. During this period, the spring of 2008, Frank Giustra pledged $100 million to the CGI (Clinton Global Initiative). The bill never came up for a vote while Hillary was in the senate. In June of 2009, Hillary, now secretary of state flies to Columbia to meet Alvaro Uribe, president of Columbia. Bill Clinton and Frank Giustra fly separately at the same time. The three have dinner in Bogotá…where they discuss their “children and grandchildren”. Sound familiar? Hillary now is in support of CTPA. She receives a letter from her colleagues in congress, urging her to not support CTPA, due to Columbia’s horrible human rights record and opposition to all union activity. She ignores their advice and instead, praises Uribe’s government. The unions also display their displeasure with her new stance. This is what she now was saying as the bill made its way through congress in late 2009:
“We think it’s strongly in the interests of both Colombia and the United States,” Clinton said. “And I return very invigorated … to begin a very intensive effort to try to obtain the votes to get the free trade agreement finally ratified.”
In 2010, Frank Giustra, Bill Clinton and Carlos Slim create Fondo Acceso, a private equity firm in Columbia with $20 million. The CF became a 50% share holder. During this same time, from September of 2009 through May of 2010, Bill Clinton gave a series of speeches in Canada where he was paid just over $1 million. At least two of those speeches were sponsored by TD Bank, the bank that financed many of Frank Giustra’s deals. The one person that stood to gain the most with having the CTPA in place was Frank Giustra….the Canadian mining mogul. In order to understand why, read the entire account of the Columbian Saga here: http://www.ibtimes.com/colombian-oil-money-flowed-clintons-state-department-took-no-action-prevent-labor-1874464
South Korea Free Trade
In 2007, As Senator, Hillary Clinton chose to announce her opposition to the South Korean trade deal at a town hall meeting organized by the AFL-CIO in Michigan, a traditional battleground state in presidential politics and home to the U.S. auto industry. This is what she said then:
“While I value the strong relationship the United States enjoys with South Korea, I believe that this agreement is inherently unfair,”she said Saturday in Detroit. “It will hurt the U.S. auto industry, increase our trade deficit, cost us good middle-class jobs and make America less competitive.”
She said this, in Detroit, MI while she was running for president. Fast forward to 2011. Hillary Clinton is now Secretary of state and the South Korean trade deal has still not been implemented. This is what she was saying now:
“I want to state as strongly as I can how committed the Obama Administration is to passing the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement this year. … This is a priority for me, for President Obama and for the entire administration. We are determined to get it done, and I believe we will.”
Now….you can say, but Ken, she is speaking for the Obama Administration. OK, that’s certainly a possibility, but was there something else that happened in between the two statements that might also be a possibility? Remember, we are looking for a pattern of behavior. Shortly after the 2008 presidential election, won by Obama, a South Korean conglomerate called Hanwha, donated $1 million to the foundation, and pays Bill Clinton $250K to speak in South Korea. Then in 2012, shortly after Hillary’s position changed, Bill Clinton is paid again by Hanwha to speak, and paid another $250,000. Incidentally, The CEO of Hanwha, Kim Seung-Youn, in 2012, was convicted of embezzling $260,000,000 from the company, and sentenced to 4 years in prison. At least one country still has laws that must be followed.
October 13th, 2011, the US congress approves South Korean free trade deal.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership
In 2012, while Hillary was SOS she made these statements about the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP)
“[TPP is the] gold standard in trade agreements.”
“[it] would link markets throughout Asia and the Americas, lowering trade barriers while raising standards on labor, the environment, and intellectual property.”
“[it is] important for American workers, who would benefit from competing on a more level playing field.”
Later, as you will see, she changed her position with her stated reason that “….what I have learned about it”. But the above comments certainly show knowledge and an implied understanding of the treaty.
She remained in favor of the TPP until 2015. In July of 2015, the AFL-CIO and its affiliates representing some 56 member unions met to consider who they would endorse for president. With the endorsement comes millions of dollars. The leaders of the union learned that many of its locals were forming up around Sanders:
Steve Abbott, a leader for a local communications union, is one of some 3,500 individuals from within the labor movement who have joined the all-volunteer grassroots group Labor for Bernie. He said this prior to that June meeting: “While the AFL-CIO executive council has not endorsed a candidate yet, some local unions have made public gestures supporting Sanders, prompting the federation’s president, Richard Trumka, to urge them to stay neutral for now.”He went on: “He [Sanders] absolutely came out against it. She waffled,” Abbott said.
At that July meeting, Hillary met privately with the union leaders. In October of 2015, Hillary comes out against TPP.
“As of today, I am not in favor of what I have learned about it.”(TPP) “For me, it really comes down to those three points that I made and the fact that we have learned a lot about trade agreements in the past years,”Clinton said. “Sometimes they look great on paper.” “I don’t believe it’s going to meet the high bar I have set.”
In May of 2016, the AFL-CIO officially endorsed Hillary and 61 million union dollars, flowed into her campaign. Unions contribute over $2 million to the Clinton Foundation in 2015.
Arms Sales
Hillary has pretty much always been a hawk, so it would be unfair to say she changed her position on arms, but it is completely fair to show how she profited not only from the sale of weapons, but also from the purchase of weapons. During her tenure as SOS she had to sign off on agreements for foreign countries to buy American weapons and weapons systems. No arm sales can be made to a foreign nation for more than $14 million without a state department license. One of the most controversial deals made for weapons during Hillary’s tenure was to Bahrain. Bahrain has a terrible human rights record and persecutes dissidents and any opposition to the government. They have crushed protestors using tear gas and other heavy handed measures. While Hillary was SOS, she gave many speeches touting human rights and woman’s rights and even pointed to Bahrain on a few occasions in “hopes” they would reform.
On Mar 1, 2011, she said this:
“…And as other important partners such as Jordan and Bahrain take steps – sometimes very difficult steps – to open their political space, we will stand behind them and support their efforts because we are convinced that they will help advance all of our shared interests.”
In late summer of 2011 an arms deal was being made with Bahrain. But because of Bahrain’s human rights abuses, some in congress were opposed to the sale, and sent letters to that effect to Hillary Clinton. But the deal was well underway and a letter was sent to Senator Ron Wyden, assuring him that Bahrain was dealing with the issues:
From the letter:
“On June 29, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa convened a Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry to investigate alleged human rights violations committed since February.”
I’m sure that will take care of it!
Meanwhile, from Feb. of 2011 through March of 2012, some $630 million worth of sophisticated weapons made their way to Bahrain, including $70,000 worth of “toxicological agents”. But Hillary was still feigning outrage of the Bahrain government. This is an excerpt from a speech in Nov. of 2011:
“…..mass arrests and brute force are at odds with the universal rights of Bahrain’s citizens and will not make legitimate calls for reform go away. Meaningful reform and equal treatment for all Bahrainis, are in Bahrain’s interest, and the region, and in ours.”
This may all just seem like palace intrigue, but I must also add, that Bahrain sent $150,000 to the CF in late 2009, just to arrange a meeting with Hillary Clinton. There is e-mail evidence of this. The problem with this reason, is the Crown Prince has had many meetings with past State Department secretaries. But just imagine…why e-mail Doug Band, the CEO of the CF, to arrange a meeting with Hillary Clinton, the American SOS? Over the next year Bahrain pledged $32 million to the Clinton Global Initiative. Also, in Doug Band’s request of Hillary for that meeting, he referred to [Crown Prince] Salman as a “good friend of ours.” It just seems odd…almost like the CF and the State Department were operating as one. In this Bahrain scenario, I went into more detail than I would have liked. But this episode is just an example of what transpired over Clinton’s 4 years as SOS. Not only was the Clinton Conglomerate getting big money from the buyers, but it was also getting the same from the sellers. From late 2009 through 2012, the Obama State Department approved $163 Billion, with a “B” in commercial arms sales to 20 countries and another $151 billion of arms brokered by the Pentagon. Over that same time period, those 20 countries and the various corporations that delivered the weapons, “donated” somewhere in the vicinity of $141 million to the Clinton Foundation or their numerous initiatives. The arms sales during this period represented a 143% increase over the same period during the Bush administration. Arms sales can be very profitable!
Even though I think I made my case, if you need more evidence, I have written voluminously about the Clinton Foundation and their pay for play schemes. Like this one about Boeing
This all begs the question, if I could find this information simply by scouring the internet, what does the Justice Department know? Recently we have seen reports about the blatant bias and corruption at the FBI. How long before the American people demand that something be done? The final piece to the pattern is this: Since Hillary Clinton lost the presidency and is now out of government, the donations to the Clinton Foundation have dropped nearly 40%. If all the money going there was because they do such great humanitarian things….then why have the donations dropped off so dramatically? Every proponent of the Clintons will use that reason…that it is a wonderful charity doing great work…..maybe not so much!
If you think we’re done with the Clintons, think again. They still wield a lot of power and have amassed billions of dollars. There still remains the connections to the Intelligence Community and to the FBI. Unless the Justice Department and/or congress steps up and takes on this behemoth of corruption, America is destined to succumb to the same lawlessness of the Russian Empire. Each day, without resolution we move closer to a state apparatus that works just like Russia….unlimited power and no accountability. Our most sacred concept is the rule of law. That law is not being applied to those in power. This must change.
In my continuing research on Uranium One, I have come across a lot of new information. I went back and re-read my first 4 parts, and still stand by all of it, but I do have new details that seem to be important in understanding the criminality that took place. This story is very complicated. Sorry for the length, and it may seem disjointed….there just are a lot of moving parts, that all connect to a culture of mass corruption in our government.
The first thing to consider is just what is Rosatom. Rosatom is the fairly, newly, created wholly, controlled nuclear agency in Russia. It controls some 360 businesses and research units of which the American subsidiary, TENEX, is one. It produces in excess of $300 billion in revenue a year to the Russian government. It currently is constructing 40% of all new reactors in the world, 40% of all enriched uranium and 17% of the world’s nuclear fuel. In other words, Rosatom is responsible for a huge chunk of the Russian economy. I have learned from several sources, that Uranium is running out in Russia and one of Rosatom’s strategic goals was to increase their availability to the world’s uranium supply….as selling enriched uranium is a huge part of what Rosatom does. Thus the purchase of Uranium One was a strategic move to control more uranium production. I firmly believe acquiring Uranium One, was much more about the Kazakh mines than it was about the American supply, but either way it was about controlling more.
If I might digress for just a minute…..everything in Russia is corrupt by our standards. What I have come to understand is that Russians think very differently about economics and law than we do. We have learned from childhood that the rule of law is of the highest consideration when doing anything. We call it playing within the rules. We fully expect that contracts must be honored, and if they are not, we have a legal recourse to receive a remedy. We have to understand that is not how business is done in Russia or any of their satellites, like Kazakhstan. Who has the most money and power makes the rules. If you don’t like it you could die. They will pay to get what they want, and if they can’t get it, they will use whatever method necessary to get what they want. They put on a charade when working with the West that they are law abiding, but it’s just for show. They firmly believe we are weak and our laws are simply obstacles to work around, using money and intimidation. Anyone working with the Russians must understand this difference. And if you believe for a minute that Frank Giustra, Bill Clinton, or any of the others working with them didn’t understand this, then you miss a large portion of what happened. A close friend of mine is from Russia and is in business. He confirmed that the Russian government operates like a mob family. There is a hierarchy, run by the Don….Putin, the oligarchs are the lieutenants. They run things how they want, using the laws they make to punish their enemies. If that doesn’t work they simply put them in prison or take them out permanently. My friend told me, that anyone working with a Russian, should expect bribes, kickbacks and extortion. This is how normal business is conducted. Russians are simply amoral criminals.
They are “governed” by a myriad of what we call oligarchs. These are the billionaires that were created immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It’s not complicated to understand how this happened. Boris Yeltzen was elected after Gorbechev left. The economy had collapsed and Yeltzen was trying desperately to save it. He pushed for a new free market system. But these kinds of changes take decades to implement…..he couldn’t wait. So he immediately privatized almost all of Russian industry. In communism, the state owns everything. So who would own it? The stated goal was for the people to be able to buy into companies….not unlike our private stock market. He issued vouchers to every citizen that they could use to buy stock. Very quickly after this, a black market was created. The vouchers were being gobbled up for cash by a few, shall we say, “Entrepreneurs” . Many of these investors were criminals that had acquired large sums of cash illegally. They soon learned that they could use their ill gotten gain to acquire an entire industry. After just a few years, Russia’s entire economy was in the hands of a few rich men, which now became the oligarchs. They had accumulated great power by being able to control large swaths of the economy. This was the environment Bill Clinton faced during his tenure as president. He understood Russia and their system better than most. He made a lot of friends there during the 90s.
Back to Rosatom.
If you will recall in 2008-2009, the FBI had opened an investigation into the dealings of TENEX, the subsidiary of Rosatom in America. An employee of TENEX, Vadim Mikerin, had been discovered extorting his customers. This was discovered when an American he was extorting went to the FBI. His name was William Campbell. He owned a small lobbying firm that was hired in 2008 to lobby the American government to buy more uranium from Russia. He contracted with Rosatom for $50,000 per month. Mikerin extorted Campbell by telling him he would send half that money to an offshore bank account in Belize and Switzerland. Campbell went to the FBI. He became an informant to gather information concerning the corruption. This investigation continued for another 5 years, and it is unknown whether this investigation by the FBI into Russian corruption was ever made known to CFIUS while it was considering the Russian purchase of stock in Uranium One in 2009 and again in 2013. You can read more about the case here: This is important because if Rosatom, through its TENEX subsidiary, was conducting illegal acts in its dealings with the uranium industry, why would this not be made known to CFIUS. Remember that the DOJ is part of CFIUS. It begs the question of why? Did CFIUS know and ignore the corruption, or was it quashed by the DOJ or the FBI under Comey’s control? Either way it points to massive corruption or incompetence at the highest levels. I, for one, am not buying any incompetence. I believe there lack of knowledge was purposeful…..that they knew, and chose to ignore it so money from Rosatom and Uranium One investors could continue to flow into the Giustra and Clinton Foundations. Just how you prove such an allegation is difficult. In my next post, I will lay out a pattern of corruption by Hillary Clinton that leads me to my conclusion. Only by seeing the pattern, can you prove just how criminal the entire Uranium One episode was. Without seeing this pattern, good luck proving any crimes. For every apparent crime, there is a counter explanation that can and will be made to defend the action. It’s an old business tactic called “plausible deniability” and is used almost daily in Washington. It has been reported that the criminal behavior and ultimate investigation and conviction of Mikerin was separate from the Uranium One acquisition. You can read about the FBI investigation into Mikerin here. Never mind that TENEX was bribing and extorting its customers, but are they separate issues? In my post, INTO THE WEEDS 11, I outlined John Podesta’s involvement in a company called Joule.
He was given 75,000 shares of stock and a seat on the board of directors. He served on that board with Reuben Vardanyan, an oligarch in Russia and a co-founder of the newly created, at the time, SKOLKOVO project. Skolkovo was an attempt to acquire US technology. Also seated on that board was Anatoly Chubais, the head of Rosatom. So here we have John Podesta, Anatoly Chubais, and Reuben Vardanyan all seated at the table of a company that received $35 million dollars from the Russian government as a “grant” and a mysterious shell company, Klein, Ltd, set up by the same agents that created Joule paying Podesta’s group, Center for American Progress, millions. All while Hillary Clinton is pushing 17 American tech companies to invest in Skolkovo. Coincidently, all 17 American companies “donating” some $25 million to the Clinton Foundation. By the way, in case you haven’t read the background on Joule in my piece INTO THE WEEDS 11, Joule is an energy company based in New Jersey.
Tony Podesta
You see, it is one of those so called front companies that Russia uses to defeat our laws.
In a sort of side story to all of this is the “Magnitsky Act”. Its a long story so I won’t relay it here, but you can read about it here. Tony Podesta, John’s brother and owner of the lobbying firm,The Podesta Group, Contracted with Sberbank, the largest bank in Russia, to lobby congress to repeal this sanctions act against Russia. Watch this blockbuster video describing The Podesta Groups involvement in Uranium One. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVkCbHe-Dm8
The Mikerin episode was reported as an attempt for Russia to gain more business in America selling uranium. The question still remains….was it connected to the Uranium One purchase? It defies credulity to believe otherwise. Rosatom put all the pieces in place. Starting as far back as 1993 with the sale, to the US of its uranium assets, all the way up to the acquisition of Uranium One. Bribes, extortion, money laundering in order to secure control over the US uranium purchases by American energy companies. And at the heart of the corruption is John Podesta, his brother Tony who was the lobbyist working for Rosatom in America, And Bill and Hillary Clinton using their foundation as a cash register. You may have read that during the period of time in question….2009-2013, $145 million flowed into the Clinton Foundation from undisclosed sources, purportedly from sources connected to the Uranium One purchase. Some of this is a guess, but all evidence points in that direction. As I reported in another part of this continuing saga, Frank Giustra and Bill Clinton created the CGEP in 2007. (Clinton-Giustra Enterprise Partnership) It was established by Frank Giustra and two aids to the former president, Eric Nonacs and Bruce Lindsey, both employees of the Clinton Foundation. On the Clinton Foundation website it states the purpose of this enterprise: “combining the best of non-profit and for-profit approaches to create new enterprises that capitalize market opportunities to generate social impact by addressing existing market gaps in developing country supply or distribution chains.” The only for profit goal was for Bill and Hillary Clinton. Giustra pledged $100 million to this enterprise. But the CGEP was simply a money laundering mechanism. You see, US law, and an agreement Hillary made with the US government when she became SOS, declares that donors to the Foundation must be disclosed. The CGEP was chartered in Canada where no such law exists and Hillary believed didn’t apply to her agreement. This allowed the CGEP to accept millions and millions from undisclosed foreign donors. Then CGEP is free to donate to the Clinton Foundation in the US, only disclosing that the donation came from the CGEP in Canada. Mission accomplished, money successfully laundered. I suppose we will never know who all the donors were to the CGEP, but would you like to take a wild guess that there might be a few Russians on the list? Let’s now take a look at some of the donors that we know about, according to Clinton Foundation records. But first, know this. The Clinton Foundation has reworked and resubmitted their tax returns for this period several times. Many donors were undisclosed or under reported by millions. One of those donors, APCO Worldwide lobbied on the US government, on behalf of Rosatom/TENEX while giving money to the Clinton Global Initiative Fund, and arm of the CF. Records show APCO donated $50K when it was actually $1 million. How we can ever know for sure who or how much was donated is anybody’s guess.
Pinchuk
First we have Viktor Pinchuk. A Ukrainian Oligarch, the second richest man in Ukraine, reported to have given $25 million to the CF. A close friend of Bill and Hillary, they each attended the others birthday parties. He is the owner of Interpipe, the largest steel producer in Ukraine. He has defied US sanctions and sold steel to Iran. Sound familiar? This is what Bill’s friend Marc Rich did for a living. It’s another similar story. Everybody knows he is doing it, but if you give enough to the Clinton Foundation, $25 million, the SOS will simply look the other way. Here is more information on Viktor Pinchuk: https://www.rt.com/usa/243017-ukraine-clinton-foreign-donors/
Lasry
Marc Lasry. Mark Lasry is the current owner of the Milwaukee Bucks, which he purchased for $500 million. He also owns Avenue Capital, a 12 billion dollar hedge fund that nets Lasry $280 million a year. He is a billionaire and huge donor to the Democratic Party and personal friends with Bill and Hillary. He also has many Russian friends. Lasry was recently linked to Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov, who is a known Russian mobster, currently on the run for gambling and money laundering. Seems like Lasry loves to gamble and play for millions. Lasry has unlimited access to Hillary Clinton and has donated at least $100,000 to the foundation and has raised millions for her campaigns.
Vekselberg
Viktor Vekselberg, according to CF reporting, Mr. Vekselberg, and his companies donated over a quarter million dollars to the CF. In June of 2010, Bill Clinton met with Vekselberg, in Russia, along with several other Russian oligarchs…..reasons unknown. Shortly after that meeting, Bill Clinton gave a speech in Moscow where he was paid $500,000. My educated guess is that Bill Clinton’s involvement with Vekselberg has everything to do with an American technology transfer to Russia. Vekselberg was placed in charge of the Skolkovo project; I’ve spoken about several times. Back in March of this same year, Hillary invited Medvedev to Silicon Valley, In July; Vekselberg announces Cisco will commit 1 billion dollars to the Skolkovo project. 3 months later Cisco pays Bill Clinton $260,000 for a speech. Cisco also donates $1 million to the CF. You can read more about Hillary’s involvement with Vekselberg here: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/emails-show-clinton-ties-to-russian-oligarch-under-investigation/article/2601514
Prokhorov
Mikhail Prokhorov, another sports enthusiast, Prokhorov owns the Brooklyn Nets basketball team. Prokhorov is another Russian oligarch who owns Renaissance Capital, the firm that paid the $500,000 for Bill Clinton’s speech in Moscow in June of 2010. I might add that the founding CEO of Renaissance was Michael Madden. Madden left Renaissance in 2007, when Prokhorov paid $500 million for the venture. Oddly enough, Madden now is the CEO of Teneo Capital, the company that works hand and glove with the CF.
Madden
Lundin
Lukas Lundin, in 2010, congress passed the Dodd-Frank reform bill. Within that law was a provision for mining companies in the Congo to respect human rights through a new certification process.
Although then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited the Congo in 2009, she unexpectedly delayed implementation of a landmark “certification” program designed to assure human rights were respected by mining companies like Lundin’s in Africa. Lundin donated $5 million to the CF.
Telfer
Ian Telfer, chairman of Uranium One and close friend of Frank Giustra donated several million to the CF while the Russian purchase was being made. ¾ of his donations of $8.6 million came through his family foundation….Fernwood, which was not disclosed. When this was discovered the CF said they made a mistake and would refile once again. The Clinton-Giustra Enterprise Partnership further donated another $33 million to the CF that came as a “bundle” with undisclosed donors. We may never know where all the money came from. You can read more about some other interesting donors to Clinton here: https://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/chelsea-clinton-foundation-marc-husband-230859
Finally, I would like to add one more large piece to this puzzle. The so-called “Trump Dossier”. Just how does this figure into all this corruption. About a year before the election of 2016, The Washington Free Beacon hired a company to do candidate research on the front running republican candidates. The company they hired was Fusion GPS. By April of 2016, it was clear Trump would win the nomination and that research was stopped. In that same month, Fusion GPS was hired by a law firm named Perkins-Cole to do opposition research on Donald Trump. Fusion GPS then hired a man named Christopher Steele.
Steele
Mr. Steele is a former MI 6 employee that worked in Russia and had many contacts in the Russian government. He produced a report that became to be known as the Trump Dossier. This report contained information about Trump’s business and personal dealings with Russia. It was selacious and disturbing in its content. The problem with the report, was nothing in it could be verified. The report was presented to Marc Elias, an attorney for the DNC, days before the election. Fusion was paid some $9 million for this work by Perkins Cole, who worked directly for the DNC and the Hillary campaign. After the election the report was leaked to the press. On a side note, I discovered, that the plan to tie Trump to the Russians was hatched at the DNC at the same time to attempt to remove him from office. The press, even though they had the report in November, did not publish it. Nothing in the report could be verified, and to their credit did not make it public. That is until a small website decided to publish it on January 10, 2017. After it came out, the rest of the media jumped on board. OK, so that’s the background. Before the dossier was made public, sometime in December of 2016, it came into the possession of John McCain. He then passed it on to the FBI as secret information from British Intelligence. Now this next part is very, very important. First I would like to say, that this cannot be independently verified. It’s a conclusion, but it is the only conclusion that can be made based on all the facts that are known. The FBI used that unverified and untrue report to acquire a FISA warrant in order to conduct surveillance on the Trump Tower and of the president elect. Stop and think about that. The FBI conducting surveillance on the president of the United States, and a court gave them a warrant to do it, based on a report that was merely made up! But Ken, you would say, what does this have to do with Uranium One? In two words….not much! But I am attempting to clarify a connection between Hillary and the Russians. Someone in that crime syndicate in Russia, at the behest of the Clintons, provided false information on Donald Trump that could potentially remove him from office. When we consider the point that CFIUS signed off on the Russian purchase of Uranium One, we must look at this warrant that was obtained by the FBI. If the DOJ could be persuaded to do this, is it then, a huge leap that they would hold back the Mikerin investigation, and then sign off on the sale of Uranium One? You see, Hillary was supposed to win. I venture to speculate that Clinton was selling anything she could, to create a fortune and a dynasty. She was willing to work with the Russians in any way to get what she wanted. Her and Bill knew who the Russians were, they knew what they could do for her….and she didn’t care. American Uranium, American technology, American law….none of it mattered…..they would keep the money flowing no matter what.
In Part 1 of this series, I laid out the Kazakhstan connection to the Uranium One scandal. You can read Part 1 here. Let me pick up the story from there.
Two months after the illegal sale of Kazakh mining rights to Frank Giustra, another Kazakh official died. This time it was Zamanbek Nurkadilov. He was head of government’s emergency situations department. It was portrayed as another suicide. He apparently shot himself in the chest twice, just before shooting himself in the head. At least that was the official government explanation. The story that followed made it out to be a politically motivated death. In March of 2004, 8 months earlier, Nurkadilov spoke out in opposition to the corruption in the administration…..that means he was criticizing the president. But I must say, I believe this has more to do with the meeting between Ablyazov and Clinton, and the sale of the Kazakh mining rights than with the presidential corruption. Look at this account from a middle Asian website called Registan.net:
“Nurkadilov had served as a parliamentary deputy, administrative head for Almaty and the surrounding region, and head of the government’s emergency situations department. In March 2004 he suddenly accused the administration of President Nursultan Nazabayev of massive corruption, and was gathering information on the first family to support allegations that they hadillegally acquired many state properties andenterprises.”
Seems like Mr. Nurkadilov might have known what was going on. For him to be killed so soon after that acquisition, to me is suspect. This is how these guys play. Anyway, just a little intrigue for your enjoyment. I would like to diverge from the timeline for just a couple of paragraphs:
For over a year, opponents of Donald Trump have tried to link the president to Russia. That somehow he stole the election colluding with Russia. Other than there being no evidence of any of it, the indoctrination of the rubes on the left has been complete. Sadly, none of these leftist followers will read my blog or seek the truth for themselves. The Clinton’s, the Russians, and organized crime have been in business together for a long time. As I was doing this research I asked myself, why did Giustra take Clinton with him to Kazakhstan? Why did he believe Clinton could help him? Most media accounts have concluded that He spoke favorably about Nazarbayev, just before the 2005 election. Really? Then there’s that meeting with Ablyazov. What we do know now, is Ablyazov is a big time criminal. I only outlined a tiny fraction of his criminal activities. In 2009 he fled Kazakhstan for London. He found himself on trial for embezzlement of BTA bank. The trial was the biggest in England’s history. Just before his sentencing on just one charge, he fled, to become a fugitive. A year later he was captured in Nice, France and put in a French jail where he would face extradition to Kazakhstan. After nearly 4 years of delay the French high court refused to extradite Ablyazov, and set him free. Its amazing what money can buy. He went on trial in Kazakhstan anyway in absentia and was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison. You can read about those two trials here and here.
But still the question remains: why take Clinton? Seems like Clinton knows a lot of people. Some of them not so savory. Take Grigori Loutchansky.
Grigori Loutchansky
Mr. Loutchansky was invited to an intimate fund-raiser dinner with Bill Clinton back in 1993. He is a notorious Russian mobster who happens to own a bank…..do tell! Nordex in Vienna tied to Russian money laundering for years is run by Loutchansky. He has flown with Bill Clinton and Al Gore and was even invited to a Washington DNC fund raiser, but backed out in fear he would be arrested when coming to the United States. One connection to our story, is that Loutchansky is a known trafficker of nuclear materials and nuclear technology.
Victor Vekselberg
Then there’s Viktor Vekselberg. Although a story for another time, Mr. Vekselberg started the technology city of Skolkovo in Russia. Created during the “Russian Reset”, Skolkovo was an attempt to encourage American technology companies to invest in Russia……and they did! Billions of dollars and untold technology flew into Skolkovo. If that isn’t stupid enough, 17 of the 28 companies that invested there, donated up to $25 million to the Clinton Foundation….you can draw your own conclusions. You also can read more about Skolkovo here.
I could go on, but you get the picture. Bill Clinton knows the right people, or should I say the people who can make him money. This is what Frank Guistra needed. A connection to someone who was willing to sell him what he wanted….Bill Clinton earned his 31 million dollars.
But now, its time to get back to our timeline.
Just how was Uranium One created. We’re now in early 2003. A man well versed in Mining is struggling with his 100+-year-old gold mine in South Africa. The mine (pictured at the top of the page) is the New Kleinfontein gold mine, and the man is Neal Froneman
The gold is almost gone and Froneman is about out of money. He takes what he has left and begins to convert the gold mine to a uranium mine. He controls many miles of land that contain uranium reserves. Another South African Mining company notices and a merger takes place. Aflease Gold and Froneman’s company merge under Aflease’s banner. Froneman remains at the helm, his gamble pays off. 3000 miles away in Australia, another struggling uranium company has been trying to open a uranium mine and processing facility called Southern Cross. They finally manage to get all the government approvals and the “Honeymoon” mine is reopened in 2004. Aflease has been looking around to expand its position in the world in uranium. They tender an offer for Southern Cross and in 2005 merge with Aflease to form a new company called SXR Uranium One. This is only a few months before Guistra makes his deal with Ablyazov. Just about immediately, talks begin between Aflease and Giusta’s Uraisa. Less than two months later in February of 2006, SXR buys Urasia……are you ready….for $3.1 BILLION! The new company formed is Uranium One.
The new Uranium One is now a Canadian Company listed on the Canadian and South African stock exchanges. It is now the 4th largest uranium producer in the world. Ian Telfer, a close confidant and friend of Frank Giustra is placed at the helm. Froneman remains in charge in South Africa. Over the next three years, Telfer and Uranium One directors will donate $8.6 million to the Clinton Foundation.
In the same month that Giustra seals the deal with SXR, . the still head of Kazakhstan’s nuclear energy, flies to Chappaqua to meet with Frank Giustra and Bill Clinton at his home. Both Clinton and Giustra deny the meeting took place then recant when evidence is produced. Boy, would I loved to have been a fly on the wall in that meeting.
About a year later the wheels are starting to come off in Kazakhstan. President Nazarbayev is pressuring Ablyazov to sell his shares of BTA Bank to the state. When he refuses, Nazarbayev nationalizes BTA and just takes it. Ablyazov flees to London. Not long after, Mukhtar Dzhakishev is arrested and Uranium One is getting worried
There are rumblings within Kazakhstan that the sale of those assets to Giustra was illegal. Now…this next part is important: All our media reports say that Hillary “signed” off on the sale to Russia, but this is what she was needed for and what the $31 million dollars bought. The US State Department, in December of 2009, pressures Kazakhstan to ok the deal, in writing. However, it transpired……they complied. It has been reported that Tim Phillips, a close advisor to Hillary Clinton and DNC operative met with Kazakh officials and made it clear that large DNC contributors were anxious to get this deal done. I would guess that a lot of money crossed some very important hands.
In my next installment, we will learn how Uranium One acquired American uranium and how the Russians got it.
I have spent over two years researching and chronicling the corruption within the Clinton Foundation and its many egregious acts that have never been brought to light. Recently, the selling of 20% of America’s uranium reserves has caught the attention of the major media industry. Even though I have written about this in the past, I have been doing further research on this single issue. I have read countless stories, some sensationalizing the reported scandal, but none have told the whole story. To be fair, its possible the whole story can never be known, but I have attempted to piece together a lot of what I already knew with what is being reported, in order to give a much more comprehensive understanding of just what happened. In the next few blog posts, I will layout the evidence against Bill and Hillary Clinton, and others in this blatant act of corruption.
First, let me start by saying this saga is extremely complicated….extremely! I couldn’t begin to know or explain all the turns and twists that led to Russia owning 20% of America’s uranium reserves. I can only provide a fair overview, touching on the building blocks that make the case. For real detail, with all the hard to pronounce names and the dozens of shells and holding companies that made it all possible, you will have to go to the links I will provide throughout each blog post.
I think the best and easiest way for me to explain it is to start with a timeline of events. These events cover a fifteen year period of time. I will then expand on each event below the timeline, including the timeline in each blog post.
All of us bloggers, who seek the truth, are always looking for that proverbial smoking gun. The players in this corruption are no idiots. They skirt the law, hide from the law, cover up mistakes, and adapt very well. Smoking guns are rare, so all one can expect to accomplish is to make a case by voluminous and overwhelming evidence that allows the reader to draw educated conclusions
Uranium One Timeline
Whatever you’ve read or have seen about the Uranium One scandal, you have not gotten the whole story. The corruption is so extensive and so disgusting, not even a screenwriter could make a movie this creative. Even though I am starting this story in Kazakhstan, the Clinton corruption spans the globe and time. Bill and Hillary Clinton are truly American oligarchs.
Kazakhstan is a former part of the Soviet Union. It was created in 1991 when the Soviet Union disbanded. Kazakhstan is the largest of the former soviet republics, now an independent nation. You cannot understand Uranium One without understanding the corruption in Kazakhstan. By 1997, Kazakhstan was becoming very corrupt. The president, elected in 1989, Nursultan Nazarbayev, remains president today in his fifth term. In 1997, a young businessman of 34 became a favorite of the president. His name is Mukhtah Ablyazov. He started a business selling commodities like sugar and salt. He learned how to create a holding company and after a few years became quite successful owning several companies. Nazarbayev, appointed him head of the state owned electric grid agency, where he swiftly turned it around to be a money maker. Within a year he was made minister of energy, industry, and trade of all Kazakhstan. You can read more about him here.
Mukhtar Ablyazov
Mukhtah Ablyazov will play prominently throughout this story. Also in 1997 a friend of Ablyazov’s was also appointed to a high post. Mukhtar Dzhakishev was made the head of Kazatomprom, the agency that oversees atomic energy, including uranium. By 1998, many of Kazakhstan’s banks were failing. Three of the largest merged into one, naming itself BTA Bank. Ablyazov was able to borrow money and in early 1999 he bought BTA Bank. He was able to turn the financial sector around and BTA began to attract foreign investment. For all intent and purposes,
Mukhtar Dzhakishev
Ablyazov was headed for great success. But then he made a small mistake. Unable to work within the corrupt auspices of Nazarbayev, he started a political party in opposition to Nazarbayev. He quickly was accused of being corrupt, himself, and jailed. He was released from prison after pledging to disband and disavow his new party. He now would change course. He began to Raid BTA of billions of assets. He created close to 1000 shell companies in every tax haven in the world, successfully hiding billions. The Kazakh mines that were key to the Uranium One scandal were part of this scheme.
While Ablyazov was in jail, a close friend took charge of the bank. One Yerzhan Tatishev. He had been working on a large deal with Russia. In Russia and Kazakhstan business is not conducted like it is here. Here is an account from an Eastern website called “Llama”, that outlines what happened when Ablyazov was released from jail:
ABLYAZOV PARDONED, TATISHEV MURDERED
“Mukhtar Ablyazov was pardoned a year later by President Nazarbayev in exchange that he publicly promise to stay out of politics. Ablyazov conceded and after a stint in Russia he returned to Kazakhstan only to have his friend and BTA bank president, Yerzhan Tatishev, shot and killed in December 2004. In what was described as a hunting accident, Platt’s Oilgram (Volume 84, Number 87) reported the following:
“Tatishev had been reported to own from 20% to 60% of BTA, which has spread in recent years into Ukraine, Azerbaijan and other Central Asian venues. Tatishev was shot in the back of the head while driving his own Jeep on a hunting trip in December 2004. While reaching for a loaded rifle, the security-conscious marksman, known to always use a driver, reportedly hit a bump and the gun went off.”
That sounds legit. According to a Wikileaks cable, Tatishev was set to complete a multi-million dollar financing deal with Leningrad Oblast, inferring that perhaps that was why he was eliminated or that it was his ties to Ablyazov’s political party that did him in. Others say he stashed BTA money in the U.S. a year prior but many believed Ablyazov himself was behind Tatishev’s demise. Rumor had it that Tatishev held Ablyazov’s stake in BTA bank after he was arrested and charged in 2002. When Ablyazov returned to Kazakhstan he not only wanted his shares back, he wanted Tatishev to take part in a criminal financial scheme but Tatishev refused.”
Shortly after the murder of Tatishev, Ablyazov and Dzhakishev create two new shell companies: Urasia London, Ltd. and Jeffcott Group, Ltd. The shell companies were registered offshore and set up specifically to own Kazakh mining interests. Two of the biggest mines were 30% owned by the state and 70% owned by BTA Bank. A lesser mine was 70% owned by the state and 30% by BTA. The BTA portions were now sold to the new shell companies for $100,000. A mere pittance of their value. Only weeks later Frank Guista’s Urasia was able to buy the rights to the Kazakh mines from Urasia London and Jeffcott……for $350 million!!!!
So who is Frank Guistra? He is the star of the show. Frank was well-known in the movie industry. He was the founder and CEO of the Canadian movie studio, Lion’s Gate. Giustra was also a huge philanthropist and financier and consultant of mostly mining ventures, through his company Endeavor Financial.
Frank Giustra
He is a Canadian citizen which we will see becomes quite valuable in this saga. We will come back to Giustra later, but sticking to the timeline for now……we are in June of 2005. This is when Frank Giustra and Bill Clinton meet for the first time. Before Frank meets Bill, he already has in the works the Kazakh mining rights. He assembles a blue ribbon team to do the work of acquiring the Kazakh assets. From the publication “Llama”:
“The team included Phillip Shirvington, Ian Telfer, Robert Cross, Frank Holmes, Douglas Holtby, Dr. Massimo Carello, Canaccord Capital, BMO Nesbitt Burns, GMP Securities, Ltd., and Russian Sergey Kurzin.”
Why I included this list is for only one reason: I recognized the last name on the list….Sergey Kurzin. He used to work for Mark Rich, and if you have read my piece on Rich, you would know that what Giustra is attempting, is exactly what Rich did in the 80s and 90s, and was the guy pardoned by Bill Clinton in 1999. You can read that account here. While his team was working, Giustra created a new company….Urasia Energy, Ltd. By any definition, it is a shell company as it has no sales or no assets. 3 months after meeting Bill Clinton, Giustra and Bill Clinton arrive in Kazakhstan on the same day in September of 2005. They reportedly meet with Mukhtar Dzhakishev who is still the head of Kazakh energy agency, Kazatomprom. But it has been revealed that a day later Bill and Frank met with Ablyazov who transferred the rights from his two shell companies, back through BTA to Giustra’s new company, Urasia Energy. Overnight Frank Giustra became one of the largest producers of uranium in the world. He pays $350 million to Ablyazov. And two months later in February of 2006, Giustra donates $31.2 million to the Clinton Foundation.
Kazakh Inkai uranium mining
In my next segment, I will discuss how Uranium One came into existence and acquired 20% of America’s uranium reserves. For more details on this story go to the links below.
Disclaimer: this piece is my opinion, based on my business acumen and years of experience observing politics.
Below I have proven beyond any doubt that the Clinton Foundation and all its cohorts are a corrupt criminal enterprise. I have also provided information revealing firm links between the Foundation and the political establishment and the CIA. This latter point leaves room for debate, but the corruption can leave no doubt.
Over the years, I have had hundreds of debates whether corruption is the fault of government or the fault of corporate America. Those on the left believe the solution is more government power and regulation to counter the corporate corruption. Laws like Dodd/Frank, ACA, and so many others, reveal this desire for more control and more power to regulate. I believe corporate corruption cannot exist without government assistance and a desire to aquiesce to their needs. With less power and less regulation and less money to spend, government could not do the favors they do for corporate America.
So what’s behind the connections between the Clinton Foundation, Dow, Boieng, Humana, Coke, and the others that have given millions to the Clintons for favors? Corporations are in the business to make money….as much money as they can make. It is not only their business, it is their fuduciary responsibilty to do so. If a corrupt government official will take money in return for consideration, a law, or a favor, they will spend the money. If the government official will not take the money, they will have to work much harder to compete, make better products, or provide services that sell. That’s the old fashion way, but the way all of us expect should be used. Using government to help you make money, is much, much easier. The point is, they will do whatever it takes to make money….they will play in any system that allows them to make money, and they are more than willing to spend millions if it will return billions.
Andrew Liveris, CEO Dow Chemical
Now I want to talk about an interview I saw recently with Andrew Liveris, the CEO of Dow Chemical. Liveris was one of my subjects in the posts below, INTO THE WEEDS 8. There, I discussed Dow’s use of the Exp/Imp bank to fund a $20 billion dollar chemical plant in Saudi Arabia, and how the approval of a $5 billion loan from the taxpayers was acheived through e-mails with the directors at the Exp/Imp Bank with promises of jobs at the foundations right arm, Teneo. Liveris was a staunch defender of Clinton for president and Dow contributed millions to the foundation. Dow also contribbuted to her campaign, and spoke publically against Trump. Building a plant on this scale in a foreign country, requires state department approval, and Hillary Clinton was SOS at the time. It would seem the whole episode came at a price. That’s how “pay for play” works. You can read the details here at my blog: https://kengeorge.org/2016/11/21/into-the-weeds-8/
Back to the interview. Liveris was just leaving a meeting he had at the White House with other business leaders, and Donald Trump, on February 20th. Reportedly, the business leaders talked about the reforms Trump was placing on regulation, his tax reform plan, the border tax, and the repatriozation of 2 trillion dollars of foreign profits. When Liveris was interviewed, he praised Trump and supported every single point in his plan. After hearing what he had to say, I thought he was a “Get on the Train” Trump supporter. He couldn’t have been more complimentary or supportive. It was absolutely striking! You see, my premise was that Corporations want to make money however they can. They will do what it takes. Because Clinton lost, they now have to change direction. They have to work with whomever is in power to make as much money as they can, and Trump is now in power…they’ll have to do it the old fashion way, which is going to be good for America.
Yesterday, I saw a story from one of my close FB friends about a weapons sale to Kenya, signed on January 19th…..Obama’s last day in office. The story is attached and outlines a request for a congressional investigation. On its face, it seems like an innocuous story about only 14 planes, weaponized to fight Al-Shabab. It further talks about who got the contract and who didn’t. It states a company called L3 Technologies received this contract. The contract became a no bid contract and a company that has a lot of past experience with these planes claim they could be made for half the price. Regardless, the contract was issued to L3 Technologies for 418 million dollars. The funny thing is, not only is L3 double the price, they have never made a plane, let alone one like this. So I began to wonder just what was going on.
Well, I looked into L3 Technologies. I thought I had heard the name before in other research. I was right. L3 Technologies is formerly L3 Communications. One of their 11 directors is Peter Cohen. Mr. Cohen is also the founder and CEO of the Cowen Group. From Wilkepedia:
“Cowen Group Inc. is a diversified financial services firm that provides alternative investment management, investment banking, research, and sales and trading services through its two business segments: Ramius, LLC, a global alternative investment management business, and Cowen and Company, LLC, a broker-dealer business”
Now the Cowen Group has been around quite awhile. The Vice-Chairman of the Cowen Group is Stelios Papandopolus. Papandopolus is also on the board of Joule Unlimited along with Reuban Vardanyan, a close friend of Vladimir Putin. Why is this important? I recently wrote an expose on my blog about Joule. (included at the bottom) This is the company that Russia invested $35 million in to work against our fracking industry. Vardanyan is also the founder of Skolkovo…..the venture acquiring American technology from more than a dozen of our biggest tech firms…..ALL contributing to the Clinton Foundation to the tune of $20 million.
So what do think? Do I have to write more? OK…….A mature American company, with experience, is not considered for a military contract for weaponized planes in Kenya. Instead, a company, with no experience, gets a contract for twice the market price. Coincidently, directors of that company are also directors and officers of a Russian financed business, that John Podesta was a director and held 75,000 shares of stock, that he did not disclose.
Just how much more evidence does the justice department or the FBI need? Folks I’m telling you….I can’t look into a story that doesn’t have the Clintons somewhere in it. The corruption, cronyism, illegality, and down right treason is rampant. It truly is a swamp….and I hope someday, we will see an end to this corruption. One can only hope.
The connections just keep coming….when will the FBI begin an investigation?
Recently. I posted a research summary on FB. I wanted to post that story here as it is relevant to so many other things I have uncovered about the Clinton Foundation. All the players in this story…..seem to have connections to the Foundation and their surrogates.
Katie Walsh-Deputy Chief of Staff to Donald Trump
Well, well, well….I guess all my investigative work is beginning to pay dividends. Today a FB friend (Bonnie Barta Dolezal) posted a story I had seen yesterday. Several news sources have reported that a leak has been found or at least suspected within the Trump administration. The suspect happens to be the deputy chief of staff, Katie Walsh. (story attached) but that’s not the whole story. For months I have been researching and posting here and on my blog about connections …between the CIA and the Clinton Foundation. I started when I found a very strange connection between the RNC, TENEO Consulting, and Constellis. In case you haven’t read my blog and only read FB…..Julianna Glover was a big shot at the RNC and a lobbiest. She quit the RNC, just before the election and became a senior VP at Teneo Consulting. Teneo is very very close to the CF. The Co-founder of Teneo is Doug Band, the CEO of the CF. When Glover quit the RNC, she closed her lobbying firm but maintained a position as an advisor to the Ashcroft Group, run by John Ashcroft, a former Attorney General and still the CEO of Constellis, formerly Blackwater….a black ops, mercenary supply company. Constellis gets billions from the defense department to provide “contractors” all throughout the middle east, including some that were killed in Bengahzi.
OK, that’s the background and you can read more details at my blog. I have included a link at the bottom. But what does this all have to do with Katie Walsh? After a lot of searching I found a bio on Ms. Walsh. One of her first jobs after she graduated from Georgetown Univ. in 2007, was to work for the Ashcroft Group. She then became a prolific fundraiser for the RNC. So, a suspected leaker of classified information, used to work for John Ashcroft, the supplier of “contractors” to the CIA. Just amazing. One more thing….did you know that Georgetown University has the oldest military type schools within it called The Edmund A Walsh School of Foreign Service. How’s that for a coincidence?….(a real one I hope) To be fair I could not determine if Ms. Walsh attended this school.
I’m sure all this is merely coincidental……but if it is, I now have the Guiness record for discovering coincidences. Wonder if Trump knows about this?
In my last post I mentioned a Russian start up program called SKOLKOVO innovation center. Well apparently this is a big deal, to date hosting over 900 companies, mostly start-up and mostly hi-tech new technology firms. I found some of the American Companies that are aiding in advancing this technology. They include Microsoft, Google, Intel, Cisco, GE, IBM, Honeywell, Johnson & Johnson, Boeing, Dow, HCL America, Price Waterhouse, and others. From Europe, tech giants, Siemens and Nokia From India, Tata. And from Russia, Rusnano and Lukoil. So far, American companies alone have invested 2 billion dollars in this tech venture in Russia. Oddly enough, the same Russian investment fund that was used to start SKOLKOVO was used to purchase Uranium One…..you may remember this is the deal brokered by Hillary Clinton and Frank Giustra to sell 20% of American uranium reserves to the Russians. Not only did Frank Giustra donate over 30 million dollars to the Clinton Foundation, I recently found out the same Russian company that now controls those American mines of Uranium, also penned a deal with Iran to sell them Uranium.
Now you have to admit this is special! Selling our technology, our uranium reserves, and giving them to Russia and Iran….two of our biggest enemies. I can see right inside the liberal skull….. “if we help them they won’t attack us…..we just need to treat them better”. Well, how’d that work out with N. Korea when Bill Clinton gave them nuclear technology? Or how about giving China missile technology and all our factories? Is that working for America?
Its working for somebody. Every single one of those companies listed above, just coincidently donated big money to the Clinton Foundation or paid Bill Clinton big money for a speech. Since the Foundation only lists donations in 5 million dollar increments its hard to say the exact number….but its at least 10 million and as high as 25 million. I might also add that the CF has over 300,000 donors, and many have not even been disclosed. Many, many are individuals. I could spend days just studying donors, its irrelevant. Some of those individuals are certainly corporate officers or foundation managers that bring a lot less attention, when they donate as an individual.
Have we learned nothing from history? Are we so stupid that we keep funding our foreign competitors and provide them the technology to defeat us economically? Are we really that stupid, or is it just greed? Someday we will regret all this “cooperation”. But I guess there are plenty of folks that just don’t give a shit about America…making money is all that matters.
I almost can’t wait to tell this tale. It is way, way convoluted….so you’ll have to pay close attention. I continue my research on the Clinton Foundation. Why, you say? The election is over and Hillary is no more. Not necessarily……the money! Its always the money!
I came across a story on Breitbart that peeked my interest. Somehow I missed it when it first came out in October of 2016. The story revealed that John Podesta transferred 75,000 shares of common stock to a shell company in California, registered in Delaware, named Leonidio. Trouble is, it is a complete ghost of a holding company. Nobody can find who owns it. But let’s set that aside for now. What’s more important is the stock. The stock was in a company called Joule, unlimited. Joule is a tech company based in Bedford, MA. Its tech is bio-fuel and green energy. Podesta, in addition to receiving the 75,000 shares of stock, also sat on the board of one of the three branches of Joule. He did not disclose any of this, required by law, on his financial disclosures when he joined the Obama administration or the Clinton campaign. Most of this information, so far, is in the Breitbart articles. But it gets much, much better.
Reuben Vardanyan
Also on the board of Joule is a man named Reuben Vardanyan. He is a long time friend and advisor to Putin. You might call him a Russian Oligarch. He is native Armenian but has many financial interests in Russia, including banks, tech companies and oil interests. He is very, very wealthy. He founded an entity called SKOLKOVO, a Russian management school, dedicated to the tech industries. During the time that both Podesta and Vardanyan were on the board together of Joule, they received a 35 million dollar investment from a Russian government fund. At the same time another shell company was being set up in Bermuda…..Klein Ltd. The whole scheme seems to have been hatched sometime in early 2011, shortly before Podesta was placed on the board of Joule. Klein, Ltd. has absolutely no information known, since it was set up in Bermuda and its against Bermuda law to provide any information, but the agents of Klein are known. They have strong connections to the Russian oil industry and Vardanyan and share the law firm that set up the shell company, Klein, and a foundation called Sea Change. Sea Change is involved in this scheme as well. They appear to be funded by only two sources: Klein Ltd. and Nat Simons and his wife, Marilyn. Mr. Simons is a big left wing donor to Hillary Clinton and a rabid environmentalist. Sea Change is no small outfit. They take in about 30 million a year from just two sources. It is exclusively spent on climate change issues and alternate energy, with the one exception of millions a year given to the Center for American Progress….you remember them….that’s John Podesta’s organization. Somehow though, I think Nat Simons is a useful idiot. Maybe not, but the whole goal here seems to be to block, delay, and stop our development and use of fossil fuels. Now why would Russia invest in that? This seems to sharpen the image a little more, as to why climate change is so important to so many elites. By the way, all the people mentioned here are making millions and millions off all this advocacy.
But wait….there’s more. Above, while introducing the Russian connection, Vardanyan, I mentioned a school he created called SKOLKOVO. During Hillary’s “reset” with Russia, as secretary of state, at the request of SKOLKOVO, brought together 17 high tech American Companies to furnish technology to SKOLKOVO. All 17 companies were Clinton Foundation Donors or paid Bill big money for a speech. Hillary was warned by the FBI, that much of the technology could have duel use in military applications. Nothing was stopped. The technology was purchased, just as 20% of our uranium reserves were purchased.
For details and further reading I will furnish links at the bottom. But let’s sum up: Podesta, illegally, does not disclose his directorship of a Russian funded alternate fuel company……gets huge fee. Shares board with Reuben Vardanyan, close friend and confident of Vladimir Putin. Russians fund Klein, Ltd which funds Sea Change to weaken American resolve for using fossil fuel, donates to Center for American Progress…..John Podesta. Hillary arranges technology transfers to the Russians by 17 U.S. companies, all contributing to the Clintons.
Now! Tell me….who actually has ties to the Russians?
But I digress. Not long after….in December of that year, RUSAL acquired a 25% stake in NORILSK Nickel, one of the largest mining businesses in the world. Deripaska’s plan was to create the largest diversified metals company in the world. Vekselberg didn’t agree with the purchase, or holding it during the meltdown. Again Deripaska had to leverage much of his business to borrow the reported $15.7 billion dollars to buy the 25% plus 1 share stake. Look again at the date…this is just before the world’s economy fell apart. Deripaska was in trouble with his debt. In October of 2008, the Russian state bank, VEB Bank, loaned Deripaska $4.5 billion to pay to Western banks. This would allow RUSAL to stay in Russian hands. Vekselberg wanted out of RUSAL, but it was complicated. RUSAL’s interest in NORILSK is what I’m told is “blocking stock”. They can’t make decisions, but they can stop certain things from happening. If Vekselberg sold his RUSAL stock (some 15.8%), RUSAL may forfeit its blocking status. Another oligarch is trying to gain control over NORILSK Nickel, Vladimir Potanin. Plus, Vekselberg is also very unhappy with RUSAL suspending shareholder agreements and dividend payments. So almost from day one Vekselberg and Deripaska didn’t get along….and by all outward appearances, Deripaska was pushing Vekselberg’s face into the dirt, ignoring him and vetoing many of his decisions. While all this was happening in Russia, in May of 2008, Cisco (the software giant) was answering charges from congress that it provided technology to China to track and censor its citizens. Multiple law suits were filed against Cisco for providing this kind of technology to a totalitarian country. I only mention this, because it will become pertinent later. My guess is Vekselberg wanted to ruin Deripaska without destroying RUSAL. He would need help to achieve this. That help came from Hillary Clinton, in blocking his bid to acquire Opel, but it wouldn’t come cheap. Through a series of very complicated and illegal bank transfers, which is commonly called money laundering, millions of dollars were diverted from the Russian funds provided by Rusnano, allocated for the SKOLKOVO project, which Vekselberg controlled, wound up in a Citibank account controlled by the Clinton Foundation. Incidentally, Rusnano is a 10 billion dollar private equity firm completely controlled by Putin and the Russian government.
17 of the 28 companies donated openly to the Clinton Foundation. It’s hard to know exactly how much because of the way the foundation reports, but it’s between 15 and 25 million dollars. It’s also important to mention here that, at the same time, John Podesta received 35 million from the same source, Rusnano through Metcombank. Again, that’s a whole other story. You can read that here: Into The Weeds 11
In early 1994, Bill Clinton signed into law, a trade agreement, crafted by George Bush senior. A trade agreement called NAFTA. Here is what Hillary said about NAFTA in 1996 at a speech in New York at an event titled UNITE:
corruption in Kazakhstan. By 1997, Kazakhstan was becoming very corrupt. The president, elected in 1989, Nursultan Nazarbayev, remains president today in his fifth term. In 1997, a young businessman of 34 became a favorite of the president. His name is Mukhtah Ablyazov. He started a business selling commodities like sugar and salt. He learned how to create a holding company and after a few years became quite successful owning several companies. Nazarbayev, appointed him head of the state owned electric grid agency, where he swiftly turned it around to be a money maker. Within a year he was made minister of energy, industry, and trade of all Kazakhstan. You can read more about him 
Yesterday, I saw a story from one of my close FB friends about a weapons sale to Kenya, signed on January 19th…..Obama’s last day in office. The story is attached and outlines a request for a congressional investigation. On its face, it seems like an innocuous story about only 14 planes, weaponized to fight Al-Shabab. It further talks about who got the contract and who didn’t. It states a company called L3 Technologies received this contract. The contract became a no bid co
KenGeorge.org 