EXCLUSIVE A wealthy Russian-American businessman who has been linked to organized crime in FBI and Interpol reports was recently honored by the City Council, The Post has learned.
Semyon "Sam" Kislin, a 68-year-old commodities trader who once gave large donations to ex-Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), is a suspected member of a Brooklyn-based Russian crime syndicate. He allegedly used his company, Trans Commodities, now of Westchester, to launder millions of dollars, according to the FBI and Interpol.
Kislin did not return phone calls. In the past, Kislin has denied all wrongdoing and, in one press conference, even denied the existence of Russian organized crime. "There is no such thing as a Russian mafia," Kislin said in a 1999 press conference. At the time, Kislin acknowledged talking to the FBI.
Despite internal FBI reports alleging money laundering and mob ties, the bureau never pursued charges. According to the recent City Council invitation, the lawmakers honored Kislin and other immigrants from the former Soviet Union at a City Hall event on May 8.
Chris Policano, the City Council spokesman, said he did not know why Kislin was honored. The May 8 event was the second annual event "to honor the common heritage of new Americans from the former Soviet Union," Policano said. Kislin's name has been linked to the Russian mob for about a decade.
A 1994 FBI intelligence report called him a "member or associate" of a Brighton Beach crime operation headed by Vyacheslav "Little Japanese" Ivankov, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1997 for extortion and a fraudulent marriage to prevent his deportation.
The FBI report claims Kislin's company co-sponsored a Russian crime boss and contract killer for a U.S. visa, and called Kislin a "close associate" of the late arms smuggler Babeck Seroush.
By 1999, Kislin's name was in the news when his political contributions to Giuliani, Schumer, Sen. Alfonse D'Amato and President Bill Clinton came to light. Giuliani then appointed Kislin to the city's Economic Development Corp., which helps protect the city's job base. But Mayor Bloomberg did not reappoint him, a spokesman said, declining to say why.