Posted on 05/13/2002 7:10:49 PM PDT by Ivan the Terrible
Substantial sums of hard currency provided to Saddam Hussein from the sale of Iraqi oil allowed under United Nations sanctions have been laundered through banks around the world by a Russian Mafiya boss described in an MI5 report as "one of the world's top criminals." Despite that, Israel continues to allow Semyon Yukovich Mogilevich to travel openly on one of its passports. Even more remarkable, the MI5 description was reinforced by an investigation by Mossad. Its report concluded that Mogilevich is a "major criminal - but has taken great care to commit no crime against Israel."
His supply of arms to Iraq has come from the former Soviet Unions vast stockpile of weapons.
Mogilevich has made several trips to Iraq since the M15 investigation led to his being declared persona non grata after his money-laundering activities in London and the Channel Islands were discovered.
Two years ago his Israeli passport was renewed by its embassy in Switzerland. It is not known if he has used it to visit Israel. Its Foreign Ministry refuses to discuss the matter. But Israel's own tight-lipped banking system might find itself caught up in Mogilevich's financial scams that are now rocking the West's financial world.
One of America's largest and oldest banks, the Bank of New York, was caught up in a maelstrom of money-laundering orchestrated by Mogilevich. It was in the records of the conservative and, until now, well-regulated institution, that the first clues emerged about the secret deal Saddam had struck with the Mafiya baron.
The Bank of New York was the end of a "laundering" journey to make sure it could not be traced back to its source. Once "clean," the money was used by Mogilevich as payment against the Soviet arms he had - says one source close to the investigation - almost certainly stolen in Russia - and shipped to Iraq through the Islamic Republics of the former Soviet Union.
The Saddam deal is only a small part of an unprecedented money laundering operation.
Banks as far apart as Germany and Australia are being investigated to establish their position in the laundering chain Mogilevich created. The investigators do not discount that he may have funneled some of the cash from his deal with Saddam through Israeli banks.
A source close to the investigation told Globe-Intel: "We are just in the early stages, but it looks as if a lot of people in a number of countries are going to have to answer some very awkward questions from us. What we have here is a massive penetration of the global financial market by Russian organized crime."
The hapless Bank of New York suspended two employees. Both are senior officers in the bank's Eastern European division and are married to Russian businessmen, one of whom is believed by investigators to have controlled the various accounts Mogilevich ran through the bank.
Money laundering is a legal catch-all that refers to the criminal practice of taking ill-gotten gains and shifting them through a chain of bank accounts around the world. Each move along the chain "washes" the money so that ultimately it looks like genuine profits from legal businesses.
It was this method, investigators now believe, that Mogilevich used to "launder" Iraq's currency. The money was intended to buy medical supplies and other humanitarian aid for Iraq.
Intelligence sources say that Mogilevich has the resources available to him through his global criminal network that equals that of a medium-sized nation. An FBI report on organized crime in Russia states that "when the Soviet Union ceased to exist, many Russian generals sold their weapons to Mogilevich who sold them to Iraq."
Investigators in New York and London are now urgently trying to establish how far the Iraqi deal had gone before they discovered it. Already they have established that this year Saddam's aides met with Mogilevich's brokers in Geneva.
But the deal with Saddam has been described "as a drop in the sand" compared to Mogilevich's other activities. He entered the Western financial world in 1988 when the Bank of New York began to aggressively seek business in Russia. Their contact man in the former Soviet Union was Bruce Rapport, a Swiss banker. Born in Haifa, Israel, the 50-year-old Rapport ran an investment brokerage out of a modest office in Geneva. He operated in, among other places, Oman, Liberia and Haiti before setting up in New York.
Within five years he had established himself, through investments, as one of the Bank of New York's biggest individual stockholders, Using that position he offered to open doors for the bank in Russia. At some point Mogilevich saw his opportunity to use the Bank of New York for money laundering.
Investigators have now traded close to $5 billion that was laundered through one account in a short period this year. They believe that, all told, over $10 billion may have come and gone through the account.
One member of the investigating team told Globe-Intel: "It could end up around the $30 or even $40 billion mark. It is the most frightening evidence of how far Russian organized crime has been able to manipulate and infiltrate the West's financial markets."
Like a number of Russian criminals, Mogilevich is barred from entering the United States or Britain.
Meantime, he continues to travel between Moscow and Budapest. It is in the Russian capital that the first evidence of his criminal activities came. In the 1980s, as Jews prepared to leave the Soviet Union for Israel, he told them they would need hard currency in the West. He took their art, jewelry and other valuables and sold them. He only handed back half the money.
It was the precursor to the deal he would strike with Saddam Hussein.
Touche! (imagine the accent mark). Then again,PC-thought didn't exist back when these guys were operating,and there were no protected groups like today. Today's Jewish gangsters would be as well-known as those of old were it not for PC-think.
Bravo you found 4 Jewish mobsters among the hundreds of Italian Mafiosos. :)) What does that say about Italian people. Anything? Are many Italians Jewish btw?
Now reasearch how many Jews are in jails/prisons here as compared to other groups. Get back to me on that. 'Protected group'? Awww poor baby. Feeling picked-on?
I think you've hit something deep there. I suppose the resentment some folks here seem to feel toward Jews, (and by proxy Israel) comes from a feeling that Jews get special treatment, and it steams them. Of course that's really the worst kind of self-loathing at work. Someone feels cheated, or like a failiure, so they look for a scapegoat. Maybe if they can find someone to kick they can feel better, and a bit less of a failure. You know I saw David Duke on Fox, and he has a new book about 'Jewish Supremacy'. So I guess he's bugged, and jealous of Jews. He's in Russia now, avoiding US law enforcement.
Very true. Some even take it so far that they tag anybody the least bit critical of their group with labels like "anti-Semitic" or "David Duke followers",or "Nazi's".
'Their group'? See, that's what I mean. You really should get over the 'group' think-thing. Be a uniter, not a divider, as Bush might say.
I agree.In the spirit of cooperation, I promise to never refer to "my group" as "Gods Chosen People". And you?
Many of whom remained in Israel for a year or more before immigrating to the US.
If you had any idea what you were talking about, you'd know that nobody intent on going to America goes to Israel first, because that's the hardest way to emigrate to the U.S. But then, you are in competition for the Dumbest Poster Award, and have no clue. (I'm not going to give you the honor of calling you a FReeper.)
I hate to tell you, but there is no such award, so you can stop working so hard.
For real?! But why would U.S. law enforcement be after Duke? Writing nasty books isn't a crime.
Now, why do I have so much trouble believing that you ever subscribed to the Weakly Reader or National Review? Someone give you gift subscriptions? And why did you admire lightweights like Kristol and Lowry? Or were you talking about Billy Crystal, the comic?
VATICAN CITY (CNN) -- 'In a joyous Christmas message to the world, Pope John Paul II hailed the Jews as the people who gave Jesus Christ to mankind.
"The birth of the Messiah! It is the central event in the history of humanity," John Paul said in his homily. "The whole human race was awaiting it with a vague presentiment; the chosen people awaited with explicit awareness."
His gesture to the Jewish people, whom he called Christianity's "elder brothers," carried a special resonance because it came the day after a Hanukkah candle was lighted at the Vatican for the first time in history.'
Why do they keep saying "Russian organized crime",when what they REALLY need to say is "Jewish organized crime"? Could it be criminals are using PC for cover? Maybe because most people are afraid of being called "anti-Semitic" if they call a Jew a criminal? Naaahhhh!
So, where does it say he's a Jew? So, now the "world Zionist conspiracy" is running the world through organized crime? But I run the world Zionist conspiracy! You're telling me that I don't know how my own conspiracy works?! How is it that anti-Semites always think they can make better Jewish jokes than Jews?
I figured this out during the mid-'90s. Virtually all of the Russians in New York got here by saying they were Jews, yet most of the Russians I met said they were NOT Jews.
I don't doubt that for a instant. In fact,I am convinced it is true. None the less,you still have to question why and WHO gave them their Israeli passports and citizenship. They didn't come in a "Cracker Jacks" box. When you identify the Jewish bankers and financiers they are in business with,you will have answered your "who" and "why" questions. The fact is the wealthiest Jews internationally ARE the ones who pretty much run the world through their financial power,and the fact that they are Jews is only indidential. It's a convenient "cover" for them to hide behind to deflect criticism or blame. They care no more for Israel than they do Somalia. What they really care about are personal wealth and power,not a country or religion. It's kind of ironic that that vast majority of rabid "Israel-Firsters" I have met in this country are fundie Christians. Most of the powerful,influencial,and wealthy Jews in America are lefties who "care" about Israel on about the same level they "care" about saving the whales or world hunger. A matter of convenience and political correctness,not conviction. BTW,I KNOW I am going to get accused of being both a "anti-Semite" AND a "Jew-Lover" for writing this. The "anti-Semitic" accussations will be the only ones written,though.
I don't think you're in danger of being called a "Jew-lover" on THIS board.
What is the implied problem here?
Is the implication here that he is a wanted rather than an "alleged" criminal?
If he is a wanted criminal does the Israeli passport provide him with immunity from arrest?
He must be even more senile than I thought. Doesn't mythology state that "God" was the one who gave the world Jesus?
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