General Discussion

Cracking the Shell Trump and the Corrupting Potential of Furtive Russian Money

by Diana Pilipenko
Center for American Progress, February 2018

Excerpt (p. 19)...

Recently, private banks in Russia have found themselves targets of a concerted government restructuring effort, with the aim of nationalizing the Russian financial sector. Six of the top 10 largest Russian banks are state-controlled;131 three others are currently being considered by the state authorities for “rehabilitation.”132 The only private bank on the top 10 list that has not been targeted by authorities is Mikhail Fridman’s Alfa Bank, which has moved many of its operations outside of Russia. This rehabilitation process has resulted in private banks’ owners losing their assets to the Central Bank of Russia.133 The push reportedly stems from the downturn in the Russian economy, caused by U.S. sanctions among other policies and geopolitical factors. Banks have become increasingly concerned about these sanctions, as evidenced by stateowned Sberbank of Russia’s reported efforts to lobby the U.S. State Department to avoid sanctions, and the Kremlin’s efforts to create a new bank with the purpose of circumventing U.S. sanctions in order to fund the Russian defense industry.134

PDF Source: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/02/TrumpFinancialTies-CrackingShell.pdf