Deutsche Bank: Where the Dots of Russiagate Connect - Monday May 20th, 2019 at 1:10 PM
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Jeff Schechtman: Welcome to Radio WhoWhatWhy. I’m Jeff Schechtman. If you’re following or trying to follow the Trump-Russia story, no doubt your head is filled with dozens of threads: the Trump Tower meetings; the dossier; the names of countless Russians, mobsters, and oligarchs, and bankers; banks in Germany, in Moscow, Cyprus, and Moldavia; money laundering; real estate deals; hedge funds; indictments; bankruptcies; and a cast of characters orbiting Trump that feels more like the bar scene in the original Star Wars. How is it possible then to understand it all? Especially if, as Steve Bannon told Michael Wolff, it’s all about following the money. We could all imagine some kind of huge whiteboard or bulletin board in Mueller’s office with arrows, and pictures, and bank logos, and lines, and threads connecting them all together. Over the course of the past week, WhoWhatWhy has published a multi-part series entitled Deutsche Bank: A Global Bank for Oligarchs — Americans and Russians by Martin Sheil, a retired branch chief of the IRS Criminal Investigation Division. His WhoWhatWhy series could easily be seen as part of a preamble or executive summary to the report that Mueller may ultimately deliver to Congress. It is my pleasure to be joined here by Martin Sheil to talk about this story, Deutsche Bank: A Global Bank for Oligarchs – American and Russian. Martin Sheil, thanks so much for joining us on Radio WhoWhatWhy. Martin Sheil: Thanks for having me, Jeff. It’s a real pleasure and honor to be on your podcast. Jeff Schechtman: I want to begin by talking a little bit about Deutsche Bank as the link that ties so many of these pieces together, and just a little bit about its history. Martin Sheil: Yeah, well Deutsche Bank is a huge bank. It’s a global bank, but its headquarters are in Frankfurt, Germany. Its philosophy really is, going all the way back into the 19th century, to generate foreign investment in Europe, surrounding countries, and globally. It really made its first forays into the United States around 1998. They took over a bank in New York called Bankers Trust, which was a well-known bank in the New York financial circles. The marching orders of the bankers in New York was to generate revenues and generate fees. They wanted to grow the bank quickly and they wanted to grow the profits just as fast. Those were the marching orders, and so to do that in financial circles and banking circles, what that really means is that you have to take on risk. Of course, who is one of the riskiest investments you could take on if you’re in New York in the late 90s? Donald J. Trump. Jeff Schechtman: Before we get to Trump, how was the attitude, the business policy of Deutsche Bank fundamentally different from so many of the other international banks that were trying to grow during that period, whether it was banks like HSBC, or BNP, foreign banks based in European countries that in fact didn’t take the same path. What is it that the business decisions that Deutsche Bank made, that set it on the road to the reason that we’re talking about it today? Martin Sheil: The object of the company was to transact banking business of all kinds, in particular, to promote and facilitate trade relations between Germany, other European countries, and overseas markets. That’s basically what they decided to do. They decided to basically sprout their wings, spread their branches, and they did. The timing was right for them. Several other European banks also did that, but what I think differentiates Deutsche Bank was they were in hot pursuit of earnings. They wanted to grow as quickly as they could, and they did. Their risk management, let’s just say, wasn’t very good. Something I wanted to point out as we get into Deutsche Bank, some of their philosophy was they didn’t believe in autonomy as an instrument of management leadership. They were very centralized. Everything was directed from Frankfurt, from the top. Their direction was go out, make money, increase earnings. They had very ambitious objectives there. It was a big challenge for them, because they … You have different cultures. You have the American culture, the New York financial scene, and then you have — the UK was growing. The financial climate there was really starting to percolate, because you had the European Union just starting to grow. Then, you had Russia coming out of the 90s, shedding the Soviet Union shackles. You had capitalism just starting to take root there, but you had all sorts of things going on there, too; because you had all these state-run enterprises which were now open to private enterprise, and being sold for pennies on the dollar, in terms of their value. You had these predator plutocrats coming in and taking over, and just milking it for all it was worth. They really … didn’t really concern themselves very much with normal regulatory procedures, and they got themselves in a world of hurt with SEC, and CFTC, and … with the US Attorney’s office in Southern District of New York, New York state financial folks. They got in trouble with the United Kingdom’s financial regulators. It didn’t seem to matter to these folks. They were taking on fines, multiple billions of dollars of fines for toxic mortgage loans, for manipulation of the LIBOR, which is a interest rate over in the UK. They were taking on … They were getting hit with millions of dollars of fines for not maintaining their anti-money laundering control. It just didn’t seem to matter. It was just a cost of doing business. None of the management executives ever had their feet held to the fire. They were never held accountable. The law in Germany does not allow really for the prosecution of … the criminal prosecution of banking executives. No one in Germany banking circles has ever really gone to jail for any financial skulduggery. Jeff Schechtman: Martin, talk a little bit about how Deutsche Bank continued to be impacted by the financial conditions of any given time and how in some cases, actually US policy encouraged some of the nefarious practices of Deutsche Bank. Martin Sheil: In the middle of all of that, in the early 2000s, Deutsche Bank was, as we said, got their … sunk their roots back in 1998 and started growing by leaps and bounds; taking on huge risk in all areas; their mortgage loans, their … currency manipulations. Pretty much any area that you can think of, they took on a lot of risk and went the extra mile. They really pushed the boundaries. It got themselves jammed up. The regulatory authorities in looking at them would investigate and threaten to prosecute, and then what happened was that no one would actually individually be held responsible. The corporation would just get hit with a million or billion dollar fine. That didn’t inhibit anyone. They just kept going. It was the cost of doing business. The only ones that suffered from that type of approach would be the shareholder, the one who was investing in the bank. These executives didn’t care about the shareholders. They only cared about their own bonuses. Jeff Schechtman: Focus a little bit on Deutsche Bank’s connection to Russia and to Russians. They set up an office in Moscow. Talk a little bit about that connection. Martin Sheil:Deutsche Bank had a close relation with a bank called VTB, I can’t pronounce the Russian, the [Nezcsh?] Quarter Bank or something like that. VTB was … right now, is probably the second largest bank over there. Deutsche was looking to expand, and the timing was right because the Russian economy was starting to take off. The oligarchs had pretty much started to settle down. Putin had taken over. He became president in 2000. He set about attempting to get their tax authorities stabilized, and it took a while because there was a lot of corruption there. The oil prices started really increasing, and Russia was very much an oil-based economy. There was a lot of money to be made over there. The economy was flourishing. Folks were doing well. Deutsche Bank was looking to cash in. They got with VTB and the head of VTB was a guy by the name of Andrey Kostin, who’s alleged to be ex-KGB. As Putin once famously said, “There is no such thing as ex-KGB. Once KGB, always KGB.” The thing about Russian banks is that they’re just dominated by KGB and SSB intelligence officers. SSB took over for KGB. Anyway, Kostin was the head of VTB, very tight with Putin. Deutsche approaches Kostin, says, “Look, we’d like to set up some offices here and expand, and get Deutsche rolling. What do you think?” Kostin said, “Yeah, yeah. Let’s work together.” Says, “Hey, by the way, why don’t you hire my son to head up your Deutsche Bank office here in Moscow?” So OK, Deutsche agreed to do that, and Andrey Kostin became the head of Deutsche Bank Moscow. Well, he brought in some folks that were closely related to Kostin and to Putin, and to … called F-O-B, Friends of Putin. Suddenly revenues for Deutsche Bank just took off. They increased two, three, four hundred percent in a short period of time. This is about the late 2000s, let’s say in 2006, 2007 area. One of the things that was going on, a lot of the Russians who had made a lot of money were concerned — [it was] a little bit like the Wild West over there, in that you had some corrupt authorities and you had Russian organized crime was very prominent. Folks who had made some money and were concerned, and they also didn’t particularly like paying taxes; very similar to wealthy Americans and Europeans. They were looking to move their money out of Russia. Money laundering was a big deal over there. I must say, having investigated money laundering for decades, the Russians are the best at it. Jeff Schechtman: Explain why it was so important, given the state of the Russian economy, why was it so important to move money out of the country? Why was money laundering such a critical business with respect to Russia? Martin Sheil:These oligarchs, and there’s about, at the time, about 200 of them that really controlled most of the economy. I mean they controlled 75-80% of the economy. A lot of that is oil related or mineral related. They were concerned. They wanted to safeguard their money. They were never sure how long they were going to be and retain their oligarchical power, because so much of their power and their wealth depended on their relationship with Putin and those immediately around Putin. Putin, his chief of staff was a guy by the name of Igor Sechin, who went on to become the CEO of Rosneft, which is the largest oil company in Russia. Sechin was in charge of what’s known as the siloviki. Siloviki is Russian for … Well, a little translation is ‘structured force’. Essentially what it is, in America we would refer to it in mafia terms: muscle. Siloviki equals muscle. If Putin wasn’t happy with an oligarch, he would sick “siloviki” on that particular oligarch. They would just seize the industry, or the company, and throw the oligarch in jail. This was what they did with Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was the head of Yukos Oil, which was the largest oil company at the time. Putin viewed Khodorkovsky as a competitor, as a rival, as a threat. When Putin came in power, became president in 2000, one of the first things he did was just put Khodorkovsky in his place, threw him jail, seized his company, and chopped it up; and took what he wanted from it. That set a real lesson to all the other oligarchs. They looked around and they saw ‘If he can do that to Khodorkovsky, he can do it to us.’ They started trying to get their what monies they had in their banks, … In Russia at the time, there are a lot of little banks. They were known as pocket banks, because they were in the pocket of the particular industry that the oligarchs would control; whether it was aluminum, or oil, or whatever. These banks are not real banks as we understand them. They’re more like … piggy banks, or that kind of thing. They would come and go. Anyway, the Russians decided, “Well, it’s time. We need to get our … move our money out of here, because what happened to Khodorkovsky, it could happen to me.” They started doing very complex maneuvers, move it into a large Russian bank that had a correspondent bank relation with banks in Moldova and Latvia. From there, once you got it into Latvia, you could then move it into the European Union. You could move it to the UK. Once in the UK, it could go to the British Virgin Islands, Cyprus, wherever. They’d use all these shell accounts masking the identity, the source of ownership. They would buy up … make investments in restaurants, or athletic teams, like soccer teams, famous soccer teams, basketball teams, hockey teams, whatever. They’d also buy huge yachts, et cetera. Ultimately, they would end up buying real estate, either commercial real estate or luxury condos in places like London and Manhattan. They would always buy them in shell company names. The anonymity of real estate purchases that American and UK laws afforded was fully taken advantage of by these oligarchs. When you get to around 2010, the Russian laundromat was basically cracked down. The Moldovan banks, that particular method of money laundering was essentially stopped; and a lot of the Latvian banks closed up. Jeff Schechtman: Once this method of laundering money was shut down, what was next? There’s always a new way that would come along to take care of this laundering. What was next? Martin Sheil: Another way of moving money had to be devised. One of those ways was the mirror trades, which emanated from the Deutsche Moscow Bank. In very simple terms, you can read the articles for the details; but essentially, you’re talking about an oligarch who has all sorts of … or a corrupt Russian official who has all sorts of accounts both in Russia and outside of Russia, and will set up … devise, or direct various brokers. There was about a dozen brokers in the Moscow area that would be directed to buy Russian stock … Let’s say four or five million dollars, buy stock in a Rosneft, or Gazprom, or Sberbank, or whatever. At the same time, the oligarch would then direct brokers in London to sell stock at almost the same exact time as they’re buying the three or four million dollars in Gazprom. There’s the London guy is selling three or four million shares of Gazprom. The result of that, the simultaneous buying and selling of the same stocks at the same price was to essentially move the Russian rubles, that were in hand, to London, and at the same time as you’re moving it, you are converting it. The Russian term is “convert,” … into Euros or dollars, whatever you sold the stock for.Jeff Schechtman: As these practices went on, what specifically was Deutsche Bank’s role as all of these methods continued to evolve? Martin Sheil: Well, I mean there’s real no economic benefit of purpose to this simultaneous … Well, the oligarch has now moved his money out of Russia and converted it from rubles to Euros or dollars. Deutsche’s role was they get to collect fees on the trade. The manager who was in charge of this, a guy by the name of Tim Wiswell, who’s an American, he was also … He got paid additional bribes to make sure that no one came in and to protect the traders from this whole thing. He got three or four million dollars put into his offshore bank accounts in British Virgin Islands. This went on for about four or five years, from 2010 to 2014, ’15 area. We’re talking about maybe 10, 11 billion dollars worth of money was moved from Russia, out of Russia, to the UK and then from there, it could go anywhere. That’s what’s known as the Russian mirror trades money laundering scheme that we wrote about here. Jeff Schechtman: You touched on this before, Martin, but were there any consequences with respect to Deutsche Bank? Did anyone care, either in the US or anywhere else in the world? Martin Sheil: No. The UK financial folks hit Deutsche Bank with something like a 650 million dollar fine. The New York State Department of Financial Services hit Deutsche Bank for about a 285 million dollar fine. The Department of Justice opened up a criminal investigation in the Southern District of New York, with regard to Deutsche Bank and these money laundering activities; because a lot of these trades actually passed through the New York bank in terms of the way that the financial system was set up. That provided New York with venue and jurisdiction. Now, they opened up this investigation a couple years ago and it’s basically, it’s just laying dormant. There was a recent article in December, I think CNN put out, that they had found that Department of Justice money laundering section, which is located in Washington, had joined the Southern District of New York’s prosecutor team in this investigation; but no one could find out just what is the status of it. No one really knew. Jeff Schechtman: I want to come to 1998 and the beginnings of Donald Trump’s relationship with Deutsche Bank and how that relationship evolved. Martin Sheil: Now, understand, in terms of contacts, that Donald Trump had, in the 90s, had declared bankruptcy six separate times, one half dozen financial bankruptcies; many of which related to the Trump casino in Atlantic City, the Taj Mahal. He was basically toxic in terms of the rest of the financial industry thinking about providing loans to him. He did not have a good reputation. I want to point out a couple of things there, that the casinos were well known at that time for laundering money. The casinos in fact, did get hit by the Treasury Department for money laundering penalties and fines for their lack of anti-money laundering control. The other thing I wanted to point out was that as they kept declaring bankruptcy, it required them to restructure. The guy that Trump brought in to restructure his organization down there, was a guy by the name of Wilbur Ross; who is now Secretary of Commerce. It’s late 90s, Trump’s having a lot of difficulty with his casinos. He’s trying different ways and things, but he decides to get into real estate. He wants to build a building down at 40 Wall Street. He needs money. The other banks in New York are shying away from him. Deutsche Bank just takes over Bankers Trust. They direct their folks in New York to be aggressive and being aggressive, as I mentioned earlier, means taking out larger and larger risk. Risk management controls are negligible at this point. The decision is made to loan Mr. Trump quite a bit of money for 40 Wall Street. That works out fairly well. They continue to loan him money. Mr. Trump builds some more. Deutsche loans more money to him. It seems to be a good relationship. They’re making money. He’s making money. The bankers involved are making money, they’re making fees. Now, understand that this is Deutsche Bank, their real estate section, they’re the ones that know real estate and what not. They’re doing well with Trump. But then, everything’s going pretty well until you get to the 2008 area when Trump Tower Chicago; which required … that was like about a 360 million dollar loan … 40 million of that was personally guaranteed by Trump. Now, Trump was having difficulty making his payments. The bank started calling in the note, and said, “Hey, sorry. We’ve had a good relationship, but you need to … You got to make your payments.” He wasn’t doing it, so they sued him. They sued him for the 40 million that he had personally guaranteed. They took that 40 million. What Trump did was he counter-sued and claimed that it wasn’t his fault he couldn’t pay the loan. It was Deutsche Bank’s fault for contributing to the worldwide, global financial recession; which is just a crazy suit. That really turned off the real estate executives associated with Deutsche Bank. They decided after that suit, which Trump lost — he lost his 40 million that he had personally guaranteed; which he made up real quick by selling this mansion down in Florida to this Russian oligarch called Rybolovlev, for like a 50 million dollar profit; but the bankers at Deutsche said, “Donald, we’re moving you over to the private wealth management section of Deutsche Bank, and Rosemary Vrablic will become your personal wealth manager. If you want more loans or anything, you deal with her.” Vrablic had a real estate background. She hit it off well with Trump. She was eventually invited to the inauguration. She’s also the wealth manager for the Kushners, and of course, that private wealth management section of Deutsche also caters to Russian oligarchs; which isn’t real well-known. But these private wealth managers are … they’re like the guys down at … in the hotel lobby that will run around and do anything you need, run out and get you … the concierge-type service. Jeff Schechtman: Right. Martin Sheil:They’ll go out and get you Broadway tickets, go park your car; or they’ll sometimes go buy the car for you, for these wealthy guys, “park the yacht,” or whatever it is. Just jumping ahead, if I was a prosecutor for a day in the Southern District of New York, or on Mueller’s team, I would be subpoenaing Rosemary Vrablic, as well as the other private wealth managers of Deutsche in New York; and ask them to see the client list, and see if any … Rosemary Vrablic had ever introduced any of the oligarchs to Trump, and back and forth like that. Jeff Schechtman: As part of your three-part series in WhoWhatWhy, you give a number of examples of some of the really shady practices and illegal practices in many cases that Deutsche Bank was involved in, so many of which touched on either Trump or the people around Trump. Talk a little bit about one or two of those specific examples. Martin Sheil: There was a tax shelter promotion done from 1998 to 2002, [due to which] Deutsche Bank was investigated by the Southern District of New York; [SDNY said] “Hey, you’ve sold over 1,000 tax shelters to several thousand people to the tune of close to six billion dollars of illegitimate tax losses.” The one percenters are looking for any reason not to pay their taxes. If Deutsche Bank didn’t provide this service, no one else would have; but in this sense, in this case, Deutsche Bank got caught. They got their wrist slapped. They entered into what’s known as an NPA, a non-prosecution agreement with Department of Justice Southern District of New York where they agreed to stop selling, stop promoting these tax shelters, … and that if they violated this NPA, they would be subject to prosecution. The door would be reopened, and they’d … this whole issue would be revisited. The same time they were negotiating this, and negotiation took some time, they began to promote something called “basket options.” Basket options is basically … it’s a financial instrument on the front end where it’s a highly leveraged type of a deal — where you invest not only your money, but the bank’s money in this case. The real key to it was on the back end of the transaction is a tax shelter. It would provide for long term capital gain treatment in lieu of short term capital gain treatment, which is a savings of approximately half. Now, they sold most of their basket options, I’m talking Deutsche Bank came up with these basket options. They sold most of them to Renaissance Technology, otherwise known as RenTech. The co-CEO of RenTech is probably the best known person associated with RenTech. His name is Robert Mercer. He’s what I would refer to as an American oligarch, because in 2016, he made political contributions of approximately 20 million dollars. RenTech also ran a company called Cambridge Analytica, which employed Steve Bannon, Kelly Anne Conway. They were involved in doing analytics with regard to how to sway potential voters out in the country. Jeff Schechtman: What exactly was RenTech, and how did it specifically benefit from Deutsche Bank? Martin Sheil: Renaissance Technology is a hedge fund, second largest hedge fund in this country. What they would do is a lot of their trades were computer generated based on very complex algorithms devised by their very highly educated folks. They would engage in thousands, sometimes millions of trades inside of a couple of seconds. That means buying and selling financial product inside of a couple of a seconds. Seconds, nano-seconds. Well, to qualify for a long term capital gain treatment, which is much less than a short term capital gain treatment, tax-wise, you have to hold … When you buy a financial instrument, you have to hold it for at least one year before you sell it. That’s what’s called long term capital gain. Anything over a year is long term. Anything under a year is short term. Well, Renaissance Technology was treating all these hundreds, thousands, sometimes millions of transactions that occurred in nano seconds, they were treating that as if they were long term … they were held long term. There couldn’t be a more gross violation of tax treatment. There’s no confusion as to that these products were held for a year. They were held for seconds. That allowed Renaissance Technology to qualify for what’s … for say a tax savings that has been … what’s publicly been announced as 6.8 billion. I’ve seen other places say seven billion dollars of tax saving were derived by RenTech through the use of these basket options. Now, the US Senate Permanent Committee for Investigations headed by Ex-Senator Carl Levin investigated this. They brought in testimony. They brought in Deutsche Bank executives, et cetera. After all was said and done, Senator Levin characterized these basket options as “let’s pretend basket options.” Basically, calling them a magical device that just magically transformed a sale that occurred, a buy and sell transaction that occurred in seconds to something that took over a year; allowing them to take long term capital gain. Here you have that the IRS said back in 2010: “These basket options serve no economic purpose. There is nothing to them. There is no substance to it. Do not use these basket options.” RenTech continues to use them. RenTech buys at least 29 of these basket options. Deutsche Bank was told back in the middle 2000s: “Do not sell any tax shelters. Do not engage in any more promotion of tax shelters.” Even as they’re signing that agreement, they’re selling these basket options to RenTech, in clear violation of their non-prosecution agreement. Why did they do it? There’s only one reason, and that has to do with money. They were making huge fees on the sale of these basket options. The Southern District of New York prosecuted KPMG in the mid 2000s for the sale … KPMG, of course, also one of the biggest accounting firms in the country. They were selling illegal tax shelters. They got prosecuted. They entered into what’s known as deferred prosecution agreement. Of course, nobody goes to jail. If you read the DPA, the deferred prosecution agreement, KPMG could not have conducted their tax shelter scheme without interacting with a bank. As it turns out, even in the indictment, the bank that was involved was called Bank A in the indictment. Bank A, as it turns out, is Deutsche Bank. My feeling is that a chief executive of Deutsche Bank should be held responsible for all these financial shenanigans; because not only were the shareholders of Deutsche Bank ripped off, American taxpayers and yeah, Russian taxpayers were ripped off. It was done at the direction of centralized management. Centralized management in this instance is the CEO of Deutsche Bank. Now, for a good long period of time, the CEO was a guy by the name of Joseph Ackermann. Joseph Ackermann left in around … I don’t know, somewhere between 2012, 2014, to become the president or head of Bank of Cyprus; which … is a … It’s the largest bank in Cyprus, and Cyprus is a known tax haven, money laundering area in the world … and a place where many of the Russians, the oligarchs and corrupt officials park a lot of their money. Matter of fact, Paul Manafort had opened up something like 15 accounts at the bank that preceded Bank of Cyprus; Bank of Cyprus took it over. It’s a small world here. You have wealthy folks in America, wealthy folks in UK, wealthy folks in Russia, all benefiting from the financial irregularities, if you want to say; or even the financial criminal conduct of Deutsche Bank, who’s in the pursuit of earnings and executive bonuses. Jeff Schechtman: You also have a pretty strong relationship between the Kushner family and Deutsche Bank. Martin Sheil: Oh yeah. Kushner … Even Kushner’s mother has a … account with the private wealth section of Deutsche Bank. Kushner himself has an open line of credit to the tune of, I don’t know, five to ten million dollars with Deutsche Bank; as well as Ivanka. Kushner, his company obtained loans of … to the tune of approximately 285 million dollars from Deutsche Bank, about one month prior to the November election. This was just … This was during a period of time where Deutsche Bank was negotiating how much of a fine they would pay on their … the toxic mortgage loan exposure they had. It was 14.2 billion dollars was the figure that Southern District of New York first floated. That got cut to … in literally in half to seven billion, right after the president got elected. This is … Perhaps it was coincidental that Kushner, who also had financial issues of his own, perhaps it was just coincidental that Deutsche Bank gave him such a huge loan; and that they had their seven billion dollar savings on the fine. Kushner has these loans going on. It should be noted, I think I note that in the article, that Deutsche Bank and Vnesheconombank (VEB) is a bank in Russia that Putin and the oligarchs make quite a bit of use of. VEB and Deutsche had a cooperation agreement. A lot of times, Russian oligarchs particularly post right around the recession time. They got overextended, and Deutsche made some loans; and which are in peril. VEB would come in and save the day with emergency loans, bridge loans, and what not. They have a long history of working together. Eventually, Kushner met with the president of VEB, early December. The president of VEB was a guy by the name of Sergey Gorkov who is an ex-FSB; and closely tied to Vladimir Putin. We don’t know what was discussed there, but we do know that a month later, Eric Prince, who is a brother of Betsy DeVos, Secretary of Education, he met with some Russians, financiers, bankers, as well as a sheik from Qatar. They all met out in the Sechelles Islands, which is another bank secrecy haven. They also met with a guy who heads the Russian development fund, which is run by … supervised by VEB. Both the Russian development fund and VEB are under sanctions. You have just one meeting after another that … between members of Kushner’s … I should say Trump’s close circle, whether it’s Flynn, Kushner, Prince; and folks who are under and institutions that are economic sanctions. Jeff Schechtman: It’s interesting, there’s the assumption with all of this that somehow Trump is the center of this universe; but in fact, Deutsche Bank really is the center of the universe and everything revolves around that. The Russians, Trump. Martin Sheil: Right. Jeff Schechtman: All these other banks. Martin Sheil: Right. Jeff Schechtman: I mean they really are the center of this story. Martin Sheil: Deutsche is the common thread. If you want to do anything in terms of investments, … tax maneuvers, you basically need a big financial institution. If you’re a mover and shaker financially, you’re going to have, to have … be accommodated by a bank who can facilitate movement of money worldwide. I mean it’s a global economy now. You hit a button, and you’ve moved money from one side of the globe to the other. You need banks to do that. There are banks who will do anything for a price, for a fee. Certainly Deutsche was one of those. Why wouldn’t they? I mean no one has been prosecuted. Jeff Schechtman: Right. Martin Sheil: There’s no deterrent. Jeff Schechtman:With respect to Deutsche Bank, we know, we’ve certainly heard that Mueller has subpoenaed documents from Deutsche Bank. How legitimate do you think Deutsche Bank will be in providing the documentation that Mueller’s people want? Martin Sheil: That’s a great question. Don’t know. We can’t even be sure that Mueller’s people are the ones that subpoenaed Deutsche Bank records. Let me tell you why. You have … Mueller certainly has his investigation, which emanates out of Washington, DC. Okay? But the subpoenas that I’ve heard about came most recently out of the Eastern District of New York; which is Brooklyn, the Department of Justice … These attorneys offices are in the Eastern District. I don’t know that … that sounds like a separate investigation to me, looking into Kushner. Jeff Schechtman: Martin, we’re just about out of time. If you look at the totality of this story and everything that you’ve written about Deutsche Bank, how would you sum this all up? Martin Sheil: My feeling is that Deutsche Bank has engaged in, for years, the facilitation of tax evasion by wealthy people whether it’s facilitating money laundering, mirror trades for wealthy Russian oligarchs, or by engaging in the sale and promotion of tax shelters for wealthy Americans. They’ve been heavily engaged in doing that. That’s just one more service that Deutsche Bank has provided with little consideration as to the fact that they may well have entered into tax evasion or actually committing crimes in servicing their client.Jeff Schechtman: Martin Sheil, I thank you so much for spending time with us today. Martin Sheil: It was my pleasure, Jeff. Any time. Jeff Schechtman: Thank you, and thank you for listening and for joining us here on Radio WhoWhatWhy. I hope you join us next week for another Radio WhoWhatWhypodcast. I’m Jeff Schechtman.
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The Trump-Russia Timeline
Just Security-Dec 19, 2018
Trump Sues Deutsche Bank, But Bank Keeps Lending To Him Anyway .... The Moscow Times reports that Russian majority state-owned Sberbank has agreed to ..... He says that the Russian bank VTB will issue invitations and visas for the trip to ...... all of his holdings in Russia's majority state-owned energy giant, Gazprom.
Deutsche Bank: Where the Dots of Russiagate Connect
WhoWhatWhy / RealNewsProject (blog)-Jan 24, 2018
Time and again, Deutsche Bank brought Trump and the Russians closer .... Anyway, Kostin was the head of VTB, very tight with Putin. .... Let's say four or five million dollars, buy stock in a Rosneft, or Gazprom, or Sberbank, or whatever. ..... Eventually, Kushner met with the president of VEB, early December.
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Byron York: Why was FBI so wrong in Trump-Russia wiretap warrant?
Washington Examiner-May 13, 2019
While in Moscow, the FBI said, Page had a "secret meeting" with a man named Igor Sechin, head of the Russian energy giant Rosneft. The FBI ...
Saudis Talk Tough at OPEC+, But Oil Market Remembers 2018 U-Turn
Bloomberg-2 hours ago
Under pressure from both U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian ... Chief Executive Officer Igor Sechin, wants to be able to boost output.
The Steele Dossier and the 'Verified Application' That Wasn't
National Review-May 18, 2019
... a sliver of the dossier in the briefing of President-elect Trump — the ... Carter Page met with Putin associates Igor Sechin and Igor Divyekin.
US and Russia to discuss fate of Venezuela amid reports Putin will not ...
Telegraph.co.uk-May 14, 2019
But Mr Putin is believed to have told President Donald Trump during their ... Venezuela is said to originate with the machinations of Igor Sechin, ...
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Dec 1, 2018 - Trump Tower Moscow didn't make it past the planning stages, but the ... observes that Igor Sechin, CEO of the Russian oil company Rosneft, ...
Dec 11, 2018 - The failed attempt at a deal to construct a Trump Tower in Moscow, as well as .... In December of 2016, Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin and Russian ...
Igor Sechin is a longtime Putin loyalist, a former Soviet spy, and the current ... spy Christopher Steele stated that Sechin offered Trump campaign foreign policy ...
Igor Sechin is the former deputy prime minister of Russia and current executive ... Sechin reportedly met with Carter Page, at the time a member of the Trump ...
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May 25, 2018 - As oil futures slide, Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin says the U.S.'s unilateral action on Iran has the potential to knock 5% of global production offline.
Mar 30, 2018 - Carter Page has always denied that he met with Igor Sechin during his summer visit to Moscow, but during his testimony before the House ...
Jul 22, 2018 - Former Trump advisor Carter Page denies working as Russian spy – ... It is alleged that Page met Igor Sechin, a Russian energy executive, and ...
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Nov 7, 2017 - Carter Page's bizarre testimony to the House Intelligence .... One of those was Igor Sechin, the CEO of the Rosneft oil company, which is ...
Apr 19, 2019 - Steele was the source and “reported that Page had a secret meeting with Igor Sechin, who is the President of Rosneft [a Russian energy ...
Sep 19, 2018 - Carter Page in Moscow in December 2016Sergei Karpukhin / Reuters ... that while in Moscow Page had met with Igor Sechin—a Vladimir Putin ...
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Gazprom says Swiss court blocks Nord Stream payments
Reuters-Nov 12, 2018
MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Swiss court has issued an injunction barring the operators of the Nord Stream gas pipeline from making payments to ...
Nord Stream 2 is a Bad Deal for Europe
Atlantic Council (blog)-Jul 10, 2018
The pipeline, owned by Russian energy giant Gazprom, would significantly ... Moscow has also succeeded in enlisting Gerhard Schröder, ...
US warns German companies of possible sanctions over Russian ...
ABS-CBN News-Jan 13, 2019
BERLIN - The United States has warned German companies involved in the Russian-led Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline that they could face ...
Russia's Pipe Dreams Are Europe's Nightmare
Foreign Policy-Mar 12, 2019
On the commercial front, the pipeline helps cement Gazprom's ... Unfortunately for him, Medvedev and Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller have nixed ...
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Maarten Wetselaar, Klaus Schaefer, Mario Mehren, Alexey Miller, Gerhard Schroeder, Isabelle Kocher, Gerard Mestrallet, Rainer Seele, and Matthias Warnig ...
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Jun 12, 2017 - Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller (R) and former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder (L) during a signing ceremony for the Nord Stream 2 gas ...
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Sep 29, 2017 - Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder faced further criticism at ... Europe and Russia,” Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin told the company's ...
Sep 29, 2017 - Former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder has been appointed ... most loyal German leader to Russia,” Rosneft chief executive Igor Sechin ...
Sep 29, 2017 - Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has been named the new ... But Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin, a close ally of Russian President ...
Oct 1, 2017 - Commenting on the appointment, Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin said that Schröder had ... Board Chairman Igor Sechin (L) and Gerhard Schroeder.
As for ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, his future is also likely to be closely ... Rosneft, a company where Igor Sechin rules, bypasses commercial logic when it
Oct 19, 2017 - Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder attends a briefing in ... Rosneft also has informal ties to the Kremlin via its CEO, Igor Sechin, ...
Jan 23, 2018 - Igor Sechin and Gerhard Schroeder also took part in the signing of an agreement between the Rosneft subsidiary, Rosneft Deutschland GmbH, ...
May 22, 2018 - Gerhard Schroeder (chairman of the council) is expected to pay $ 600 ... the head of Rosneft Igor Sechin said that the top manager does not ...
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Post - 12:17 PM 5/20/2019 - Gerhard Schroeder - Gazprom - Rosneft: He used to rule Germany. Now, he oversees Russian energy companies and lashes out at the U.S. Monday May 20th, 2019 at 11:30 AM
Germany's top spy has been ousted from his post, pushing the man of secrets into the spotlight. Euronews' Berlin correspondent Jessica Salz explains how Hans-Georg Maassen's dismissal came about — and what it means for Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Why is Hans-Georg Maassen such a controversial character?
As head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency, Hans-Georg Maassen recently came under fire for questioning the authenticity of videos that depicted far-right extremists chasing foreigners down the street in Chemnitz on August 26. The videos were real, and many people pointed out that a top spy should have known to verify a video before commenting on it. He was also perceived to be downplaying the violence depicted in the videos.
Maassen has also been accused of forging links to the right-wing AfD party: he is alleged to have given members of the party advice on how to avoid surveillance, as well as passing on information to them about extremism from reports that hadn't yet been published. The SPD party and many opposition MPs demanded that Maassen be fired.
Did he lose his job?
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· · ·
Germany's top spy has been ousted from his post, pushing the man of secrets into the spotlight. Euronews' Berlin correspondent Jessica Salz explains how Hans-Georg Maassen's dismissal came about — and what it means for Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Why is Hans-Georg Maassen such a controversial character?
As head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency, Hans-Georg Maassen recently came under fire for questioning the authenticity of videos that depicted far-right extremists chasing foreigners down the street in Chemnitz on August 26. The videos were real, and many people pointed out that a top spy should have known to verify a video before commenting on it. He was also perceived to be downplaying the violence depicted in the videos.
Maassen has also been accused of forging links to the right-wing AfD party: he is alleged to have given members of the party advice on how to avoid surveillance, as well as passing on information to them about extremism from reports that hadn't yet been published. The SPD party and many opposition MPs demanded that Maassen be fired.
Did he lose his job?
Yes, but he was immediately given a better one! Maassen will now become deputy head of the interior minister, which is seen as a step up. Interior Minister Horst Seehofer had defended Maassen and will now welcome him into his own fold. There was outrage over his "promotion" from members of the SPD, one Green party leader called it an "incredible fudge". His appointment was decided by the heads of the governing parties and is being interpreted as Merkel trying to prevent another government crisis and keep Seehofer happy.
Will this backfire on Merkel?
Merkel has just hired a critic of her migration policy into the interior ministry to join the most prominent critic of her migration policy — Horst Seehofer. The two men will now be working closely together on issues such as migration and the integration of refugees into Germany and they will likely put more pressure on the chancellor to take a tougher stance. Merkel may live to regret this decision. It also threatens the public perception that, as chancellor, she repeatedly bends to the demands of Seehofer. There is still disunity in the government, but there is real tension between leading Conservatives, and this could spell trouble for Merkel.
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Hans-Georg Maassen über Angela Merkels Kurs: «Es fehlt die ...
az Aargauer Zeitung-May 18, 2019
Hans-Georg Maassen, Sie sind nach Ihrem Abgang von der Spitze des Verfassungsschutzes der Werteunion, einer als konservativ geltenden ...
Far-right Alternative for Germany sets the tone for German Grand ...
World Socialist Web Site-10 hours ago
It is well known that the former head of the secret service, Hans-Georg Maassen (CDU) met several times before the publication of the ...
CDU'lu koyu kanat onu istiyor
Hürriyet-7 hours ago
... üzerine istifa etmek zorunda kalan eski Anayasayı Koruma Teşkilatı Başkanı Hans Georg Maassen'i İçişleri Bakanı olarak görmek istiyor.
German intelligence agency warns of 'Islamic State' attacks
Deutsche Welle-May 13, 2019
... to issues beyond Islamic extremists, the group that was almost the exclusive the focus under his predecessor, Hans-Georg Maassen.
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If the Soviets had invaded West Germany in the early days of the Cold War, they would have found more than a hodgepodge of NATO troops waiting for them.
They would also have confronted a secret army of Hitler’s former soldiers, waiting to settle scores with the Communists. Considering the brutal, take-no-prisoners warfare on the Eastern Front in World War II, former German SS troopers fighting vengeful Red Army troops—again—would have been the height of savagery.
The German magazine Der Spiegel discovered a file buried for years in the archives of the BND, Germany’s spy agency. The documents reveal that in 1949, some 2,000 former officers of the SS and the Wehrmacht—the regular German military under the Third Reich—formed a secret paramilitary army that might have numbered as many as 40,000 fighters in the event of war.
1899
The first traffic ticket in the US: New York City taxi driver Jacob German was arrested for speeding while driving 12 miles per hour on Lexington Street.
Amelia Earhart takes off from Newfoundland to begin the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean by a female pilot.
The Allied occupation forces didn’t know about it. If they did, they would have discovered the involvement of several former Nazi generals who would later become senior commanders in the Bundeswehr, West Germany’s army.
The underground army was apparently supported by former Third Reich generals such as Hans Speidel, who became chief of NATO ground forces in Central Europe in 1957, and Adolf Heusinger, the first inspector general of the Bundeswehr.
Thus after losing millions of men to defeat Hitler, the Western Allies might have had to deal with an army of German war veterans backed by former Nazi senior officers who were rising stars in the West German military. Anti-communist or not, the existence of such an organization surely wouldn’t have reassured the survivors of Coventry and Oradour-Sur-Glane.
The secret army was the brainchild of Albert Schnez, a former Wehrmachtcolonel who later became an official in the Bundeswehr. Along with other German war veterans just after the war, he worried what would happen if the Soviets invaded. West Germany had no army until 1955, and America demobilized much its own military in 1945, leaving Western Europe vulnerable to Soviet conquest.
Schnez wanted ready-made battle staffs, composed of combat-experienced officers, who would form the nucleus of combat divisions. He was convinced that if the Soviets attacked, legions of German war veterans—and there were no shortage of those after World War II—would have flocked to the colors.
They planned to wage war against the Soviets as guerrillas, perhaps operating from Spain or Switzerland.
The West German parliament also didn’t know about this secret army, but the German security service had its leader on its payroll. In 1951, Schnez approached the Gehlen Organization, as German intelligence was known at the time, to offer the services of his organization.
The timing was impeccable. The Korean War was raging, and U.S. and European leaders worried that the conflict was a Soviet diversion to draw off U.S. forces while the Soviets invaded Western Europe.
In a disturbing reminder of where the members of the secret army learned their trade, they spied on leftist West German politicians. Had West Germany gone to war with the Soviets, one wonders what would have happened to anybody the secret army deemed insufficiently anti-communist.
But how would this army have fared against a Soviet invasion?
Probably not well. The massive Soviet tank armies sweeping west to the Ruhr—or the English Channel—might just possibly have been contained by threadbare NATO forces, or more likely the threat of American nukes.
Tens of thousands of aging, poorly armed SS veterans might have been a nuisance to Soviet supply lines, but no more. Considering Soviet memories of German atrocities, one suspects that an insurgency led by ex-Nazis would have been dealt with swiftly and mercilessly.
It’s also remembering that Hitler had the same idea. With Allied and Soviet armies remorselessly closing in on Germany from west and east in 1944 and ’45, Hitler had an inspiration. The German people would rise up as guerrillas against the occupiers as they advanced into German territory.
The “Werewolves” were supposed to strike terror in the hearts of Germany’s enemies. Indeed, the Allies feared a Nazi guerrilla war. Instead, the Werewolves merely proved that after six years of war, the German people were tired, hungry and bombed out.
They just wanted the war to end, even in defeat.
Perhaps the secret army would have discovered that the German people preferred being Red to being dead.
Image: Creative Commons
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The Secret Ex-Nazi Army That Guarded West Germany
The National Interest Online (blog)-Apr 21, 2019
The German magazine Der Spiegel discovered a file buried for years in the archives of the BND, Germany's spy agency. The documents reveal ...
Miami Herald
Retrial of 'Sharia police' suspects opens in Germany
Belleville News-Democrat-5 hours ago
Seven men accused of posing as a self-styled "Sharia police" in Germany have gone on trial for the second time, on charges they violated rules ...
German central bank expects feeble growth in second quarter
Belleville News-Democrat-3 hours ago
Cars for export and import are stored in front of containers on Thursday, May 16, 2019 at the harbor in Bremerhaven, Germany, with 2 million ...
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Belleville News-Democrat-May 19, 2019
Bayern's Arjen Robben pours beer over coach Niko Kovac to celebrate Bayern's 7th straight Bundesliga title after the German Soccer ...
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No mobile phones. No private laptops. No checking personal emails or social media. And at the end of the day, all access cards must be locked in a safe.
More than €1bn (£870m) and 12 years after construction began, Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND) has officially opened its new Berlin home, the world’s biggest intelligence headquarters with a footprint the size of 36 football pitches.
The building, close to the route of the former Berlin Wall, is one of Germany’s most secretive spaces, with strict security rules governing what employees there can and cannot do.
Angela Merkel visited the headquarters on Friday and spoke of the BND’s history and the important role it plays. “In an often very confusing world,” the chancellor said, “now, more urgently than ever, Germany needs a strong and efficient foreign intelligence service.”
The site previously housed police barracks, destroyed during the second world war. It then became the site of an East German sports stadium, demolished as part of Germany’s bid to host the 2000 Olympics.
Approximately 3,200 of an expected 4,000 employees have already arrived and are working at the new building, with others yet to move up from the old headquarters outside Munich. The agency employs about 6,500 people in Germany and around the world.
Its bold new presence is meant to signal a more self-confident global role but the agency is not without critics in Germany, where security services can evoke memories of the Stasi and Gestapo. Revelations in 2013 from Edward Snowden that the agency closely cooperated with US and British services in the surveillance of digital communications shocked many and led it reduce cooperation with the US National Security Agency.
Suspicions among some had also focussed on the fake palm trees outside the building, which the Berlin senate in January confirmed were an art installation and not covert listening devices.
The building was made using 135,000 cubic metres of concrete and 20,000 tons of steel, and has 14,000 windows and 12,000 doors, the agency says on its website.
The opening ceremony on Friday was a long time coming: the building was originally scheduled to be finished in 2011 but this was delayed by construction issues, and for other reasons.
In 2015 thieves stole taps from toilets across the building, resulting in flooding and damage, in an incident nicknamed “Watergate” in the German press.
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How Germany went wobbly on the West
POLITICO.eu-May 2, 2019
... Gerhard Schröder, who has come to hold both the chairmanship of Gazprom's Nord Stream 2 pipeline and Rosneft, Russia's energy giant.
Gerhard Schröder appointed chairman of Rosneft
Financial Times-Sep 29, 2017
Former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder has been appointed chairman of ... a project owned by Russian state-run gas company Gazprom.
Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder takes seat on Rosneft board
International-Deutsche Welle-Sep 29, 2017
International-Deutsche Welle-Sep 29, 2017
Merkel ally Manfred Weber attacks her Russian gas plan
The Times-Apr 25, 2019
The party's last chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, 75, approved the first ... the Russian energy giants Gazprom and Rosneft since leaving office.
Why Putin's Pal, Germany's Ex-Chancellor Schroeder, Isn't On A ...
NPR-Apr 18, 2018
"Gerhard Schroeder is the most important lobbyist for Putin worldwide. ... The pipeline is majority-owned by the Russian state gas company Gazprom. ... largest oil company, Rosneft, which is on the EU and U.S. sanctions list.
Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder nominated to Russia's ...
Deutsche Welle-Aug 13, 2017
Schröder was nominated as a non-executive director of Rosneft as part of the ... Nord Stream AG is a subsidiary of Gazprom, the leading global gas producer ...
Worried about Russia? Then Keep an Eye on Germany's Former ...
National Review-Jul 11, 2018
... paying a lot more attention to former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder; ... key territories and controlled by Russia's Gazprom energy company. ... 2017, Putin arranged for Schroeder to become chairman of Rosneft, the ...
The Russian pipeline to Germany that Trump is so mad about, explained
Opinion-Washington Post-Jul 11, 2018
Opinion-Washington Post-Jul 11, 2018
He used to rule Germany. Now, he oversees Russian energy ...
Washington Post-Aug 8, 2017
For seven years, Gerhard Schröder was the leader of the most populous democracy ... energy company Gazprom is either the majority or sole shareholder. ... for a position as an independent director on the board of Rosneft, ...
Gerhard Schröder insists Rosneft job 'not a problem'
Deutsche Welle-Aug 31, 2017
Gerhard Schröder insists Rosneft job 'not a problem' ... he joined the Nordstream pipeline consortium, which is controlled by Russia's Gazprom.
Vladimir Putin's Favorite German, Ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, at ...
Daily Beast-May 8, 2018
Vladimir Putin's Favorite German, Ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, ... with the Russian state-owned energy companies Rosneft and Gazprom, ...
Germany's Schroeder warns against demonizing China
Reuters-Nov 16, 2018
Germany's Schroeder warns against demonizing China ... ties with China, former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder warned Berlin against demonizing ... Stream AG, a consortium led by Russian state-owned gas giant Gazprom. ... colleagues when he became chairman of Russia's biggest oil producer Rosneft.
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The morning after the New York Times reported that Deutsche Bank repeatedly dismissed concerns of suspicious activity, including potential ...
President Trump lashed out at the “Fake News Media” generally and the “Failing” New York Times specifically for covering a story about “suspicious” ...
On this edition for Sunday, May 19, new state laws renew the debate on abortion, India wraps up the seventh phase of a weeks-long election process with exit polls favoring the country's prime minister, and a look at how colleges are finding ways to help a growing number of student-parents. Hari Sreenivasan anchors from New York.
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