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The brothers – oligarchs Arkady and Boris Rothenberg are in the inner circle of the Russian president. Despite the sanctions, they are finding opportunities to conclude international deals, apparently with the help of Deutsche Bank, writes the German newspaper “Süddeutsche Zeitung”.
“When in 2014, after Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the West wanted to punish President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, the sanctions mainly affected Arkady and Boris Rothenberg“recalls the author of the article Maurice Much.” … Both oligarchs can no longer enter the United States, and American companies are prohibited from dealing with them. Arkady Rotenberg cannot continue visiting the EU either. also The EU has seized a luxury hotel and mansions of the oligarch in Italy. Also, Boris Rothenberg managed to avoid this, according to Forbes magazine, because he has a Finnish passport.
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“Nothing but nonsense”
“… However, Putin made no concessions to Crimea. The freedom of movement and the wealth of his friends do not seem to play a central role for the Kremlin teacher. Furthermore, as the Panama Archives and the Papers of the Paradise, the Rothenberg brothers apparently almost always find ways to circumvent such sanctions: the brothers simply hid their assets behind shell companies and thus transferred millions to tax havens. New documents in possession of the Süddeutsche Zeitung and the American online publication Buzzfeed News show that banks, including Deutsche Bank, are helped the brothers in their cat and mouse game with the EU and US authorities., despite the sanctions “, recalls the German newspaper.
Already in October 2015, the Bloomberg news agency connected two friends of Putin to a system that washes billions (…) According to Bloomberg, only between 2011 and 2015, through the so-called mirror transactions carried out by Deutsche Bank It has exported 10 billion euros from Russia to the West. Deutsche Bank has organized an internal investigation. (…) In an internal report of the German bank, which was at the disposal of the Süddeutsche Zeitung, experts conducting an internal investigation, wrote a preliminary 5-page conclusion in November 2015.
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According to the Global Witness organization …
The preliminary investigation did not reveal any connection between Rothenberg and the companies involved in the mirror transactions or their subsidiaries. “
“(…) However, FinCEN’s record shows that there was apparently at least one indirect link between the Rothenbergs and the mirror transactions: through an American company called Paritet Limited. According to the documents, half was owned by Arkady Rotenberg in 2010-2011. Through Deutsche Bank $ 450,000 from a certain Protel International company, which according to psuspicions are regularly used to wash millions.
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In response to an investigation by the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Arkady Rotenberg denied reports that he had ever owned Paritet or Protel. According to him, neither he nor his brother Boris have ever exported money from Russia, “the newspaper reported.
In its report, the bank was also forced to admit that after the United States imposed sanctions on Boris Rotenberg in March 2014, the bank conducted 25 new transactions in the interest of the Russian oligarch … But because the money was not transferred to across the United States. , and the transactions were not made in dollars, at least according to Deutsche Bank, they were legal, the newspaper said.
“Even the United States Senate dealt with Arkady, his son Igor and Boris Rotenberg: the 150-page report criticizes that the effect of the sanctions imposed by the annexation of Crimea does not live up to expectations. The Senate document describes how the Rothenberg brothers circumvented US sanctions and purchased multi-million dollar art. When this report is compared to the FinCEN file and the Panama Papers, the picture becomes even clearer. Following the imposition of US sanctions, the Rothenberg brothers used the fictitious anonymous company featured by Panama Files, Highland Ventures Group, to continue to buy expensive works of art on the world market, such as La Poitrine by Rene Magritte, which then cost 7.5 millions of dollars. . “
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Letters to 3 US and 5 European banks …
The Senate report also shows how quickly oligarchs can react when a situation escalates: On March 16, 2014, then-US President Barack Obama announced sanctions against influential Russians, and only four days later sanctions entered. against Arkady and Boris Rothenberg. In those four days, the Rothenberg brothers they have already returned almost $ 122 million to Russia, also through two companies of the “Panama Archives”.
Despite the existing penalties, they apparently managed to transfer another $ 31.4 million at the time. In response to an investigation by the Südoyche Zeitung, Rothenberg said the allegations made in the Senate report were “false, misleading and defamatory.”
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