The country of Cyprus has a long history as a laundromat for dirty money, particularly from Russia. Cyprus is referenced 530,937 times in the Panama Papers, and the Bank of Cyprus, the country’s largest bank, is referenced 4,657 times. And the cast of characters linked to the bank and President Donald Trump is troubling.
-When Oleg Deripaska, the founder of Russian aluminum company Rusal, began paying Paul Manafort $10 million a year in 2006 to act as a secret emissary for Russian President Vladimir Putin with Western governments, he paid Manafort through the Bank of Cyprus. Records handed over to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigative team show that Manafort and his partner, Rick Gates, had at least 15 accounts at the Bank of Cyprus and a bank that it took over in 2013, Cyprus Popular Bank, according to the National Herald. Mueller’s 12-count indictment against Manafort and Gates charged the two men with money laundering and conspiracy against the United States.
-Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross led a group of U.S. and European investors to purchase a $1.3 billion stake in Bank of Cyprus in July 2014 when the bank was on the verge of failing. This investment bought Ross the largest ownership share in the bank, 17 percent, and the vice chairmanship. Ross was co-chair of the bank from 2014 until early 2017 when he relinquished his position to join Trump’s cabinet. Ross’s first co-chair was Putin appointee Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, a former KGB agent and long-time associate of Putin. In 2015, Strzhalkovsky was replaced by Maksim Goldman, is director of strategic projects at Viktor Vekselberg’s Renova Group and sits on the board of Rusal.
-Dmitry Rybolovlev, Russia’s “Fertilizer King,” owns a 3.3 percent stake in the bank. Rybolovlev purchased Trump’s mega mansion in Palm Beach for $95 million, which allowed Trump to more than double his $41 million investment in the property in four years. The timing of the purchase was essentially a Trump rescue package Trump was suing Deutsche Bank, his one remaining creditor, to try to avoid repaying a $40 million real estate loan. He lost.
–Josef Ackermann, chief executive of Deutsche Bank from 2002 to 2012, replaced Ross as co-chair of the bank. Like co-chair Goldman, Ackermann currently works for Viktor Vekselberg. He joined the board of Vekselberg’s Zurich-based holding company, Renova Management AG, in 2014 to manage Renova’s international assets. Clearly, Vekselberg’s interests are fully represented at the Bank of Cyprus.
