One of the most fascinating elements of the NYC Trump Indictment is the naming of his lawyer Joe Tacopina. Tacopina is Italian-American who was born in Brooklyn. According to an article in New York magazine, he has represented many famous clients, including Alex Rodriguez, the rapper Meek Mill, and former NYPD commissioner Bernie Kerik. He has developed a reputation as being outspoken in the media to defend his clients. Interestingly, he has developed a strong connection to Italian football in recent years. According to an article in Forbes, he first dabbled in the sport in 2011 by investing in AS Roma. After four years in Rome, he became the chairman of the Italian club Venezia. Finally, in 2021, he became the chairman of second division team SPAL, thus continuing his journey through the ranks of Italian football. It is unclear what the future will hold for him, but it has been said that many who have represented Trump in court haven’t always been paid for services rendered. I have long been interested in the confluence of sport and politics, but this is a new one on me.
Category: Financial Crime
Truth Social: Where Did the Money Come From?
Last week reports surfaced that federal prosecutors were looking into the finances of Truth Social, the former president Donald Trump’s social media website set up after he was banned from Twitter and Facebook. According to an article by The Guardian, questions are being raised about the source of an $8 million loan made to Trump media by Paxum bank and ES Family Trust. Paxum is owned by Anton Postolnikov, a close relation to Aleksandr Smirnov, a long-time ally of Putin, and has a reputation for providing funding to the pornography industry. This bank appears to do business with some dodgy characters. It also seems that other members of trump world, such as the president’s son Donald Trump Jr and long-time trump allies Kash Patel and Devin Nunes, may know where the money from the loan came from.
A follow-up article in The Guardian states that high-ranking executives within Trump Media are increasingly worried that they could face legal action if loans contained dirty money. One executive even suggested returning the money to avoid any potential legal proceedings. However, this was not done as the money was desperately needed to keep the company solvent. Also, according to a report from Business Insider, Truth Social is laying off employees, most likely due to cash flow issues. It is still unclear if Trump Media has committed any crimes, but the saying “Where there is smoke, there is fire” comes to mind.
Mes Que Un Corruption: the Sad Downfall of FC Barcelona.
FC Barcelona is one of the biggest clubs in world football. They are the pride of Catalonia and have supporters worldwide who follow the club religiously. In recent years Barca has assembled a collection of some of the best players in the sport, including Lionel Messi. However, they have also encountered significant financial difficulties due to overspending on the renewal of contracts of players like Messi and wasteful spending on new players. As a result, the club is saddled with €1 billion of debt.
On top of this, there have been reports of Barcelona paying money to a company run by the former vice president of the Referee’s Committee at the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF). According to an article in The Athletic, Barca paid €7.8 million to DASNIL 95, a company run by Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, to, in his words, “make sure no refereeing decisions were made against them, which is to say, for everything to be neutral.” While this quote may not be a smoking gun yet, it does open up the possibility that Barca was paying bribes to influence the outcome of matches which would call into question the trophies they have won in recent years. According to a BBC article, Real Madrid, Barca’s arch-rival, said they would support Spanish prosecutors in their investigations. There are most likely two reasons Real is interested in this case. First, they wouldn’t mind plunging Barca into another crisis and getting one over on the old enemy. Secondly, Real would be justifiably angry if it appeared that refereeing decisions denied them opportunities to win league titles. Barca has publicly denied any involvement. However, given recent events, I wouldn’t be surprised if Barca faces another crisis of their own making.
Ericsson’s ongoing corruption scandal
The Swedish telecommunication company Ericsson is facing the prospect of being fined again by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). In 2019 Ericsson was fined $1 billion for breaching the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). It is important to note that the DOJ can fine Ericsson, a Swedish company because they are listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Ericsson was found guilty of handing out bribes and operating illicit slush funds to expand their business. According to an article by tech website Fiercewireless.com, Ericsson bribed officials in six countries, Vietnam, China, Djibouti, Indonesia, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. On top of that, early last year, there were reports that Ericsson may or may not have paid a bribe to someone affiliated with ISIS to provide telecom equipment to Iraq.
Last week, a Reuters article revealed that Ericsson would be fined another $206 million for not adhering to its original agreement with the DOJ. According to a statement by the DOJ, Ericsson breached the DPA (Deferred Prosecution Agreement) by violating the agreement’s cooperation and disclosure provisions. This means Ericsson was not upfront with the DOJ about their financial activities. As a result, Ericsson must be overseen by an outside compliance professional for a further two years. In many countries where Ericsson operates, corruption is simply part of doing business. However, Ericsson didn’t heed the DOJ’s warning and is now facing a stiffer financial penalty that could have been avoided.
Allegations of Corruption at The Lebanese Central Bank.
Recently, allegations of embezzlement, money laundering, and illicit enrichment have been leveled at the head of the Lebanese central bank Riad Salameh, his brother Raja, and an advisor to Riad. According to an article by the BBC, Salameh and his brother allegedly stole $300 million from Banque Du Liban between 2002 and 2015. Lebanon is a country that, in recent years, has been in the grip of a prolonged recession. According to statistics in the BBC article, 80 percent of the population in Lebanon lives in poverty. A report in Reuters stated that Salameh and his brother allegedly funneled the stolen money through a shell company called Forry Associates based in the British Virgin Islands. It was alleged that a large portion of the funds stolen was used to purchase real estate in European countries.
The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) announced that it was investigating twelve banks that are thought to have aided Salameh in his misdeeds. FINMA recently froze the Swiss assets of Salameh. Several well-known banks, such as HSBC, where Salameh holds an account, could be caught up in the investigation. The situation regarding the charges Salameh faces in Lebanon is more complex. An article by The National News, an English-language newspaper based in the United Arab Emirates, reports that Raja Hamoush, the public prosecutor for Beirut, confirmed that Salameh was being charged with embezzlement, money laundering, and illicit enrichment. In a separate article by The National, another investigation of similar scope was started in 2021 by Lebanese judge Jean Tannous. This appears to be a tangled legal web that will take some time to resolve if it gets sorted out.
Vietnam’s Ongoing COVID Corruption Scandal.
In recent weeks The Vietnamese government has been conducting a widespread anti-corruption crackdown. The head of the communist party, Nguyen Phu Trong, is driving this crackdown. According to an article by The Washington Post, two deputy prime ministers in Vietnam have resigned because their staff members have been detained on corruption charges. The allegations involve taking bribes during the COVID pandemic. One staff member was alleged to have taken bribes while purchasing COVID test kits, and another staff member was alleged to have taken an illegal payment from a transport company repatriating Vietnamese citizens who lived abroad. This is on top of a former deputy health minister being sentenced to four years in prison for being involved in a counterfeit medicine scheme.
Recently, an article by Aljazeera reported that the President of Vietnam, Nguyen Xuan Phuc resigned from his post after an internal Communist Party investigation. Phuc was said to have “taken political responsibility as leader when several officials, including two deputy prime ministers and three ministers, committed violations and shortcomings, causing very serious consequences .” An article in The Guardian stated that Phuc’s resignation might also be tied to political infighting in the Communist Party. It was also reported in an article by Radio Free Asia that the head of the agency related to vehicle registration was arrested on charges of taking bribes from the directors of regional vehicle registration centers across the country. It is clear that more high-profile names will likely be caught up in this mess.
The Trial of Fox Sports’ Acquisition of World Cup Rights
Recently, an ongoing trial has occurred in New York City involving executives from Fox Sports who are facing allegations of paying bribes to secure the World Cup rights for 2018 and 2022, as well as for the Copa Libertadores, a tournament involving clubs from countries from South America. According to an article in the AP, Fox executives schemed to undermine rival bids for the TV rights. The primary witness, Alejandro Burzaco, has alleged that his fellow Fox executives bribed South American football officials to obtain the rights. According to a New York Times article, a well-known former FIFA official from Argentina, Julio Grondona (now deceased), was quoted to have said, “ If Fox puts up $400 million, it will win the rights”. This trial comes amid previous corruption scandals that have engulfed FIFA recently. This trial is ongoing, and there will likely be more revelations—updates to follow.
The Perils of Peronism
Recently, a figurehead of the Argentine political scene, Vice President and former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, was sentenced to six years in prison on corruption charges. She and her late husband Nestor, who served as President from 2003 to 2007, are prominent in the Kirchnerism political movement, which is an offshoot of Peronism. Kirchnerism opposes international free trade agreements and other neoliberal ideals. According to the New York Times, Kirchner is divisive within Argentina; to her supporters, she is regarded as someone who has lifted many out of poverty. However, according to her detractors, her policies have triggered massive inflation and high poverty rates. As an example of her divisiveness, an attempt was made on her life in September.
According to Reuters, Kirchner was involved in a scheme to award public works contracts to businessman and close political ally Lazaro Baez. After the contracts were awarded, money was funneled back to the Kirchners. These public works contracts were based in the province of Santa Cruz, which is the Kirchners’ political stronghold. Kirchner will likely appeal her conviction in hopes of avoiding prison. Nonetheless, it appears that her days in the political spotlight may be coming to an end.
Going Bust: The Troubles of Michelle Mone
Recently, Baroness Michelle Mone, a member of the House of Lords in the United Kingdom, has been facing allegations that she and her family have unethically profited from government contracts awarded at the beginning of the pandemic. Mone is well known in the UK for founding Ultimo, a designer lingerie brand, leading to the nickname in some quarters of the UK media as “Baroness Bra.” On November 23 of last year, The Guardian published an exclusive saying that Mone and her children received £29 million ($36 million) from the profits of a company called Medpro PPE. Medpro was given a £200 million contract to provide Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) through the so-called “VIP lane,” where the government appeared to hand out contracts to companies with close links to people in government. Some of the PPE Medpro provided to the government proved defective and is currently sitting in warehouses.
In the case of Mone specifically, according to a follow-up article in The Guardian, it is clear that the Baroness had a much less stressful pandemic than most people. She and her then fiancé, a businessman named Douglas Barrowman, bought a luxury yacht called the Lady M. It is alleged that Barrowman received 65 million pounds in profits through the same scheme and then passed 29 million pounds of that on to an offshore trust that Mone and her children control. recently, The Guardian published an article saying Mone is taking a leave of absence from the House of Lords to try and clear her name. It is unclear what will happen next, but it appears that Baroness Mone has some explaining to do about how she may have profited off the misery of millions.
The History of Transparency International
Transparency International was formed in 1993. Before then, corruption was not studied in depth by international organizations. Corruption and bribery in the developing world were often a necessary part of doing business. However, by 1995, TI established its head office in Berlin, Germany, and subsequently opened 26 chapters worldwide. They started the first global Corruption Perceptions Index, which ranked countries on the level of corruption domestically. In the first decade of the 2000s, TI had advocated for international organizations to create their own anti-corruption bodies. An example of this was the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, which required UN members to enforce anti-corruption laws and encourage global cooperation on corruption.
In the 2010s, Transparency International started to expand its focus. For example, they began to focus on the connection between corruption and climate change and how funds intended to reverse the effects of climate change could be mismanaged. As the 2010s progressed, TI became more focused on combating the use of shell companies and increasingly elaborate methods that heads of state and business people employ to hide away ill-gotten gains. In 2019 Transparency started to focus on the link between corruption and democracy. In particular, they have looked at the connection between democracy in a given country and the level of corruption.
Crispin Corruption Report 