What does Russia have on Steve Mnuchin?

[struggle4progress]

BY BESS LEVIN
JANUARY 29, 2019

... California Representative Jackie Speier, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, sent a letter to Steve Mnuchin last week seeking information about a deal he reportedly struck in 2017 with Ukrainian-born U.S. billionaire Leonard Blavatnik who—wait for it—just so happens to be an associate of Deripaska’s. Writing that she has “serious concerns” about Mnuchin selling his shares in RatPac-Dune Entertainment to Blavatnik for roughly $25 million, she noted the move is “especially alarming” in light of a recent New York Times article reporting that Deripaska might have gotten something of a sweetheart deal from the Treasury ...

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/01/democrats-want-to-know-what-russia-has-on-steve-mnuchin?verso=true

[struggle4progress]

1. Mnuchin denies selling entertainment firm to Russians but won't reveal buyers

BLOOMBERG
APR 10, 2019

WASHINGTON - U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin declined to tell lawmakers who purchased his entertainment company, but promised it wasn’t a Russian.

“I can assure you that it’s not a Russian oligarch or any Russian,” Mnuchin said Tuesday in testimony before the House Financial Services Committee. “I don’t believe I’ve ever met a Russian oligarch.”

Mnuchin has faced questions over reports that a company linked to Ukrainian-born billionaire Len Blavatnik purchased a stake in Mnuchin’s company RatPac-Dune Entertainment in 2017, after he became Treasury chief. Democratic lawmakers have said such a transaction would create a conflict of interest for Mnuchin, because Blavatnik is a business associate of Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska, the target of U.S. sanctions aimed at President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle ...

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/04/10/business/steve-mnuchin-denies-selling-entertainment-firm-russians-wont-reveal-buyers/#.XNHuCSMrK-U

[dawg day]

2. Deripaska McConnell

Aluminum plant.

They're not even pretending to hide the payoffs these days.

[struggle4progress]

3. Waters wants to grill Mnuchin on Russia sanctions

By Jeremy Herb, CNN
Updated 10:05 PM ET, Wed February 6, 2019

House Financial Services Chair Maxine Waters says her committee is in talks with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to bring him in to testify on the lifting of Russia sanctions on companies connected to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska ...

https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/06/politics/maxine-waters-steven-mnuchin-russia/index.html

Warner, Sasse press Mnuchin to reconsider Russia sanctions relief

By ZACHARY WARMBRODT 03/07/2019 04:00 PM EST

Sens. Mark Warner and Ben Sasse are calling on Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to reconsider a decision to relax sanctions on companies linked to a Kremlin insider, the latest bipartisan rebuke of a Trump administration move to ease economic restrictions on Russia.

In a March 1 letter to Mnuchin, the Virginia Democrat and Nebraska Republican said they had "deep concern" about Treasury's rationale for lifting sanctions on Russian companies Rusal, En+ and EuroSibEnergo, which had been targeted because of ownership stakes held by oligarch Oleg Deripaska ...

Steve Mnuchin tried to tell Maxine Waters how to run a congressional hearing

By Aaron Rupar
Apr 10, 2019, 9:45am EDT

During a hearing on Tuesday, an exasperated Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin made House Financial Services Chair Maxine Waters (D-CA) an offer he didn’t think she’d accept — but she did.

Mnuchin, worried about missing his “important meeting,” offered to continue with his testimony, but said that if Waters asked him to do that, he would not return to testify before the new House Democratic majority in the future.

“I will cancel my meeting and I will not be back here,” he said. “I will be very clear.”

Waters, to his surprise, accepted.

“The secretary has agreed to stay to hear all the rest of the members,” she said. “Please cancel your meeting and respect our time” ...

[struggle4progress]

4. Things to know about Steve Mnuchin

By Michelle Fleury
North America Business correspondent, New York
30 November 2016

... Like his new boss, Steven Mnuchin grew up in a wealthy family. His father, Robert Mnuchin, was a banker-turned-upscale art dealer and his mother was a vice president of the International Directors' Council of the Solomon Guggenheim Museum. When she died in 2005, she made Steven and his brother Alan the beneficiaries and executors of her estate. Within a few months, they withdrew $3.2m from her account with Bernard Madoff Securities. Three years later Madoff was arrested and the two were sued by the trustee trying to recover money for victims of Madoff's Ponzi scheme. The suit was dropped because of time restrictions ...

... Mr Mnuchin's Dune Capital was among a group of lenders, including Deutsche Bank, who provided loans for the construction of a Trump skyscraper in Chicago. Mr Trump sued the lenders during the credit crunch to extend the terms of the loan. The suit was later settled. Mr Trump and Mr Mnuchin have also previously worked together on a hotel in Hawaii.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-38012410

[maxsolomon]

7. He's on Trump's team.

He's blocking this lawful request because he wants to, not because he is being threatened.

[2naSalit]

5. K&R

[uponit7771]

6. What .. The ... Fuck