Does the U.S. have mechanisms in place to prevent Trump from emulating this Putin tactic?

[Mike 03]

It's an old scheme that Putin began using when he worked in the office of the Mayor of St. Petersburg in the early 90s. You allocate an enormous sum of government money for products that would seem to benefit the people of your country but never actually arrive, and the money vanishes into offshore or foreign accounts. Or, you arrange to have a lot of that money skimmed off the top and deposited in an overseas or otherwise secret accounts. The products do arrive, but they have been wildly overpaid-for:

On 28 June 1991, he became head of the Committee for External Relations of the Mayor's Office, with responsibility for promoting international relations and foreign investments[54] and registering business ventures. Within a year, Putin was investigated by the city legislative council led by Marina Salye. It was concluded that he had understated prices and permitted the export of metals valued at $93 million in exchange for foreign food aid that never arrived.[55][33] Despite the investigators' recommendation that Putin be fired, Putin remained head of the Committee for External Relations until 1996.[56][57] From 1994 to 1996, he held several other political and governmental positions in Saint Petersburg.[58]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Putin#1990%E2%80%931996:_Saint_Petersburg_administration

More recently:

Special Report: Billion-dollar medical project helped fund 'Putin's palace'

But a Reuters investigation has found that two wealthy associates of Putin engaged in the same profiteering and suffered no penalty.

They sold medical equipment for at least $195 million to Russia and sent a total of $84 million in proceeds to Swiss bank accounts, according to bank records reviewed by Reuters. The records also indicate that at least 35 million euros ($48 million) from those accounts were funneled to a company that then helped construct a luxury property near the Black Sea known as “Putin’s palace” - a nickname earned after a businessman alleged that the estate was built for Putin. The Russian leader has denied any connection to the property.

These findings are part of a Reuters investigation into how associates of the Kremlin profit from state contracts in the Putin era. This and a later article examine what became of the president’s grand hospital undertaking. Another story, drawing on a confidential database of Russian bank records, will explore billions of dollars in spending on state railway contracts.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-capitalism-health-special-repo/special-report-billion-dollar-medical-project-helped-fund-putins-palace-idINBREA4K0D220140521

This tactic is also discussed in the new bombshell video report "Putin's Palace: The $ Billion Dollar GRIFT - narrated by Alexei Navalny" now viewed by more than 60 million people.

There is a lot of suspected corruption in the dealings over COVID-19 supplies, including the now well-known overpayment for ventilators:

House Democrats find administration overspent for ventilators by as much as $500 million

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-democrats-find-administration-overspent-ventilators-much-500-million-n1235252

And a fascinating report by the Brookings Institute:

Addressing the other COVID crisis: Corruption

he need for oversight of Trump administration coronavirus spending has reached an inflection point.[1] Over the past few weeks, there have been reports that 27 clients of Trump-connected lobbyists have received up to $10.5 billion of that spending;[2] that beneficiaries have also included multiple entities linked to the family of Jared Kushner and other Trump associates and political allies;[3] that up to $273 million was awarded to more than 100 companies that are owned or operated by major donors to Trump’s election efforts;[4] that unnecessary blanket ethics waivers have been applied to potential administration conflicts of interest;[5] and that many other transactions meriting further investigation have occurred.[6]

All this comes in a climate of Trump administration hostility to oversight. During negotiations on the CARES Act, the president claimed that he personally would “be the oversight.”[7] He backed up that assertion with a signing statement after passage of the CARES Act stating that he would not treat some of the inspector general reporting requirements as mandatory.[8] The Treasury Department followed his lead by initially refusing to disclose the recipients of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds.[9] They only relented in the face of crushing public and congressional pressure, resulting in a bevy of startling disclosures that call out for oversight.[10]

https://www.brookings.edu/research/addressing-the-other-covid-crisis-corruption/

But, like many of you, I worry this is only the tip of the iceberg. We also had a series of expensive and rushed arms deals with Saudi Arabia and the UAE.



Do we have mechanisms in place that would prevent Trump from using financial transactions to sequester large amounts of money in offseas or sheltered accounts in foreign countries? Is this something we will be able to investigate in great depth now that we control both houses and the presidency?

[dewsgirl]

1. Unfortunately, it's been my assumption they definitely

did this back in the spring. With Steve Mnuchin's help, I imagine they have robbed the US of ridiculous amounts of money over the past four years. Maybe I'm just pessimistic.

[stillcool]

2. I think you're spot on...

those agencies are going to need lots of accountants.