Letter to the Hon. Steven Mnuchin - Provide Documents on Trump's and Trump Associates' Financial Ties to Russia

Letter

Dear Secretary Mnuchin:

On May 23, 2017, we sent you a written request for financial intelligence data housed within the U.S. Department of the Treasury ("Department") to assist the Financial Services Committee ("Committee") in determining "the extent of any undue influence on the President and his Administration from Russian government officials, oligarchs, and organized crime leaders."[1] Additionally, on July 27, 2017, you appeared before the Committee and were asked repeatedly to provide the information requested in our letter. Your response--that we should obtain such documentation from the three other Congressional committees looking into the matter--was, and remains, unacceptable. Since your testimony, as we predicted, a number of previously undisclosed business connections between the President, members of his Administration, and influential, wealthy Russians, many of whom have direct ties to Vladimir Putin, have come to light. It bears repeating that the Department's responsibility as the Financial Intelligence Unit of the U.S. places you, as Secretary, in the unique position of being able to assist Congress in assessing the extent of the Administration's financial entanglements with Russia--especially given the fact that these arrangements are not being readily disclosed by members of the Administration.

Two recent events demonstrate the importance of your full cooperation with our requests.

First, the "Paradise Papers," published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists ("ICIJ"), recently revealed that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross failed to appropriately disclose during his confirmation process his substantial business relationship to close Putin allies. According to the ICIJ, Secretary Ross maintains a financial stake in offshore companies that control a 31.5 percent investment in Navigator Holdings ("Navigator"). Navigator, a shipping company incorporated in the Marshall Islands,[2] regularly transports liquefied petroleum gas for one of its largest clients, Sibur, a Russian gas and petrochemical company owned in part by Vladimir Putin's son-in-law, Kirill Shamalov, and Russian oligarch Gennady Timchenko, who is currently sanctioned by the Department.[3] In the past three years, Navigator has received more than $68 million in revenue from Sibur.[4]

Secretary Ross' ownership stake in Navigator presents a clear conflict of interest. According to the ICIJ, Mr. Ross has "the power to influence U.S. trade, sanctions and other matters that could affect Sibur's owners." If, for example, the decision to sanction Sibur was to cross Secretary Ross' desk, the fact that he has directly profited from, and could stand to further profit from, the business Sibur maintains with Navigator may prevent him from making an objective determination.

Second, a recent report by Global Witness, a non-profit dedicated to exposing corruption, found that President Trump licensed his name to a Panamanian real estate development used to launder illicit Russian money and the proceeds of narcotics trafficking.[5] According to the report, Trump stood to reap a handsome profit from this licensing deal. He received not only a percentage of the financing he helped secure, but a cut from every unit sold, along with management fees. By 2010, Trump stood to gain as much as $74.5 million through these arrangements.

According to the report, many of the early investors in the development, known as the Trump Ocean Club, were Russian. Moreover, one of the development's primary brokers, Ventura Nogueira, who brokered nearly a third of the development's pre-construction unit sales stated that "50 percent of his buyers were Russian, and that some had "questionable backgrounds.' He added that he found out later that some were part of the Russian Mafia."

This aligns with the concerns we raised to you six months ago when we alerted you to the fact that despite Trump's continuous claims to the contrary, his son Eric Trump had bragged that "Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets," adding that "we see a lot of money pouring in from Russia."[6]

It is unfortunate that despite the constant revelations about this Administration, you continue to refuse to provide us with records relating to potential money laundering violations by Russian persons and the Trump Organization, including violations involving Trump-licensed properties, which we requested in May. It seems to be clear to everyone but you that these continuing revelations demand immediate attention.

Accordingly, we demand that you do your job and provide this Committee with all records originally requested in our letter dated May 23, 2017 by no later than December 15, 2017.

Sincerely,