WHO IS… CARTER PAGE?!
“Crime, Drugs, Money Laundering, All That Stuff.”
Carter Page, an early foreign policy/energy adviser, stepped away from Trump’s campaign in September 2016 after the press coverage of his Moscow connections. The Trump’s campaign later denied Page’s formal role in the campaign. Page is under investigation for his alleged Russian ties, along with Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort and Roger Stone. Page denies his involvement. Why is he in the center of attention? Read on.
ACT ONE: FIRST VISIT. ALFA BANK
July 2016. Page gave a graduation speech at a college in Moscow and allegedly met with Igor Sechin, a close ally of Putin and the executive chairman of Rosneft, Russian biggest oil company partially owned by the Russian government (69%.)
The trip was paid by the New Economic School that is sponsored by the Russian Alfa Bank’s Petr Aven who denied any connection to Page.
WHAT IS ALFA GROUP?
Alfa Bank is a part of Alfa Group, financial and industrial consortium created and owned by the Russian oligarchs Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven.
“…Aven and Fridman have been dogged by 25 allegations of corruption and illegal conduct. Russian newspapers have published repeated claims that Aven and Fridman have rigged the auction of state assets through government connections, threatened the lives of government officials, ordered the assassination of a mobster, and engaged in narcotics trafficking and money laundering. As one Alfa executive testified, “…it’s the same meetings with the same cartel representatives . . . crime, drugs, money laundering, all that stuff.” … Plaintiffs deny the allegations, and none of the allegations has been prosecuted, let alone proven true. Even Fridman has acknowledged, however, that the “rules of business” in Russia “are quite different to western standards. . . . To say one can be completely clean and transparent is not realistic.” — UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Civil Action №00–2208 (JDB), Memorandum Opinion.
The 2007 report of the global intelligence company Stratfor which has a reputation of being a “shadow CIA” and is trusted by many national governments, connects Fridman and Aven to Solntsevo mafia and states that:
“Alfa Group is transporting drugs from Southeast Asia through Russia into Europe, laundering money of Colombian drug cartels, and bribing organs of justice in Russia in order to keep the entire operation below law enforcement’s radar.”
Also, Fridman allegedly “is responsible for the assassinations of journalists to keep his record clean.”
In 2015, Putin awarded Petr Aven with the Order of Friendship, the same award that Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson received in 2013.
In 2016, Alfa Bank was involved into the scandal with Trump’s server. An article in Slate revealed allegations of sustained relationship between a server registered to the Trump Organization and two servers registered to an entity called Alfa Bank.
In 2016, Letter One, another investment business controlled by Alfa Group, made $200 million strategic investment in Uber. Uber CEO joined Trump’s economic advisory group in December 2016 but quit in February after #deleteuber public response.
ALFA GROUP AND DeVOS FAMILY
In 2014, Alfa-Bank, a part of Alfa Group, formed a partnership program with Amway, a company owned by DeVos family.
In 2015, AlfaStrakhovanie, a part of Alfa Group (Alfa Bank, Alfa Capital, A1, Rosvodokanal, X5 Retail Group N.V.Alfa Group) has insured 800 employees of Amway.
In 2015–2016, DeVos family, Amway owners, donated nearly $10 million in political contributions, including at least $1.4 million to the Republican National Committee and $210,000 to Trump Victory. By comparison, the family’s political contributions in the two years prior to the 2012 presidential election totaled less than $1.5 million, according to FEC filings.
In 2017, Betsy DeVos is Trump’s cabinet education minister.
ALFA GROUP, GAZPROM AND RICHARD BURT
In 2013, Fridman set up The LetterOne Group, an international investment business based in Luxembourg, as part of a broader new investment vehicle using the proceeds from the sale of TNK-BP to Rosneft. Fridman is the Chairman of the Board, Petr Aven is a Board member of Letter One.
Richard Burt is a member of the senior advisory board of Alfa Bank and a Board member of Letter One. He is also the chairman of the advisory council for The National Interest. In 2016, Burt allegedly worked for New European Pipeline AG, now fully owned by the Russian state-owned and Putin controlled company Gazprom. (Note: Carter worked for Gazprom.) Burt helped drafting Trump’s first policy speech in April 2016.
INTERMISSION: INVESTIGATION SILENCED
In September 2016, during a secret briefing for congressional leaders, the CIA informed the Congress that Russia interfered with the election trying to help Trump to win presidency. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) voiced doubts about the veracity of the intelligence and objected to declassifying the information and making it public, claiming bipartisanship issues. On January 31, 2017, Mitch McConnell’s wife Elaine Chao was sworn as a State Secretary of Transportation for Trump’s cabinet.
Elaine Chao’s father, James Si-Cheng Chao, is the founder of the Foremost shipping company. In August 2014, it was reported that the company engaged in the business practice known in the merchant industry as flag of convenience to limit his U.S. tax liability by flagging its ships in Liberia instead of the U.S. Foremost was singled out in the story because Chao’s son-in-law Senator Mitch McConnell expressed disinterest in July 2014 for limiting a similar controversial business practice known as corporate inversion.
ACT TWO: SECOND VISIT. ROSNEFT
December 7. In the evening, Putin and Sechin announced the deal on Rosneft privatization. The announcement came as a surprise to the industry experts and press. There were no leaks or speculations. The negotiations were kept in complete secrecy.
December 8, 2016. In the morning, Page was already in Moscow, as reported by the Russian press agency RIA and Sputnik. (Note: The flight NY — Moscow takes nine hours.) The daily Vedomosti covered his visit as signaling a new moment for energy-based rapprochement of relations between the US and Russia. Page met with Rosneft top managers but avoided meeting the ‘sanctioned’ Sechin.
December 12. Page gave a presentation in Moscow and presented a slide of Rex Tillerson and Hillary Clinton under the headline “First Secretaries of State for New U.S. Presidents”. Note: Trump did not confirm Tillerson’s appointment at this time.
December 13, 3.43 am. Trump tweeted about the nomination of Tillerson and Trump’s transition team announced the nomination.
January 10, 2017. BuzzFeed published online an alleged intelligence dossier on Donald Trump. Dossier suggested that during the alleged meetings between Sechin and Carter in Moscow in July 2016, Sechin had pushed for lifting the U.S. sanctions and that Sechin’s associate had offered Page’s and Trump’s associates “the brokerage of up to a 19 percent (privatized) stake in Rosneft” for lifting sanctions. “Page had expressed interest and confirmed that were Trump elected U.S. president, then sanction on Russia would be lifted.”
Earlier, Page criticized economic sanctions against Russia comparing the measures to the police lethal shooting of unarmed African-American men.
SUMMARY
Who is Carter Page? He is probably no one. It is not about Carter Page.
You can read more about Trump’s associates under investigation here:
and here:
and all of the stories so far, including the latest on Devin Nunes, the Nixon center and the real estate money laundering connected to Trump:
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