NEW: A series of lawsuits from Russian oligarchs in the UK highlights how easy it is for kleptocratic forces to stifle Western journalists, and anyone trying to shine a light on international money laundering networks. newrepublic.com/article/163131…
The Russian oligarch at the center of the recent efforts to target investigative journalists in the UK, Roman Abramovich, has helped launch what may be the most expensive libel case in British history.
But there's far more at stake than just legal fees.
The strategy of post-Soviet oligarchs targeting Western journalists with lawsuits is part of the broader world of "lawfare"—and it's getting worse.
And as @FPCThinkTank found last year, the most popular foreign jurisdiction to target journalists is clear: the UK.
Suing investigative journalists into oblivion is one tactic. But *threatening* lawsuits is enough to cow publishers.
Remember the debacle with Karen Dawisha, author of "Putin's Kleptocracy," a few years ago? Forced to abandon UK publishing outright, because of lawsuit concerns.
And these oligarchs are increasingly looking for ways to target *American* journalists, as well.
They keep lobbing lawsuits—with U.S. lawyers willing time and again to help target U.S. investigative journalists just trying to do their jobs.
Long story short: journalists on both sides of the Atlantic should be paying close attention to this Russian oligarch’s legal threats—and politicians on both sides need to shore up legal protections, ASAP.
"The UK’s financial/legal systems not only service at best ‘questionable’ money flows... but the UK is also home to legal and reputation laundering services that can be utilised to suppress public scrutiny into, or whitewash over, potential wrongdoing." opendemocracy.net/en/odr/the-uks…
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NEW: The Tom Barrack charges show how wildly successful foreign dictatorships were at secretly swaying the Trump administration—and why so many illicit foreign agents targeted the White House. nbcnews.com/think/opinion/…
Just look at what Tom Barrack—Trump’s close friend, advisor, fundraiser—allegedly did secretly on behalf of the UAE dictatorship:
—Change Trump’s speeches
—Lobby for pro-UAE staffing/policy
—Funnel internal White House discussions to the UAE
—Publicly whitewash the UAE regime
One question: What did Tom Barrack get in return for flipping into a secret foreign agent for the UAE, whispering in Trump’s ear?
One potential answer: Look how much money—$1.5 billion—his private equity firm received from UAE (and Saudi) sources.
Teddy Roosevelt: First president to host a Black man at the White House, yet someone who thought the 15th Amendment was a “mistake” and that 90% of Jim Crow was justified, with Black Americans “altogether inferior to the whites.”
Still strange the US’s crushing of Filipino independence efforts doesn’t have more resonance in 21st century America—everything from widespread use of water-boarding, to efforts to cover up torture reports by Roosevelt’s administration.
Yet another high-level Trump official charged with secretly acting as a foreign lobbyist: justice.gov/opa/pr/former-…
Said it before, but absolutely amazing how the Trump campaign(s) breathed new life into FARA.
Legislation effectively dormant for 75 years—and then Trump came into the picture, and all of his sycophants couldn’t stop themselves whenever a foreign government came knocking.
It's not just price (and passport) that makes the U.S. "golden visa" program so appealing for kleptocrats.
Kleptocrats can provide whatever information they want about the source of their money, knowing they'll rarely, if ever, be turned down by American authorities.
Real estate and lawyers play an outsized role—a familiar playbook.
The Canadian government's claims that Canada has a "robust and comprehensive anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing regime" are "simply not credible."
In Canada, "relatively simple strategies like [using lawyers and real estate] probably work as well today as they did 20 years ago... From a launderer's point of view, why try harder when old strategies still work perfectly well?"