ways for middlemen to siphon off some of Rosneft’s subterranean cash deals into personal accounts. Shell companies registered in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, the Netherlands, or Delaware can cloak the beneficiaries of complex arrangements – until they face a subpoena or a purloined document dump. Which brings us back to Carter Page. There is no public evidence that Page or any Trump- related entities, family members, or campaign advisers have glommed Rosneft-related brokerage fees inside the black hole of these transactions. But somebody is getting a cut of multibillion dollar deals. Who could it be? Prosecutor Mueller and the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control have access to international banking databases and classified information. It is possible that the identities of the secretive entities that are benefiting from the serial privatizations of Rosneft are known to the U.S. government. No doubt, the Russians know. The non-transparency of the Rosneft deals is a direct result of the sanctions, energy experts say. Which defeats the purpose of sanctions... THE PERVERSITY OF SANCTIONS “Western economic sanctions made it more difficult to arrange financing for Rosneft’s share offering in 2016,” Edward Chow of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., said in a telephone interview. “Potential investors may be concerned about additional sanctions in the future, as well as any banks financing such an acquisition, given the outsized role the U.S.
plays in the international banking system. We saw this with the large fines the Treasury Department levied against European banks for violating U.S. sanctions against Iran.” In other words, nobody wants to be the one holding the bag if Rosneft can no longer refinance its loans... unless it is made worth their while. Glencore only risked about $300 million of its own stock for a half share of the $11.3 billion deal. But who, ultimately, put up the $11 billion in cash to buy the other 50% of the shares that accrued to the Qatar Investment Authority and the Cayman Islands shell registered as QHG Cayman Ltd? This shell could cloak a sanctions-avoiding investor, perhaps an oil firm or a wealthy individual. It is without doubt an entity that shuns the light of day. The sanctioned Russian bank VTB that was involved in financing the consortium is reported to have partnered with an Italian bank called Intesa Sanpaolo. It is worth noting that even as the Rosneft sale was being negotiated behind closed doors, Intesa was fined $235 million by the New York Department of Financial Services for breaking money-laundering regulations and violating bank secrecy laws. In 2013, Intesa was fined $2.9 million by the U.S. Treasury for violating sanctions against Cuba, Sudan, and Iran. (Upon taking office, Tillerson disclosed an investment in Intesa Sanpaolo worth between $15,001 and $50,000.) Today, the Italian bank’s role in the Rosneft deal remains murky. It’s possible it was merely cosmetic and VTB put up all the
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