Article

2019-11-11 Home Front: Politix

U.S. Politicians Can't Stop Taking Len Blavatnik's Money

[Bellingcat] Last month, leading anti-kleptocracy voices in the U.S., Ukraine, Russia, and elsewhere sounded the alarm about a massive donation that Len Blavatnik, a Soviet-born businessman with close ties to sanctioned Russian figures, made to the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Blavatnik’s donation was, as one expert said, a clear instance of the “soft enabling of kleptocracy,” and fit firmly in Blavatnik’s history of using his funds for “image launder[ing].”

As new documents show, Blavatnik’s financial offer to CFR wasn’t the only substantial donation he’s made recently.

According to new filings with the Federal Election Commission, Blavatnik — who is estimated to be worth approximately $19 billion, and who has U.S. citizenship — has been offering record-breaking donations to American politicians and political committees on both sides of the aisle. Thus far, it appears that Democrats and Republicans alike are willing to take his money, despite major concerns from those who’ve followed Blavatnik’s career and/or those who work in the sphere of anti-kleptocracy.

Posted by Skidmark 2019-11-11 08:20|| || Front Page|| [8 views ] Top

#1 "Kleptocracy." Now there's a good word.

Posted by JohnQC 2019-11-11 09:37|| 2019-11-11 09:37|| Front Page Top

#2 Blavatnik's money is no more tainted than Soros's.

The latter actually attacked the treasury and nearly destroyed the currency of Britain. The former angled himself a piece of the post-Soviet pie in the 1990s. Since then, he's engaged in exactly the same kinds of legal, high-risk corporate buccaneering-- cf Lyondell Basel's restructuring-- that every other major American private equity or hedge fund billionaire has been engaged in. This last phase of Blavatnik's career- the last 20 years or so-- puts him in the same category as Carl Icahn or Boone Pickens.

If there is a moral difference between Soros and Blavatnik, its to be found in how they spend their billions.

Blavatnik has given his money to great and noble institutions like Harvard and IIRC London's wonderful Courtauld Institute and IIRC Slade School of Art. He supports great scholars and fine artists.

Soros supports advocates of fraud, cop-killing, and sedition.

Posted by Lex 2019-11-11 11:47|| 2019-11-11 11:47|| Front Page Top

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