“It’s over for the little guy”-Organized Crime has a seat on Wall St.-Russian oligarchs & Republican Party.

Good Fellas are so outahere. 

Guys like Commerce Secretary Wilber Ross are the new face of organized crime. 

Organized crime has a seat at the Wall St. Exchange. And it's mostly legal or look the other way legal. 

So FUHGEDABOUDIT

"Bank of America, Western Union, and JP Morgan, are among the institutions allegedly involved in the drug trade. Meanwhile, HSBC has admitted its laundering role, and evaded criminal prosecution by paying a fine of almost $2 billion."

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Banks Launder Billions of Illegal Cartel Money While Snubbing Legal Marijuana Businesses

The Wilbur Ross Scandal Isn’t About Russia, It’s About Corruption

David Dayen

November 8 2017, 5:08 p.m.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross recently promoted his own agency ethics official, whose job it is to monitor department-wide conduct for ethical lapses. The promotion came just before Ross received scrutiny about his investment in the shipping company Navigator Holdings, which has business ties to Russian oligarchs and members of the Putin family.

The story played in the mainstream press as evidence of further Trump administration ties to Russia, but any billionaire with vast holdings and an interest in the energy industry is likely to have rubbed up against a few oligarchs and Putin cronies. More to the point, Ross’s story is one of an unchecked conflict of interest.

Ross has leaned on the judgments of the Commerce Department’s ethics official, David Maggi, to clear his name after the recent Paradise Papers revelations. Ross explained repeatedly to the media that he publicly disclosed the investment and was cleared to retain the stake by Maggi. Then, his office argued that Ross cannot financially benefit Navigator, because he recuses himself from all matters involving transoceanic shipping vessels, as spokesperson James Rockas told the New York Times and NBC News.

But Maggi was elevated from an alternate designated ethics official to the permanent position sometime after September 5, according to records with the Office of Government Ethics. That means that, after Maggi accepted Ross’s ethics agreement and allowed him to maintain the shipping investment, Ross — who controls hiring for the position — rewarded him with a promotion.

Neither of Ross’s defenses against the charge of corruption hold up under the kind of scrutiny that an independent ethics officer is expected to apply. In the wake of the release of the Paradise Papers, Ross on Tuesday decided to divest the holding, an indication of just how wrong Maggi’s judgment was. The Navigator “disclosure” was buried inside a vaguely named holding company and unknown to the Senate committee who vetted Ross. As for recusal, in May, the commerce secretary personally negotiated a deal to facilitate the transport of American liquefied natural gas, or LNG, to China. Ross touted the deal on CNBC, saying it would open the lucrative Chinese LNG market to American producers and “liberate American energy.” He has cited LNG as a way to reduce America’s trade deficit.

Those deliveries require a vessel carrying the shipment to cross an ocean or, in the common vernacular, “transoceanic shipping.”

Navigator happens to hold “the world’s largest fleet of natural gas carriers” and is well-positioned to transport LNG, particularly out of the United States. In July, Navigator signed an agreement to build an export terminal in Houston for petrochemicals. A member of the Navigator board, Wendy Teramoto, held that position while serving as a part-time adviser to Ross. Teramoto didn’t resign the board seat until July 17 and was then hired as Ross’s chief of staff August 1.

Another firm in which Ross retains an ownership stake, Diamond S Shipping, does significant business with China, and like Navigator, specializes in chartering tankers to oil and gas companies.

MORE AT:
https://theintercept.com/2017/11/08/wilbur-ross-paradise-papers-trump-russia/