Always be Profiting #RussiaGate 

Ross #MuellerIsComingForYou

In late October 2017, US commerce secretary Wilbur Ross was asked for comment about a damning story (paywall) on his business ties to the Kremlin. Bad press was inevitable, and the company that tied him to Russia was sure to suffer a hit in its market value.

Ross “retains a financial interest in Navigator Holdings via a number of companies in the Cayman Islands”.  #ParadisePapers  #TaxEvasion

“The story would show that Ross owned stock in shipping company Navigator Holdings, which counted as a major client a Russian company part-owned by Putin’s ex-son-in-law [Kirill Shamalov] and a close friend.”

But if that revelation from the Paradise Papers was giving him lemons, Ross found a way to make lemonade. Forbes reports that a few days after the New York Times reached him for comment, Ross opened up a short position against Navigator Holdings—essentially, a bet that its stock would go down.

'Ross insisted there was “nothing wrong” with owning the stock, since the Russian investor wasn’t sanctioned (even if its shareholders were).’

This has to be the first time a Cabinet official tried to make money off of his own ethics scandal

-  Citizens for Ethics‏ @CREWcrew - June 19, 2018

Paradise Papers: Wilbur Ross says 'nothing improper' about Russia links, BBC

Trump Admin secretly profiting from American Enemy.

Ross is not the only one in the Trump administration with shell companies in Bermuda: Gary D. Cohn has 22 companies, Rex Tillerson, Steven Mnuchin, Ben Carson...

The Paradise Papers are making the Panama Papers look like little league. Investigative Journalism is alive, thanks to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

The shipper, Navigator Holdings, earns millions of dollars a year transporting gas for one of its top clients, a giant Russian energy company called Sibur, whose owners include the oligarch and Mr. Putin’s family member. Despite selling off numerous other holdings to join the Trump administration and spearhead its “America first” trade policy, Mr. Ross kept an investment in Navigator, which increased its business dealings with Sibur even as the West sought to punish Russia’s energy sector over Mr. Putin’s incursions into Ukraine.

Mr. Ross’s stake in Navigator has been held by a chain of companies in the Cayman Islands, one of several tax havens where much of his wealth, estimated at more than $2 billion, has been tied to similar investment vehicles. Details of these arrangements surfaced in a cache of leaked files from Appleby, one of the world’s largest offshore law firms, which administered some 50 companies and partnerships in the Caymans and elsewhere connected to Mr. Ross.

The Appleby documents, obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, were shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and other media organizations, including The New York Times. They show how the Bermuda-based Appleby worked to help the wealthy elite, from Russian oligarchs to Middle Eastern princes, as well as multinational corporations like Apple and Nike, avoid billions of dollars in taxes.

Sibur’s top ownership — including Gennady Timchenko, who is Mr. Putin’s friend and judo partner and is subject to American sanctions, and Kirill Shamalov, who is married to the Russian president’s youngest daughter — makes it “a company with crony connections” in Moscow, said Daniel Fried, a Russia expert who served in senior State Department posts in Republican and Democratic administrations.

Cyprus is used by Russian oligarchs, criminals and politicians to launder their money. Cyrus was a frequent destination for Paul Manafort and Rick Gates. Both of whom were charged by Robert Mueller with laundering money.

Mr. Ross led a private bailout of the Bank of Cyprus, considered a favorite financial haven of wealthy Russians, after the economic crisis crippled the Cypriot banking system.