From Utah, Secretive Help for a Russian Oligarch and His Jet

[riversedge]

Source: nytimes.







SALT LAKE CITY ...............

But in addition to its mom-and-pop customers, the bank has a lesser-known clientele that includes Russia’s richest oligarch, Leonid Mikhelson, an ally of the country’s president, Vladimir V. Putin. The bank served as a stand-in so Mr. Mikhelson could secretly register a private jet in the United States, which requires American citizenship or residency.

The work on behalf of Mr. Mikhelson, whose gas company is under United States sanctions, is part of a discreet niche business for Bank of Utah that allows wealthy foreigners to legally obtain American registrations for their aircraft while shielding their identities from public view. The bank does this through trust accounts, in its own name, that take the place of owners on plane registration records.

Bank of Utah manages more than 1,390 aircraft trust accounts, most of them for foreigners, generating millions of dollars in fees and making it the second-largest holder of such accounts in the country. A trove of records leaked from an offshore law firm, Appleby, shows that the services offered by Bank of Utah, Wells Fargo and other American companies were sought after by rich jet owners in Russia, Africa and the Middle East.
.............................




“There are serious national security risks when the F.A.A. approves an aircraft registration but does not have all the information, particularly if an aircraft is owned by a shell corporation or a foreign entity,” Representative Stephen F. Lynch, a Massachusetts Democrat, said when he introduced legislation in July that would require the F.A.A. to obtain and regularly update records on the ultimate owners behind aircraft trusts..................................

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/06/world/bank-of-utah-leonid-mikhelson.html

---

Link to tweet

[TexasBushwhacker]

1. What the fuckety fuck? N/t

[UpInArms]

2. Orrin no shoulders Hatch should be so proud

This makes me sick

[coolsandy]

4. I am sure is sponsored the deal and made millions. Retiring now. He might even been suspect.

[CurtEastPoint]

3. Secretive bank. What else in Utah is secretive...hmmmm....?

This stinks to high heaven.

[Lars39]

10. And what other banks in US do this?!

[CurtEastPoint]

11. Bingo. Follow the $$. Or temple garments...

[kimbutgar]

5. Huntsmen is connected to this

[Vilis Veritas]

6. Two sets of rules, one for the rich, one for everyone else. nt

[Angry Dragon]

7. Confiscate all assets

including those planes
put all bank employees in prison

[L. Coyote]

8. Seize everything right now.

Then hire Carter Page to sort it out.

[Scarsdale]

9. Could this be one reason why

Orrin "Freshly enbalmed" Hatch is "retiring?? The gop family values is so screwed up, it is mind blowing. I guess common decency is not part of their values. The esteemed gentleman from Utah may have been informed that this was on the radar, so he is "retiring". Someone with authority had to O.K. this, a little bank would not do this without a nod from much higher up. How would these rich people know about an obscure little bank in Utah???

[Stainless]

12. My Bank For 35 Years.....

When I retired more than 6 years ago, I consolidated and reorganized my assets and closed my Bank of Utah account for convenience.

I had no idea they were money laundering for the Russians!