Бремя Брекзита

В Британии продолжается скандал. Российские связи лидеров Leave.EU оказались намного более глубокими, чем представлялось ранее. Более того, они врали про эти связи не только в публичных заявлениях, но и в своих показаниях в парламенте. Учитывая связи этих деятелей с Трампом, над всей этой историей нависло грозовое облако.

Andy Wigmore, spokesman for the Leave.EU campaign and the business partner of Arron Banks, the biggest funder of Brexit, passed confidential legal documents to high-ranking officials at the Russian embassy and then denied it to parliament.
The documents related to George Cottrell, an aide to Nigel Farage who was with him on the campaign trail for Donald Trump in July 2016. Cottrell was arrested by the FBI and charged with 21 counts of money laundering, bribery and wire fraud.
Damian Collins, chair of the culture, media and sport select committee, said that Banks and Wigmore appeared to have misled parliament and “what we really need to know is why”. He added: “It makes you question whose side they are on.”
https://amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jun/16/leave-eu-russia-arron-banks-andy-wigmore



Упомянутый Джордж Коттрелл (известный по прозвищу “Posh George”) был арестован ФБР в июле 2016 после того, как вместе с Найджелом Фаражем посетил съезд республиканской партии. Ему предъявили 21 обвинение, но в результате скостили обвинение до одного, а срок - с 20 лет до 8 месяцев, предположительно в обмен на сотрудничество со следствием.

Биография персонажа весьма примечательна.

When contacted in 2014 by FBI agents pretending to be drug traffickers, he promised to launder their cash for a fee in 'complete anonymity and security' through his offshore accounts, the documents claim.
His mother was the Penthouse 'pet of the month' in October 1973, under the pseudonym Frances Cannon, describing herself as 'daughter of a landowner'.
The images were reprinted in the magazine in 1977 after she was linked romantically to Prince Charles. <...>
His uncle is Lord Hesketh, a colourful hereditary peer who set up a Formula One team in the 1970s and was a Tory minister under Baroness Thatcher.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4099792/Penthouse-Pet-mother-Ukip-activist-facing-jail-admitting-money-laundering-says-turned-life-meeting-Nigel-Farage.html

Российские связи Коттрелла пытался расследовать Daily Beast нехитрым способом изучения его аккаунта в LinkedIn:

Cottrell is listed as one of just 71 followers of Moldinconbank, a controversial Moldovan bank that was alleged to be at the very center of the “Russian Laundromat” scam that laundered billions in illicit funds from Moscow through fraud, rigged state contracts and tax evasion. Some of those laundered state funds reportedly went to pay foreigners who were acting on behalf of the Kremlin, such as the leader of a small Polish political party who was later arrested on charges of spying for Russia. <...>
Another of the Cottrell account’s “interests” is the bank FBME, an entity which was officially based in Tanzania but had foreign offices in two countries: Cyprus and Russia. According to a U.S. investigation the bank was linked to Bashar al Assad and al Qaeda as well as a $230m fraud against the Russian people uncovered by Sergei Magnitsky, which led to a series of anti-corruption laws being introduced around the world in his name. In 2014, the bank was banned from accessing the American market by the U.S. Treasury after money laundering allegations.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/meet-posh-george-the-shady-money-man-tangled-up-with-brexit-russia-and-trump

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