Russian official created biker club in Florida and invested millions in Trump's real estate

Photo by miamiherald.com

The infusion of foreign capital into South Florida real estate is a tale as old as the state itself. But the story of Russian Igor Zorin is full of strange details inherent in the Miami version of the 21st century: there is Russian money, and a biker club named after the Russian special forces, and an apartment complex under the name of Donald Trump. The publication conducted its investigation Miami Herald.

Igor Zorin is an official of the Russian government who has invested almost $ 8 million in South Florida coastal real estate. Considering that Zorin’s salary is approximately $ 75 000 per year, this cannot be called a transparent financial investment.

Zorin is director of the federal state enterprise Russian Broadcasting and Notification Networks (RSVO), and runs a state broadcasting company that, among other things, provides sound systems for the annual military parade, when columns of soldiers and tanks rumble through Moscow's Red Square.

Igor Zorin. Photo rossvyaz.ru

Special Forces on motorcycles

Zorin has connections in Florida: his local business partner, Svyatoslav Mangushev, a former Russian intelligence officer, and now a real estate investor in Miami, helped found a biker club called Spetsnaz MC Spetsnaz - This is a group of motorcycle enthusiasts, named after the Russian special forces.

Spetsnaz Law enforcement Motorcycle club - a unique motoclub consisting of retired and acting special forces officers, special units of the Interior Ministry and the FSB, as well as American police, the portal writes ryb.ru. The club is small, but it is going to expand actively: negotiations are underway to set up branches in New York, New Jersey and other US states. In Moscow, a branch of the motor club opened in August 2015, and a month later the news appeared on the organization’s official website that the club had become a partner of the large private security company Alfa Anticriminal.

Once members of a group Spetsnaz they even asked for official recognition from Russia's largest biker gang, the Night Wolves. This notorious gang is closely connected with the security services of the Russian Federation and played a certain role in the events in Ukraine; One of the Russian cosmonauts took their flag with him into open space, and the United States imposed sanctions on the wolves.

Spetsnaz Law enforcement Motorcycle club is a unique motoclub consisting of retired and active members of special forces, special units of the Interior Ministry and the FSB, as well as American police. Photo ryb.ru

Zorin and Mangushev have connections both in Russia and in the USA. In the Russian Federation, security companies connected with Mangushev with 2015 of the year received contracts from the institution in which Zorin works for $ 2,4 million.

In Miami, Mangushev somehow rewrote a local company that owns apartments worth $ 1,5 million, with his name addressed to Zorin. In this case, the act of sale was not issued, that is, the amount of the transaction is unknown.

These apartments are one of the three belonging to Zorin in Trump Palaceprestigious high-rise building in Sunny Isles Beach, built by a local developer under the company's brand Trump Organization. The total cost of the three apartments is $ 5,4 million. Zorin still owns two of them in this complex plus a house in Bal Harbor worth $ 3,3 million.

Not included in reports

But in Russia, this property does not appear in public records, which Zorin is obliged to submit as a state official. According to Russian laws, this is illegal and should provoke a reaction from Zorin’s bosses, says Ilya Shumanov, deputy director of the Russian office of an international anti-corruption organization. Transparency International.

And taking into account the difficult relations between Russia and the United States, the ownership of real estate in America should be considered a black mark for officials such as Zorin, Shumanov said. It's like owning a plot in Hell, he said.

Zorin was not the primary home buyer in Trump Palacethat is, his money did not go directly to Trump Organization. Back at the start of 2000, the company signed several lucrative deals for building houses in South Florida under the brand name Trump Organization.

Photo Worldwide Properties

Trump's name attracts Russian buyers. This move helped turn Sunny Isles Beach into an apartment paradise, sometimes called "little Moscow".

Mangushev is a former officer of the Russian security service, FSB, heir to the KGB. He first appeared in Miami in 2010. In Russia, Mangushev led a group of companies called Alfa Anti-Criminal.

They provided security services for the largest state-owned companies and government structures of the Russian Federation. Prior to 2014, Alfa Anticriminal was listed as a relative of Mangushev, according to the corporate base of Russia.

The Alpha Group is an elite special forces anti-terrorism unit, part of the FSB. Mangushev told the Russian media that he is a former officer of the Alpha unit, and that many of his company's employees are veterans of the state security services of Russia.

Zorin declined to comment for this material. Lawyer Mangusheva in Miami Olesya Belchenko refused to provide answers to the list of written questions, saying only that her client had sold his security firms in Russia in 2013 and had no business relationship with Zorin.

Nevertheless, public records indicate that there is still a connection between Zorin and Mangushev. In 2011, Zorin wrote a letter of recommendation for Alfa Anticriminal, which was published on the group website.

And although lawyer Mangusheva said that he no longer owns Alfa Anticriminal and its related companies, he is still in the Russian registry as the majority owner of one of the companies that is in the process of being dissolved. In addition, he runs an American company with the same name, Alpha-anticriminal. On the website of his real estate firm Alpha realty in south florida it is written that Alpha-anticriminal is her partner.

Mangushev and related companies own property in South Florida for almost $ 10 million. There are records in the judicial databases that he somehow tried to evict his wife from apartments in Trump Palace with a rental price of $ 9 000 per month. The eviction case began a year after Mangusheva was arrested on charges of light crime, and his wife filed an application for a protective order against him, which she later took.

"Putin's Biker"

The role of military veterans in the American biker culture is becoming more tangible, but few clubs can boast a connection with the Russian special forces.

Club Spetsnaz MC. was founded two years ago by Mangushev and other Russian expatriates, including the eminent deputy sheriff of Broward County. In Russian terminology, the name "special forces" is used to refer to counter-terrorism units, elite assault groups and special forces of the FSB. RF security service veterans often hold high positions in business and government, including President Vladimir Putin, the former director of the FSB.

Zorin is not listed as a member of the biker club. Spetsnaz but he has two motorcycles - BMW and Honda. It is not known whether he served in the special services.

Political views of club members Spetsnaz go in the direction of nationalism.

In an interview with the Russian edition of Segodnya in 2010, Mangushev criticized immigration and its potential for the rapid destruction of national and cultural identity. In 2014, the future club president Spetsnaz invited the most notorious biker group in Russia, "Night Wolves", to become its official division.

The letter was written by Hermann Bikbau, an assistant to the sheriff of Broward County, who entered the service with several recommendations contained in his personal file.

“The Night Wolves have a spirit,” Bikbau wrote in Russian on 2014. The letter was published on the website of the Night Wolves. - There is something that is not in other teams. There is the spirit of Russia. Therefore, we are waiting for (your) decision. "

During the Russian invasion of the Crimea and the demonstrations in Ukraine, the Night Wolves rode their “horses” in support of the pro-Russian separatists. Club leader Alexander Zaldostanov, a plastic surgery specialist named “Surgeon”, received an award from Putin. He is considered a close ally of the Kremlin. In 2015, the Russian cosmonauts hung the Night Wolves flag over the international space station.

Photo ryb.ru

But the US position is not so benevolent: in 2014, the US Treasury imposed sanctions against Zaldostanov and the Night Wolves for their role in the conflict in Ukraine. American officials said that the Night Wolves had abducted a Ukrainian border guard, stormed the Ukrainian naval base and illegally removed a high-ranking Ukrainian official from the country.

In addition, the Night Wolves "are closely connected with the Russian special services and help them recruit separatists," the Ministry of Finance said at the time.

20 June this year, the Trump administration has published a new list of individuals and companies subject to sanctions due to events in Ukraine. In this list there are two administrators of the Night Wolves and two organizations associated with the club.

About whether the wolves agreed to recognize the group Spetsnaz, is unknown.

Club members Spetsnaz, says their website, doing charity work in South Florida and driving around the East Coast. They met with Russian-American law enforcement officers in New York and opened a branch in Moscow.

The organization’s filing in Florida states that club members Spetsnaz - “family-oriented motorcycle enthusiasts from the former Soviet Union who served in the army, as well as their associates.” Together, they just want to promote the safety of driving motorcycles in Russia and the United States.

When reporters from Miami tried to reach Mangushev, he constantly hung up. Mangushev is suing in civil court with his business partners Gennady Alekseenko and Inessa Pozdnyakova because of his local real estate company.

Bikbau, who resigned as president of the club last year, did not call back journalists.

Home away from home

Corruption is the biggest problem for Russia. In March of this year, mass opposition rallies in this regard took place in the country. South Florida also appears as a haven for obscure money. It is known that Russian organized criminal groups are active in this region.

If someone needs to hide dirty money, says Shumanov from Transparency InternationalMost likely, this person will go to South Florida. In his opinion, this is an ideal place for money laundering through luxury real estate. Prices are rising, investments are protected, and there are dozens of ways to hide the owner-beneficiary of an expensive apartment building or villa, says Shumanov.

Because of this influx of money into Miami, local house prices far exceeded the purchasing power of Florida residents.

US law enforcement officers are now taking note of this Miami reputation as a haven for suspicious money. There have been a number of high-profile incidents that make the local real estate industry feel threatened. This is the unprecedented federal monitoring of pacifier companies buying expensive homes in cash. And a wave of declassified information from closed offshore files known as "Panamanian documents." And now there is also a special prosecutorial investigation, which can analyze possible links between Russian operatives and the business empire of President Donald Trump, whose presence in South Florida is more than palpable.

Zorin did not use bank financing for any real estate purchase. That is, most likely, he paid in cash. On 2015, his income was about $ 75 000, and on 2016, $ 159 000, according to his declarations.

The apartment in Trump's house, which he received from Mangushev, was later sold for $ 1,5 to a million woman, apparently a relative of Mangushev. This is evidenced by the data available in the registers of Florida.

Meanwhile, according to official data from Russia, Alfa-Anticriminal received dozens of contracts from the agency in which Zorin works. In the reports, Zorin forgot to mention his business ties with Mangushev in South Florida.

Photo LLC ORP Alfa-Anticriminal

This is a conflict of interest, which Zorin should have informed his superiors, says Shumanov.

Thanks to anti-corruption reforms signed by Putin, Russian government officials are required to report on any real estate they own abroad. In July, a law prohibiting officials from owning shares in foreign companies comes into force. For example, as those Florida LLC, through which Zorin bought their homes in Miami, or a company engaged in used tires in Miami-Dade, which he also once tried to buy. Officials are already forbidden to have accounts in foreign banks.

Zorin did not answer questions about his assets in Florida, which were written in Russian and delivered by the reporter to his Moscow office. His employer, the federal state-owned enterprise Russian Broadcasting and Alert Networks (RSVO), also did not respond to the request.

According to the official Site, RSVO broadcasts public radio programs, manages emergency warning networks, provides infrastructure solutions to telecommunications firms and acoustic technologies for key government events. Including - the famous parades on the occasion of the Victory Day of the Soviet Union over Nazi Germany, taking place on Red Square.

In mid june when in Miami Herald This material was being prepared for publication and journalists tried to contact members of the biker club. Spetsnaz before publication, the club filed documents for the liquidation of the organization.

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