Oligarchs

Russian experts say that Putin is moderately wealthy but that he has a fortune in the names of other Russians known as oligarchs. This was brought to the world stage when a Russian attorney named Sergei Magnitsky was working in the tax department and discovered some serious irregularities. He was later found guilty of tax fraud and died unexpectedly in prison at the age of 37. This caused an international outrage and led to the congress passing the Magnitsky act. The Russians are so upset with this act that they tried to convince people that they had damaging information on Hilary and Trump so they could bargain for the repeal of the act. In December 2012 the US Congress adopted the Magnitsky Act. It enables the US to withhold visas and freeze financial assets of Russian officials thought to have been involved with human rights violations. Russian businessmen and high ranking officials are illegally accumulating large sums of money and the government is looking the other way. It is a quid pro quo arrangement which allows Putin to build assets in other names thus keeping him free from scandal. It has become so widespread that all interested parties are aware of what is going on but no one dares to bring charges against him. One of the oligarchs Nikolai Glushkov was accused of stealing and was given asylum in London in 2006. He became a critic of Putin's and last week he was found dead and the police are suspecting murder.