Patterico's Pontifications

10/24/2017

HMMM: The Curious Reason Trump Did Not Sanction This Company Run By Iran’s Revolutionary Guard

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 10:30 am



President Trump has a new policy towards Iran. As Susan Wright recently explained, Trump has said (among other things) that “he would be instructing the Treasury Department to sanction Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps [IRGC] over its support of terrorism in the Middle East.” Trump called this a “long overdue step” — and it was.

There is, however, one company that is clearly tied to the IRGC that is curiously not getting sanctioned: Azarpassillo. You’ll never guess what distinguishes this company from the rest. Yup, sure enough, Azarpassillo has done business with the Trump Organization:

After Trump’s speech, the Treasury named Shahid Alamolhoda Industries, Rastafann Ertebat Engineering Company, and Fanamoj as, essentially, tools of the Revolutionary Guard. Strikingly, the Treasury did not name Azarpassillo, an Iranian firm with a leadership made up of lifelong Revolutionary Guard officers. Azarpassillo’s leaders have been named by U.S. officials as likely money launderers for the Revolutionary Guard and, through their international construction operations, the company is ideally suited to provide W.M.D. components.

Azarpassillo has another interesting connection; one of its apparent partners in money laundering, the Mammadov family of Azerbaijan, was also, until quite recently, in business with the Trump Organization. In fact, for the entire Presidential campaign, the Trump Organization knew that it was actively involved with a company that was likely laundering money for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. This is not a wild conspiracy theory; it is an acknowledged fact, confirmed by Alan Garten, the Trump Organization’s general counsel, and not disputed by the White House or any of the people involved. Ivanka Trump directly oversaw the relationship with the Mammadov family, led by Ziya Mammadov, a man whom American diplomats have called “notoriously corrupt even for Azerbaijan.”

Davidson first revealed the Trump Organization’s dealings with Azarpassillo in March, although I just learned about it yesterday. With a #FAKENEWSMEDIA that is notoriously hostile to Trump, it is curious how little play the story has received. Some Democrat senators have shown interest and asked questions, but the arrangement has certainly not been the subject of unrelenting consecutive days of television coverage.

Davidson’s pieces do not accuse Trump of a secretive support for the IRGC. Davidson says: “There is no reason to think that anyone in the Trump Organization was intentionally seeking to help the Iranians.” He notes that Trump’s top lawyer is an Orthodox Jew, who supports Israel and abhors Iran. But, Davidson explains, the Trump Organization has been licensing Trump’s name around the world to “people and businesses who were unable—or unwilling—to work with the vast majority of international companies which demand comprehensive due diligence.” The results are unsurprising:

A remarkable number of Trump’s business partners met one or more of the warning signs of troubling business practices: they had been investigated or convicted of fraud or other economic crimes; they were government officials in a position to abuse their power for financial gain; or they were secretive entities, hidden behind shell companies.

It’s not that Trump is trying to help the IRGC. It’s that the Trump Organization has been willfully blind to the shady doings of many of its business partners. As Davidson noted in his March piece, this may have violated the law, as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act “made it a crime for an American company to unknowingly benefit from a partner’s corruption if it could have discovered illicit activity but avoided doing so.”

If Trump were to include Azarpassillo on the list of sanctioned companies, it would be an open admission by the administration that the Trump Organization has done business with a company connected to the Revolutionary Guard and money laundering. And Trump’s motto is: no matter how obviously true something is, you don’t admit it if it hurts Donald Trump. Apparently, even if it is in the nation’s security interest.

I’m frankly at a loss as to how Trump supporters will defend this. The salient facts are beyond dispute. Azarpassillo is run by IRGC officers. The Mammadovs’ connection to the Revolutionary Guard has been publicly known for several years. The Trump Organization’s lawyer “learned of the Mammadov family’s likely relationship to Azarpassillo in the summer of 2015.”

By leaving Azarpassillo off the list of sanctioned companies, Trump is putting his personal interests ahead of the interests of the country. Similarly, those who defend him on this are sacrificing the interests of the United States in favor of their narrow partisan interest in defending Donald Trump, come hell or high water.

UPDATE: Commenters point out that I should have been more careful to note in the post that, according to Davidson, the Trump Organization did business, not directly with a company run by the IRGC, but with a corrupt money-laundering partner of a company run by the IRGC. I don’t think this renders Trump’s decision not to sanction Azarpassillo any less suspect. The mileage of Trump partisans may vary and probably does.

[Cross-posted at RedState and The Jury Talks Back.]

137 Responses to “HMMM: The Curious Reason Trump Did Not Sanction This Company Run By Iran’s Revolutionary Guard”

  1. Sort of like fusion gps doesn’t get a battering ram at their door, and blocks any subpoenas for funding sources.

    narciso (d1f714)

  2. I’m actively searching for any evidence of New Yorker/NPR reporter Adam Davidson’s reporting on the Obama administration/Clinton Crime Family’s dealings with Russian agents on the Uranium One deal. Or on any other Democrat’s shady activities. No luck so far…

    Colonel Haiku (e7e3ee)

  3. The man appears to have a fixation… https://adamdavidson.com/

    If it hurts Trump, fling it at the wall. This doesn’t meet standards.

    Colonel Haiku (e7e3ee)

  4. On top of this story, there’s this outlandish $300 million deal:

    $300m Puerto Rico Recovery Contract Awarded to Tiny Utility Company Linked to Major Trump Donor

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/dollar300m-puerto-rico-recovery-contract-awarded-to-tiny-utility-company-linked-to-major-trump-donor

    That company “… had a reported staff of only two full-time employees when Hurricane Maria touched down…”

    Tillman (a95660)

  5. Greetings:

    Back in the late ’70s, I was working for our Navy as a civilian printer in the real Brooklyn. At the time, the Navy was transferring some older frigates and destroyers (what a great name for a ship) to the Shah’s Iran. The transfer ceremonies required a bit of printing that included a bit of typography in both English type and Farsi squiggles. I got the duty to schlepp over to the Iranian embassy
    in Manhattan to have the squiggles proofread and the whole time I was over there, I never took my hand of my wallet.

    What part of “souk” don’t you understand ???

    11B40 (6abb5c)

  6. #4

    Is there any room for more avarice in our Carnival Barker?

    Ben burn (5f6042)

  7. It’s admirable that Trump is apolitical when it comes to revenue enhancement.

    Ben burn (5f6042)

  8. Breaking- Arizona’s Flake sez he will not seek re-election.

    Dum, dum, dum… and another one bites the dust.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  9. The hacks will ignore this or go ad hominem. It’s what a hack does when he has no other argument.

    Patterico (61ec6b)

  10. When the going gets tough, the gimps go left.

    Colonel Haiku (e7e3ee)

  11. Trump is obviously playing three-dimensional chess with the Iranians. By not sanctioning this particular company, he is showing them that he can be both bad cop and good cop. That he can be tough but not inflexible. That gives him both an advantage in negotiations and an opening to continue them for the best deal. It’s the Art Of The Deal.

    nk (dbc370)

  12. This is from the Treasury press release announcing the recent sanctions:

    Additionally, today OFAC designated four entities under E.O. 13382, which targets weapons of mass destruction proliferators and their supporters, for their support to the IRGC or Iran’s military.*

    This executive order specifically targets companies who assist in the development of weapons of mass destruction:

    (ii) any foreign person determined by the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, the Attorney General, and other relevant agencies, to have engaged, or attempted to engage, in activities or transactions that have materially contributed to, or pose a risk of materially contributing to, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction or their means of delivery (including missiles capable of delivering such weapons), including any efforts to manufacture, acquire, possess, develop, transport, transfer or use such items, by any person or foreign country of proliferation concern;

    The 4 companies listed are all identified with very specific behavior by which the EO is deemed to apply. For example:

    Rastafann Ertebat Engineering Company (Rastafann) was designated for having provided, or attempted to provide, financial, material, technological, or other support for, or goods or services in support of, SAIG and the IRGC. Rastafann has provided radar systems to SAIG and communications equipment to the IRGC.

    So where then is the evidence in the post above that Azarpassillo qualifies? You need more than a weaksuck assertion by a fake news propaganda slut that “the company is ideally suited to provide W.M.D. components.”

    Again, this EO covers companies and people who have made a material contribution to Iranian WMD programs.

    Where is the requisite proof that Azarpassillo has done so?

    Which components? Provided to whom?

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  13. @4 On top of this story, there’s this outlandish $300 million deal:

    That’s not the least of it. wapo or the nyt’s story reported hourly (hourly!) wages billed in the mid to upper 300$ range, for the workers (e.g., electricians), under the terms of the contract. (As well as “healthy” per diem lodging and food expenses) Not reported (when I read it at least) what comparable wages / expenses are in “emergency contract” settings. I’m betting that these here run just a tad high. I’m all for capitalism’s normal excesses, foibles & depradations (of course), but this here’s starting to look like Department of Defense contracting norms, which bodes ill for the public purse (amongst other things).

    Q! (86710c)

  14. Who makes yhe determination, state, defense, tresury like the cfius?

    narciso (2ab53c)

  15. Rastafann vibration, ye-ah

    Colonel Haiku (e7e3ee)

  16. Who makes the determination, state, defense, treasury like the cfius?

    The bad actors are identified by “the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, the Attorney General, and other relevant agencies,” and the designation is officially enacted through the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  17. Yup, sure enough, Azarpassillo has done business with the Trump Organization:

    This isn’t even true. The Trump Organization has in fact NOT done business with Azarpassillo .

    If you read the linked article carefully, here is what we learn

    Azarpassillo is one of the largest companies run by Revolutionary Guard veterans. Much of its business within Iran is with projects run by Khatam-al Anbia. It also received an enormous contract to build highways in neighboring Azerbaijan. U.S. officials believe that it got this contract in a sweetheart deal with Azerbaijan’s then-transportation minister, Ziya Mammadov. At the same time, Mammadov’s son and brother signed a contract with the Trump Organization to build a hotel and a residential tower at the foot of one of the country’s newest highways.

    so… in summary

    1. Azarpassillo is one of the largest companies run by Revolutionary Guard veterans

    2. Azarpassillo once got a transportation contract in Azerbaijan, possibly through a former transportation minister named Ziya Mammadov

    3. Mammadov’s son and brother signed a contract with the Trump Organization to build a hotel and a residential tower that was near a highway Azarpassillo was working on. Yes. One of those wacky highway-adjacent hotels.

    Therefor it is NOT correct that Yup, sure enough, Azarpassillo has done business with the Trump Organization.

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  18. Jeff Flake will not seek reelection. This will likely leave both AZ Senate seats open in 2018.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  19. Trump probably has no more to do with this than he did with revocation of Browder’s passport.

    There may be an element here of “too big to fail.”

    Sammy Finkelman (20d02d)

  20. in fact one can pore over the Azarpassillo website and it’s very very difficult to discern what services the Trump Organization would ever conceivably want or need to contract Azarpassillo to provide

    This is a company that enjoys putting guardrail in place, and building and repairing roads.

    How again is this company uniquely positioned to contribute to a WMD program? Here’s a discussion of the scope of the company’s competencies and services.

    Please to point us to the competency or service which is key to helping Bob Corker fulfill his dreams of Israeli genocide? I’ve read it three times and I’m just not seeing it.

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  21. *Therefore* i mean (comment #19)

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  22. I mean Browder’s U.S. visa.

    Why does Jeff Flake have such little confidence in the voters of Arizona, or in his ability to defend himself?

    Sammy Finkelman (20d02d)

  23. 19: OK good job! Now get back to looking for the New Yorker’s/NBC’s/CNN’s hard-hitting coverage of the Uranium deal.

    Harcourt Fenton Mudd (5e0a82)

  24. Any doubt that Trump can’t wait to tweet about Flake?

    DRJ (d18ca6)

  25. Trump was busy his morning about Corker – but now he just endorsed the United Nations! (October 24 is United Nations Day, you see.)

    Must have been a staffer.

    Sammy Finkelman (20d02d)

  26. 24. Sammy, according to a story’s sub-title on Politico, “The Arizona lawmaker was one of the most vulnerable Republican senators up for reelection in 2018.” So I suppose he couldn’t afford to offend the Trumpers. But hat’s off to him for having some integrity.

    http://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/24/flake-retiring-after-2018-244114

    Tillman (a95660)

  27. He’s probably afraid a federal judge would block the sanctions.

    Pinandpuller (df791a)

  28. here are the sanctions what would be imposed on Azarpassillo Mr. Pinandpuller

    Do we have any evidence that these sanctions would have any affect whatsoever on Azarpassillo?

    Does Azarpassillo do any work in the US or have assets here?

    There’s no indication in evidence that these sanctions would actually DO anything.

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  29. @12 nk

    If you say “Shah Mat! Shah Mat! Shah Mat!” During 3D chess the sanctions are back on.

    Say, I got an automated message from (202) saying this was their second attempt to contact me to avoid an initial appearance before a judge, magistrate or federal grand jury in a federal criminal offense. “If I don’t hear from you or your attorney either all I can do is wish you good luck as this situation unfolds on you.”

    Haha, I don’t even have a lawyer! Weird huh?

    Pinandpuller (df791a)

  30. Let’s have a Hats Off Dance Off for Jeff Flake. Give a big “Yee-Haw” for Rep Wilson coming out of chute number one!

    Pinandpuller (df791a)

  31. have any *effect* whatsoever on Azarpassillo i mean

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  32. Flake knows the voters support Trump, not him, and he also knows, like Corker, that he’s burned every bridge leading back to where he once belonged.

    The message is clear, and has been since Trump demolished all those experienced GOP contenders in the primaries: only fools and pipsqueeks dare cross swords with a man who has the solid backing of the American people. It just ain’t smart.

    ropelight (bbe920)

  33. Azarpassillo sounds like a Tango or an Argentinian race horse.

    Pinandpuller (df791a)

  34. It’s Columbian for urinary tract infection, P&P.

    Rev.Hoagie® (6bbda7)

  35. In what way does it burnish failmerica’s already execrable reputation for effective foreign policy if the failmerican government were to sanction people for aiding Iran’s WMD program with the full and certain knowledge that these sanctions will in no way shape or form inhibit the advancement of that WMD program?

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  36. 26… I can’t wait to tweet about Flake and I’m not even on twitter anymore!

    Teh virtue signaling twatwaffle anyway…

    Colonel Haiku (e7e3ee)

  37. @22

    I really like this post because the argument being made is ” Azarpassillo isn’t involved in wmds, here’s their corporate website and look, no mention of wmd production.”

    Davethulhu (fab944)

  38. There are several issues here worth commenting on. I might do a much longer comment later that shows the stack of assumptions and conclusions unsupported by any real facts that make up the Davidson articles in the New Yorker, but lets start with a couple of simple points.

    The concept of “deliberate ignorance” isn’t unique in federal law to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Its a concept that attaches to all federal criminal statutes that have a “knowingly” standard. So, any person who purposely makes themselves “willfully blind” to the criminality of activities of others that they are involved with can be convicted using the “deliberate ignorance” doctrine to establish the “knowingly” element of the offense. I pushed to use it in one case, and was rebuffed by the judge, because he knew how easy it is for an appeals court to find error in use of the doctrine, and reverse an otherwise solid conviction. The judge expected that I was going to win the case, and he later explained to me that he didn’t want that case (2 months long) coming back for retrial based on an “iffy” instruction.

    So, there’s nothing unique with regard to the FCPA and the doctrine of “deliberate ignorance” — or “willful blindness” as described here. But there are TWO KEY factual predicates that must be met before the doctrine can even be considered for use — and BOTH ARE MISSING from the articles.

    First — the defendant must assert an actual “lack of knowledge” of some aspect of the crime that is required for conviction;

    Second — there must be evidence from which a juror could conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was ACTUALLY aware of a high probability of the fact in dispute, AND that the defendant consciously AVOIDED confirming that fact.

    Negligence in not finding out about the fact in dispute is not sufficient — and its this inability to discern “negligent” failure to learn from actual active efforts to avoid learning that creates the risk of undermining a conviction because the jury’s verdict does not generally describe how they reach their decision when you use a “deliberate ignorance” or “conscious avoidance” theory as an alternative to “actual knowledge”.

    This is a good measure of evidence beyond the generalization “the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act “made it a crime for an American company to unknowingly benefit from a partner’s corruption if it could have discovered illicit activity but avoided doing so.”

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  39. Uh-Oh… Clinton campaign, DNC paid for research that led to Russia dossier

    Marc E. Elias, a lawyer representing the Clinton campaign and the DNC, retained Fusion GPS, a Washington firm, to conduct the research.

    After that, Fusion GPS hired dossier author Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence officer with ties to the FBI and the U.S. intelligence community, according to the people.

    Elias and his law firm, Perkins Coie, retained the firm in April 2016 on behalf of the Clinton campaign and the DNC. Prior to that agreement, Fusion GPS’s research into Trump was funded by a still unknown Republican client during the GOP primary.

    Hmmmmm…

    crazy (d99a88)

  40. @40

    This was covered to a degree in the original article from march that patterico linked in his blog post.

    I asked Garten how deeply the Trump Organization had looked into the Mammadov family’s political connections. Had it been concerned that Elton Mammadov, as a sitting member of parliament, might exploit his power to benefit the project? How much money had Ziya Mammadov invested in Elton’s company? Garten noted that he didn’t oversee the due-diligence process. “The people who did are no longer at the company,” he said. “I can’t tell you what was done in this situation.” He would not identify the former employees. When I asked him to provide documentation of due diligence, he said that he couldn’t share it with me, because “it’s confidential and privileged.”

    Davethulhu (fab944)

  41. Re: Sen. Flake, Sen. McCain says, “”He’s one of the most honorable men I’ve ever known.” And, Schumer says, “”He is one of the finest human beings I’ve met in politics. He is moral, upright, ….”

    You know what’s been dropped down the memory hole? This:

    In his campaign in 2000, Flake had pledged to serve no more than three terms in Congress which would see him serve no later than January 2007. Shortly after being elected for a third time, Flake announced in early 2005 that he had changed his mind on pledging term limits and was planning to run for re-election in 2006. “It was a mistake to limit my own terms,” Flake said.[9]

    If that’s your “honorable” and “moral” senator, gentlemen, I’d like to hear your definitions of those terms.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Flake

    ColoComment (13c772)

  42. Tillman @28.

    “The Arizona lawmaker was one of the most vulnerable Republican senators up for reelection in 2018.”

    Well, he was maybe the most vulnerable – not so many are. And he was vulnerable in a primary. His real problem was he could lose a primary. But he wouldn’t lose it to someone who reflects a consensus of the Arizona electorate.

    So I suppose he couldn’t afford to offend the Trumpers. But hat’s off to him for having some integrity.

    The real Trumpers were lost to him at this point. Maybe it is also that some people have come not to respect him. That’s important. Someone like him has to have coherent ideas and make sense.

    He should have considered running third party, or getting independents, if that’s possible, to vote in the Republican primary. It wasn’t wit the general election electorate he was so much trouble, and Democrats have more trouble.

    He should have just tried to figure out a way that Arrow Paradox could help him and not hurt him. But then, you see, that’s the problem with him – not a very good thinker.

    Re: Arrow paradox: http://tech.mit.edu/V123/N8/8voting.8n.html

    https://www.uh.edu/engines/epi2427.htm

    Now that deals with a jungle primary, but you can have the same sort of thing with partisan primaries. Flake was probably something of a consensus choice for Arizona. There should have been a way for him to arrange and order the choices so he had good and bad chances.

    Sammy Finkelman (20d02d)

  43. Pinandpuller (df791a) — 10/24/2017 @ 1:41 pm

    Haha, I don’t even have a lawyer! Weird huh?

    It’s like those calls saying we are calling you because you recently took or inquired about a cruise.

    What was this about? Scaring you into paying a tax – to some other place than the IRS? 202 is Washington, D.C.

    Sammy Finkelman (20d02d)

  44. Maxine Waters is going to be all over this right after she’s done eulogizing Dick Gregory. She’s still going.

    Pinandpuller (df791a)

  45. Multiple standing ovations! His middle name should be Humility.

    DRJ (15874d)

  46. 41. crazy (d99a88) — 10/24/2017 @ 3:59 pm

    Marc E. Elias, a lawyer representing the Clinton campaign and the DNC, retained Fusion GPS, a Washington firm, to conduct the research.

    After that, Fusion GPS hired dossier author Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence officer with ties to the FBI and the U.S. intelligence community, according to the people.

    Elias and his law firm, Perkins Coie, retained the firm in April 2016 on behalf of the Clinton campaign and the DNC. Prior to that agreement, Fusion GPS’s research into Trump was funded by a still unknown Republican client during the GOP primary.

    Hmmmmm…

    Looks very much like illegal co-ordination = illegal unreported campaign contribution or, alternatively misreporting of campaign spending. Or did they fine tune things so as to both keep that secret and stay within the law by disguising the whole thing as legal fees? Which the Clintons have a record of doing. (they did that with hiring private detectives I think)

    And this actually may be the cover story.

    Next question: Who ws the Republican who was paying Fusion GPS before April? (Now we are hearing the Clinton people had to step in in April, not June)

    Sammy Finkelman (20d02d)

  47. This statement by the host is not supported by facts in the article:

    If Trump were to include Azarpassillo on the list of sanctioned companies, it would be an open admission by the administration that the Trump Organization has done business with a company connected to the Revolutionary Guard and money laundering.

    The Trump organization did business with the Mammadov family on the Baku Tower property.

    The Mammadov family, through the Transportation Ministry which it controlled at the time, gave contracts for road construction in Azerbaijan to Azarpassillo. Azarpassillo at that time was operated by Keyumars Darvishi. “Ownership” of Azarpassillo isn’t explained in the article, nor is it clear whether Keyumars is hired help, or something more. The author simply says Azarpassillo is “run by” Keyumars.

    The part of the host’s comment that has no factual support in the article is the allegation that Trump has cone business with a company (?? Which one?) connected to the Revolutionary Guard and money laundering.

    There is nothing in the article that says Azarpassillos had any involvement with the Trump project in Baku. The article CLAIMS — without evidence as it admits, and I’ll show — that Azarpassillos is a likely vehicle for money laundering, and that it does so through its contracts with the Transportation Ministry of the Azerbaijan gov’t and the Mammadov family. Therefore, when Trump does business with the Mammadov family, he runs the risk that the money involved in the business — i.e., money paid by the Mammadovs to license Trump’s name, etc., is potentially dirty money coming out of the Republican Guard that the Mammadovs received by doing business with Azarpassillos.

    Except, the article says the following:

    Mehrzad Boroujerdi, a political scientist at Syracuse University, who studies the political, economic, and military élite of Iran, said, “It looks like Azarpassillo is a front organization for the Revolutionary Guard.” He found it inconceivable that Keyumars Darvishi, after working for years in a company controlled by the Revolutionary Guard, would quit, raise large amounts of capital on his own, and then become the head of a fully independent company that competed against Revolutionary Guard fronts for contracts. Khatam Al-Anbia, an Iranian construction giant that is controlled by the Guard and is under U.S. sanctions, has subcontracted Azarpassillo on at least two major infrastructure projects in Iran. The Tehran Metro Company is also involved in both projects. [J. Matthew McInnis, an Iran expert at the American Enterprise Institute] told me, “If you see a connection with Khatam Al-Anbia, you would assume the connections to the Revolutionary Guard are there. The suspicion of Azarpassillo being a front company is certainly worth investigating. It would fit a normal pattern.

    So, there’s your first assumption — Azarpassillo, based on the article, has not yet been determined be a Revolutionary Guard front company, though that is a strong suspicion. Yet, Trump is being faulted in this post for not naming Azarpassillo as a company subject to new sanctions along with the 3 other companies that have actually be determined to be linked to the Revolutionary Guards.

    The article has more backtracking:

    During the same period, mounting international sanctions made it far more difficult for Iran to sell oil abroad, receive foreign funds, and import products. International banks became increasingly reluctant to accept funds from businesses owned by the Revolutionary Guard, severely limiting its ability to support allies such as Hezbollah and the Syrian government. At a moment when Iran was struggling to find ways to send money outside the country, Keyumars Darvishi joined Azarpassillo and began making one deal after another in Azerbaijan.

    The available evidence strongly suggests that Ziya Mammadov conspired with an agent of the Revolutionary Guard to make overpriced deals that would enrich them both while allowing them to flout prohibitions against money laundering and to circumvent sanctions against Iran. Based on Ziya Mammadov’s past, it seems reasonable to assume that his main motive was profit. Like most Azerbaijanis, he is a secular Shiite Muslim, and he has no known ties to hard-line factions in Iran. Why did the Darvishis want to work with the Mammadovs? It might have caught their attention that the Mammadovs had their own private bank—one that had unfettered access to the global financial system.

    While Azarpassillo was making deals with the Transportation Ministry, the Mammadovs were investing heavily in a series of large construction projects. Money launderers love construction projects. They attract legitimate funds from governments and private investors, and they require frequent payouts to legitimate subcontractors: cement factories, lumberyards, glass manufacturers, craftsmen. In the Trump Tower Baku project, money was going in and out of the U.S., the United Kingdom, Turkey, Romania, the United Arab Emirates, and several other countries. With such projects, it can be exceedingly difficult to detect the spread of illicit funds.

    At the same time, the Mammadovs’ money was flowing through holding companies in offshore banking centers. According to leaked documents in the Panama Papers, companies controlled by the family have opened accounts in such places as the Bahamas, the British Virgin Islands, and Panama. The shell companies that list Mammadovs as beneficiaries or officers have bland names such as Trans-European Leasing Group and 1st Rate Investment, and many of them are owned by other shell companies.

    “The available evidence strongly suggests….” Only he didn’t provide any.
    “Overpriced deals that would … allowing them to flout prohibitions against money laundering…”
    “In the Trump Tower Baku project, money was ggoing in and out ….” But the property was BUILT ALREADY before the licensing agreement was signed by Trump. They BRANDED A BUILDING ALREADY BUILT. Some renovations and remodeling was done after the branding, but the author provides no information about how much that activity cost compared to the $200+ million price tag to build the building.
    Why did the Darvishis want to work with the Mammadovs? It might have caught their attention

    This is ALL PURE INNUENDO. It fits the author’s narrative, so “lets throw it in as assumptions or suggestions.”

    But the best is at the end:

    Between 2004 and 2014, Mammadov family businesses spent more than half a billion dollars on large construction projects. They also poured money into a major construction-materials company, an insurance firm, and a new headquarters. It’s not clear how the Mammadovs funded such enormous investments while spending so much on themselves. They may have received loans, or secretly owned profitable businesses that supported the flurry of spending. Another explanation is that some of the investment money came from the Revolutionary Guard, through Azarpassillo.

    This is the old “Unexplained Wealth” doctrine. “You shouldn’t have all that money, so it must have come from something illegal.”

    Notice there isn’t a SINGLE FACTUAL STATEMENT anywhere in the article that actually points to the Revolutionary Guard laundering money through the Azarpassillos contracts with the Transportation Ministry in Azerbaijan.

    It is 100% a conclusion of the author.

    Yet he drops it right at the end of the article as a statement of fact.

    And the HOST HERE follows right down the hole by writing — and I don’t want to misrepresent his words so I’ll quote him again:

    “If Trump were to include Azarpassillo on the list of sanctioned companies, it would be an open admission by the administration that the Trump Organization has done business with a company connected to the Revolutionary Guard and money laundering.”

    Except, based on the information in the article:

    1. Trump didn’t do business with Azarpassillo.
    2. There isn’t any actual evidence in the article that the business between Azarpassillo and the Azerbaijan government involved the laundering of money.
    3. The article states that two “experts” on Iran would assume that Azarpassillo is a front company for the Revolutionary Guard because the nature of its existence would fit the pattern.

    Other than that…

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  48. Sammy

    If I’m going before a federal court I wouldn’t say no to a robo-call from POTUS. It’s either a scam or Trump drove away clerks.

    Pinandpuller (df791a)

  49. Whoops! Where, oh where have the Mercers gone?

    It’s money he’s made as a result of his career as a brilliant but reclusive computer scientist. He started his career at IBM, where he made what the Association for Computational Linguistics called “revolutionary” breakthroughs in language processing – a science that went on to be key in developing today’s AI – and later became joint CEO of Renaissance Technologies, a hedge fund that makes its money by using algorithms to model and trade on the financial markets.

    One of its funds, Medallion, which manages only its employees’ money, is the most successful in the world – generating $55bn so far. And since 2010, Mercer has donated $45m to different political campaigns – all Republican – and another $50m to non-profits – all rightwing, ultra-conservative. This is a billionaire who is, as billionaires are wont, trying to reshape the world according to his personal beliefs.
    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/feb/26/robert-mercer-breitbart-war-on-media-steve-bannon-donald-trump-nigel-farage

    Ben burn (b3d5ab)

  50. All the innuendo I see has been stepped on with baby laxative.

    Pinandpuller (df791a)

  51. @36. Rev Hoagie International Man of Mystery

    Lol. I won’t ask how you know.

    Pinandpuller (df791a)

  52. We’ll see Sammy @48, but don’t hold your breath. After all the chronology of a Clinton scandal is we didn’t do it, we might have done something everybody else does, even if we did do it – it’s not illegal, what difference does it make, we’re only trying to do the business of the American people. The real problem in the Beltway isn’t the illegal things politicians do it’s doing illegal things legally.

    crazy (d99a88)

  53. Doesn’t the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act also prohibit doing business with peolle or entities that are partners of members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard? If so, isn’t that what happened here?

    DRJ (15874d)

  54. R.I.P. Robert Guillaume, star of tv’s “Benson”

    Icy (97c1fd)

  55. OT but for those interested streiff’s How A Special Forces Medic Won the Medal of Honor Because of CNN’s Fraud and Misconduct is a good read.

    crazy (d99a88)

  56. 47… “Multiple standing ovations! His middle name should be Humility.”

    as soon as every presidential salute to a recently departed American icon or hero is basically a photo of Trump looking on in approval… IOW, all about him… I’ll agree there’s a problem. Otherwise it’s just more poor-mouthing out of the great… just ask ’em… state of Texas. I say that in spite of the admiration I have for all the Texans I know.

    And in the news, the Clinton campaign and the DNC paid for the dossier. So… there’s the other shoe 👠

    Colonel Haiku (e7e3ee)

  57. I await the breathless post on that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Colonel Haiku (e7e3ee)

  58. Drj: I like that Trump thinks many want a successful US. That is, after his bar has been reached..

    Ben burn (b3d5ab)

  59. And in the news, the Clinton campaign and the DNC paid for the dossier. So… there’s the other shoe.

    Colonel Haiku (e7e3ee)

  60. And the informant , in the tenez fli deal Worked for podesta. Fugg

    narciso (d1f714)

  61. 61. Colonel Haiku (e7e3ee) — 10/24/2017 @ 5:05 pm

    And in the news, the Clinton campaign and the DNC paid for the dossier.

    But is that a reason to take the 5th amendment? (Of course people do that when they are not guilty of anything, claiming your under general investigation and it’s like a fishing expedition, but Fusion GPS did respond to a subpoena, I think. You can’t take the 5th amendment with regard to a subpoena.

    That was a subpoena whose legality the Democrats had tried to fight by claiming it wasn’t properly authorized because House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes had recused himself from the Russia probe while Republicans said that was a purely administrative act because his signature was legally required for it to be valid.

    So… there’s the other shoe.

    No, no.

    That’s the first shoe.

    It’s not terribly damaging.

    It’s only now that we have to wait for the other shoes to drop.

    Sammy Finkelman (20d02d)

  62. NYT Reporter: Clinton Campaign Lawyer ‘Vigorously’ Denied Being Behind Dossier NYT reporters surprised to find source lied to them for the last year. What else did he lie to them about?

    crazy (d99a88)

  63. And two people closest to Hillary Clinton – teh Podesta Bros, aka John and Big Tony, aka teh Boobsy Twins – making deals with the Russians to influence the Obama administration and State Dept. policy towards Russia.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  64. Sammy… you are not credible on this. Not terribly damaging? WTF have the last 9 months been about!?!?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  65. The next few weeks should prove very interesting.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  66. Better part of a year, it was essentially what Larry flint was promising to do,

    narciso (d1f714)

  67. Deny, delay, obfuscate, investigate, run out the clock, acknowledge mistakes were made and close the books. For twenty five years this is how they’ve done it. Will it be different this time?

    crazy (d99a88)

  68. SWC, is Patterico saying Trump Org.did business with Azarpasillo?
    No, he points out that Trump Org. did business with people who did other business with Azarpasillo.

    He did not, but could have, point out that money laundering is often found in real estate. Heck, Las Vegas took root because the Mafia was looking for a good way to launder money. I’m sure that if you dug through all of Trump’s deals over the years, you would find money laundering involved in some of them. The only question would be the degree to which Trump was aware that money laundering was involved (and the answer might actually be, little to none, especially in matters handled by subordinates).

    kishnevi (f594bb)

  69. I Kenneth h Wahlberg had nothing to do with the committee to reelect.

    ttps://mobile.twitter.com/brookefoxnews/status/922987310790082560

    narciso (d1f714)

  70. The French, the Germans and probably many others do business with Iran… what’s the point?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  71. 55: I’m not exactly sure what you are saying. I think its more likely that the economic sanctions imposed by the international community would deal with anyone who does business with the Revolutionary Guard. The FCPA doesn’t address the Revolutionary Guard specifically.

    But, even so, it still hasn’t been established that Azarpassillo is a Revolutionary Guard front.

    It isn’t established by the article that any member of the Mammadov family did business with a member of the Revolutionary Guard. The gov’t of Azerbaijan gave road construction contracts to Azarpassillo. I would have to read the article again, but I don’t recall anywhere in the article taht the Mammadov family did business with Azarpassillo.

    And the Trump organization did business with the Mammadov family, not the Azerbaijan gov’t.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  72. Lets compare this with examples of actual pass through for oligarch cash, sberbank, that podesracwas lobbying for, and prokhirovs’s renaissance capital that hosted one of the Russian hackers that raised the exchanges and gave red queen 500 k

    narciso (d1f714)

  73. @74

    At least one member of the Mammadov family is part of the Azerbaijan government: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fazil_Mammadov

    Davethulhu (719fd1)

  74. SWC, is Patterico saying Trump Org.did business with Azarpasillo?
    No, he points out that Trump Org. did business with people who did other business with Azarpasillo.

    Here is a quote from Patterico’s opening:

    Yup, sure enough, Azarpassillo has done business with the Trump Organization:

    Hard to read that any other way.

    BuDuh (fc15db)

  75. 70 — I used his quote:

    If Trump were to include Azarpassillo on the list of sanctioned companies, it would be an open admission by the administration that the Trump Organization has done business with a company connected to the Revolutionary Guard and money laundering.

    Patrick takes pains to point out that people should write what they mean, and word should be taken at face value.

    Nothing anywhere in the article suggests Azarpassillo did business with Trump. So lets conclude that “a company” in the quote is not a reference to Azarpassillo.

    The company that Trump did business with was Baku XXI Century.

    So, where is the evidence in the article that Baku XXI Century is “connected to the Revolutionary Guard and money laundering”???

    The article admits Azarpassillo’s connection to the Revolutionary Guard is really just a suspicion.

    The article establishes that Azarpassillo has done business with the gov’t of Aberbaijan.

    But there is NO EVIDENCE in the article that supports the author’s SUPPOSITION that money flowing back and forth between Azarpassillo, Azerbaijan, and the Mammadov family was money from the Revolutionary Guard, or that money laundering was taking place.

    IT’S JUST NOT IN THE ARTICLE.

    On this last point, the most recent article from last week says “Azarpassillo’s leaders have been named by U.S. officials as likely money launderers for the Revolutionary Guard and, through their international construction operations, the company is ideally suited to provide W.M.D. components.”

    Where did that get dropped in from?? Sounds very authoritative and official, right?

    You know where it comes from?? Cable traffic from US embassy personnel. Nothing official — just email information going back and forth at the State Dept.

    But here’s the kicker paragraph in his article from last week that has the host spun-up:

    In fact, for the entire Presidential campaign, the Trump Organization knew that it was actively involved with a company that was likely laundering money for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. This is not a wild conspiracy theory; it is an acknowledged fact, confirmed by Alan Garten, the Trump Organization’s general counsel, and not disputed by the White House or any of the people involved. Ivanka Trump directly oversaw the relationship with the Mammadov family, led by Ziya Mammadov, a man whom American diplomats have called “notoriously corrupt even for Azerbaijan.”

    Very artfully written — and misleading.

    1. The passage suggests that the fact that Trump knowingly doing business with a money launderer for the Revolutionary Guard isn’t a conspiracy theory — its a fact admitted to by Trump’s attorney.

    Find that admission in the article.

    What Garten admitted and the WH has never denied was that the Trump organization did business with the Mammadov family in Azerbaijan — not the second part of that sentence about money laundering for the Republican Guard. But the sentence is constructed to make it seem that the money laundering aspect was admitted.

    2. Then you have the reference to Ziya Mammadov being called “notoriously corrupt” by American diplomats.

    This is again a reference to cable traffic — email exchanges, not an official US government position. There is nothing in either article from a US Gov’t official on the record, now or in the past, that makes a public pronouncement about the Mammadov family or the Darvishis in Iran.

    Finally, “Yellow Journalism” at its finest — with Patterico’s Endorsement via his link and breathless headline:

    “The details of Trump’s indirect relationship with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps were revealed in The New Yorker in March…”

    Again, for this site it was just too good to check.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  76. 76:

    I understand that.

    And a member of the Kennedy family has been a member of the US Gov’t.

    And a member of my family has been a member of the US Gov’t.

    And a member of the Roosevelt family has been a member of the US Gov’t.

    The US Gov’t has done a lot of unethical things in business relationships with companies and governments around the world.

    Does that tar the Kennedys, Roosevelts, and my Uncle Ed?

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  77. 78 — I hadn’t even focused on that language in the OP. That’s a plain as it gets.

    IMO it simply confirms that the host didn’t read the articles with near enough care, and it makes me now believe that his reference to “a company connected to the Revolutionary Guard and money laundering” further down in his post is likely a reference to Azarpassillos, which is a comment not supported by any facts anywhere in either of the 2 New Yorker articles.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  78. Holman Jenkins has an Op-Ed up in the WSJ questioning whether Mueller can remain as the head of the Russia investigation based on both the FBI’s role in soft-pedaling the Clinton Email investigation — Comey’s decision-making — and now the Mikerin corruption investigation which took place while Mueller was head of the FBI, and was never disclosed to the agencies who had to approve the Uranium One deal.

    This is no longer a Fox News story.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  79. UPDATE: Commenters point out that I should have been more careful to note in the post that, according to Davidson, the Trump Organization did business, not directly with a company run by the IRGC, but with a corrupt money-laundering partner of a company run by the IRGC. I don’t think this renders Trump’s decision not to sanction Azarpassillo any less suspect. The mileage of Trump partisans may vary and probably does.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  80. LOL– “Yeah my post has some errors, and Trump isn’t really connected to any IRGC as I said, but he still sucks.”

    That passes for a responsive analysis I guess.

    Or maybe its just an admission that the OP is a confused mess rife with factual errors.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  81. But “fabricated” gets its literal interpretation.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  82. @swc:factual errors.

    I think this is a little strong. It has some true things, a great deal of unsupported things. It generates its effect by putting unrelated facts in proximity and suggesting an unproved connection. It’s a narrative based on highly selective citation, with anything that could contradict it or provide other more innocuous explanation left out.

    Frederick (cd593c)

  83. 1. The article doesn’t say Azarpassillo is a Revolutionary Guard company. It speculates that it likely is because it fits a pattern.

    2. Trump’s company didn’t do business with Azarpissillo.

    3. There’s nothing in the article, except the author’s naked assertion, that transactions between Azarpassillo and the Azerbaijan government involves laundering money from the IRG.

    But hey, Trump should have sanctioned them anyway. He obviously doesn’t read The New Yorker like he should.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  84. Frederick — uhh, Ok. Have it your way.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  85. The article doesn’t say Azarpassillo is a Revolutionary Guard company

    The article says: “Azarpassillo, an Iranian firm with a leadership made up of lifelong Revolutionary Guard officers.”

    Back to ignore.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  86. @SWC:Not really disagreeing with you. I think your analysis is quite good. The article does not really back up its assertions.

    Frederick (cd593c)

  87. Frederick — I understood. I thought you said it quite well, so I was in effect saying “Lets go with that”, meaning what you wrote.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  88. Let me be clear so I’m not misunderstood and called a quasi-Nazi for “Defending” Trump.

    I’m not defending Trump here.

    I’m not saying Azarpassillos is not an IRG company — it probably is.

    My analysis here is meant to rebut the charge that Trump failed to sanction Azarpassillos because he has done business in the past with individuals who have done business with Azarpassillos.

    Though the OP claimed Trump did business with Azarpassillos in error.

    Trump can’t sanction Azarpassillos until its factually established that Azarpassillos is, IN FACT, a IRG company, AND has acted in ways that warrant the sanctions.

    That’s a second point not even addressed in the OP — given that there are hundreds or thousands of Iranian based companies that are likely IRG companies, what caused these 3 that Trump sanctioned to attract that attention.

    I’m going to expand on this in another comment, and directly call into question the integrity of the Host because he clearly spend NO TIME looking at this issue.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  89. There were 3 Iranian entities sanctioned on 10/13. The sanctions were imposed pursuant to Exec. Order 13382.

    EO 13382 was signed by Pres. Bush on June 29, 2005, and was aimed at proliferators of weapons of mass destruction and their supporters.

    The IRGC was previously named as a violator under EO 13382 because of its support for Iran’s Ballistic Missile and Nuclear Weapons programs on Oct. 5, 2007.

    The three entities named as supporters of the IRG on 10/13 were:

    Shahid Alamolhoda Industries (SAI) was designated for being owned or controlled by Iran’s Naval Defence Missile Industry Group (SAIG). SAIG, which is involved in the development and production of cruise missiles and is responsible for naval missiles, was designated pursuant to E.O. 13382 on June 16, 2010. SAIG also is sanctioned by the United Nations and the European Union. SAI, a direct subordinate to SAIG, is involved in the development of missile components.

    Rastafann Ertebat Engineering Company (Rastafann) was designated for having provided, or attempted to provide, financial, material, technological, or other support for, or goods or services in support of, SAIG and the IRGC. Rastafann has provided radar systems to SAIG and communications equipment to the IRGC.

    Fanamoj, the parent company of Rastafann, was designated for having provided, or attempted to provide, financial, material, technological, or other support for, or goods or services in support of, the IRGC. Fanamoj has designed components for the Iranian military’s missile systems.

    So, something neither the author of the New Yorker articles, nor our host bothered to mention, is that the E.O. applicable to the designation of the companies requires that they be involved in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction on behalf of the IRC.

    The failure of Trump to name Azarpassillos would only be worthy of the condemnation — and the “yellow journalism” attribution of motive to Trump’s business activities — if Azarpassillos otherwise “qualified” for inclusion for its activities in the same fashion as the other 3 companies that were named.

    There is NOTHING in either article that remotely suggests that the business of Azarpassillos has anything to do with proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

    TDS simply overwhelms even the very basic notion of question whether a left-wing publication of an anti-Trump article might just happen to be a factually baseless hit piece.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  90. Well its very complicated member how the left went aha over certain koch subsidiaries innfrancecthat dealt with the Iranian regime, but then went squirrel whennit turned out sores was involved. Similarly azrpillos was nit directly involved but khatam ambar is involved in various projects including Venezuela, and a darwishi relative is involved with a program in their nuclear program

    narciso (d1f714)

  91. So, to summarize, the allegation of the OP that Trump failed to include Azarpassillos because his business had previously done business with a third party who had done business with Azarpassillos, and Trump was acting out of self-interest in not including Azarpassillos, is pure unadulterated bullsheet.

    And the host should be ashamed for stooping to yellow journalism.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  92. 95. Don’t know when to quit, huh SWC?

    Tillman (a95660)

  93. Tillman,

    I assume he is repeatedly apologizing for the stuff I called out in comment 89?

    One apology is enough.

    You read SWC so I don’t have to.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  94. Its very chinatown more thannlikely the mamtivs have to kept happy because the aluevs, the second queen an country novels describes whatvthe latter is like

    narciso (d1f714)

  95. Cut and Paste This if you Want:

    “The Curious Reason Trump Did Not Sanction This Company Run by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard is because they don’t fit under the classification established by EO 13382 which authorizes sanctions against proliferators of weapons of mass destruction, and there is no evidence that Azarpassilos had any such involvement. Suggestions that it was because of his prior business dealings with corrupt government officials in Azerbaijan in my post was a mistake created by my failure to do anything other than read the New Yorker hit piece.”

    The Host.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  96. No, sorry Patterico, I guess you’d better read it. He’s not being so apologetic at the moment.

    Tillman (a95660)

  97. Or not — let him keep beclowning himself to his readers by letting my pointing out of his errors go unaddressed.

    Ignorance is bliss.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  98. @Tillman: I guess you’d better read it. He’s not being so apologetic at the moment.

    Are you tattling? Oh, that is precious.

    Frederick (cd593c)

  99. It’s mudslinging at best. There was a time when it would’ve been recognized as such.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  100. Apple polisher…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  101. No, sorry Patterico, I guess you’d better read it. He’s not being so apologetic at the moment.

    It’s OK, I was joking anyway. I don’t expect any of the comments address the false assertion I noted at comment 89 and I never actually thought they would.

    Patterico (61ec6b)

  102. There is a lot of preciousness going on here. It. Is. Highlarious.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  103. Frederick, if a anyone’s going to criticize Patterico on his blog, they shouldn’t be hiding. I assume that SWC doesn’t want to hide in the first place. Also, AS IF Patterico wouldn’t have found out anyway. Please.

    Tillman (a95660)

  104. 89 — false assertion??? LOL.

    The basis in the article for claiming Azarpassillos is an IRG company is two Iran experts who “assume” its a IRG company because it fits the pattern.

    Let him run that one past his boss regarding gang membership and see how he fares on his way out the door.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  105. Patrick has turned me off because I’m not happyfeet, and he knows when I’ve got him I’ve go him, and he never likes to have to acknowledge error.

    So a week ago he “took his ball and went home.”

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  106. He reads it, he just doesn’t know what to do with it right now.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  107. Here’s the promise of catharsis for all TDS sufferers… in approximately 2 weeks, you can join in with the rest of ’em…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zv_eOMyhtms

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  108. 111. Col. Drunku, That’s what this “sewer Republicanism” does to people.
    https://www.rawstory.com/2017/10/gop-strategist-denounces-trumps-sewer-republicanism-and-the-sewer-conservatives-who-support-him/

    Tillman (a95660)

  109. @Tillman:Also, AS IF Patterico wouldn’t have found out anyway. Please.

    Of course not. He can find out any time he chooses by refreshing the page. So you did what you did out of pure small-heartedness. Trying to excuse it only makes it worse.

    Frederick (cd593c)

  110. I’ve got to admit, I didn’t even read to the bottom of the OP this morning when I first noticed this.

    I didn’t realize Patrick said the following in his own words:

    By leaving Azarpassillo off the list of sanctioned companies, Trump is putting his personal interests ahead of the interests of the country. Similarly, those who defend him on this are sacrificing the interests of the United States in favor of their narrow partisan interest in defending Donald Trump, come hell or high water.

    Every bit of that is an untruth. If I thought he knew it was an untruth when he wrote it, I would call it a bald face lie.

    But the fact that he wrote it when he really didn’t understand the facts just shows slovenly laziness borne out of TDS when it comes to anything that sounds too good to let pass without making it a post.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  111. Witness Frederick: a mini-Trump – petty and small-minded.

    Weeeel, did I hurt his wittle feelings? Poor boy. Run along now.

    Tillman (a95660)

  112. 108.89 — false assertion??? LOL.

    The basis in the article for claiming Azarpassillos is an IRG company is two Iran experts who “assume” its a IRG company because it fits the pattern.

    Let him run that one past his boss regarding gang membership and see how he fares on his way out the door.
    shipwreckedcrew (56b591) — 10/24/2017 @ 10:15 pm

    You keep coming back to Patterico’s work. Are you doing that to get his attention or are you trying to insult him?

    DRJ (0280d9)

  113. Trump fired Comey on May 9. I wonder if this story (“whether the Trump Organization’s partnership with an Azerbaijani businessman to build Trump Tower Baku, a hotel project that ultimately went undeveloped, served as a conduit for money-laundering and other illicit activities undertaken by the IRGC”), and the fact that Democratic Senators had asked Comey on March 30 to investigate it, had anything to do with Comey’s firing?

    DRJ (0280d9)

  114. DRJ,

    Good Lord.

    SInce you have a level head, can you explain to me what this fuss is about? The article says Azarpassillo is”an Iranian firm with a leadership made up of lifelong Revolutionary Guard officers.”

    The Treasury Department’s order states:

    Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) pursuant to the global terrorism Executive Order (E.O.) 13224 and consistent with the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act. OFAC designated the IRGC today for its activities in support of the IRGC-Qods Force (IRGC-QF), which was designated pursuant to E.O. 13224 on October 25, 2007, for providing support to a number of terrorist groups, including Hizballah and Hamas, as well as to the Taliban. The IRGC has provided material support to the IRGC-QF, including by providing training, personnel, and military equipment.

    Additionally, today OFAC designated four entities under E.O. 13382, which targets weapons of mass destruction proliferators and their supporters, for their support to the IRGC or Iran’s military.

    Trump explained: “I am authorizing the Treasury Department to further sanction the entire Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for its support for terrorism, and to apply sanctions to its officials, agents and affiliates.”

    Maybe Adam Davidson, a reporter I have listened to for years on Planet Money, which I think is a great podcast, was wrong to say Azarpassillo is “an Iranian firm with a leadership made up of lifelong Revolutionary Guard officers.” But he did. Is my writing a post about that supposed to show that I am unfit for my job or something?

    Maybe you can enlighten me. When kishnevi made reference to an SWC comment alleging I had something wrong, I looked at the post and saw that I had something to correct, and I did. But if a company has a leadership made up of IRGC officers, and Trump intends to sanction IRGC and its affiliates, what am I missing to suggest that this order should have covered such a company??

    Patterico (115b1f)

  115. 117. That’s interesting and looks worth pursuing, DRJ.

    Tillman (a95660)

  116. He has written several lengthy comments (including 40, 49, 114), but I think his primary points are that:

    (1). “It still hasn’t been established that Azarpassillo is a Revolutionary Guard front.

    (2). It isn’t established by the article that any member of the Mammadov family did business with a member of the Revolutionary Guard. The gov’t of Azerbaijan gave road construction contracts to Azarpassillo. I would have to read the article again, but I don’t recall anywhere in the article taht the Mammadov family did business with Azarpassillo.

    (3). And the Trump organization did business with the Mammadov family, not the Azerbaijan gov’t.”

    DRJ (0280d9)

  117. There’s much more, and it gets increasingly agitated.

    DRJ (0280d9)

  118. what am I missing to suggest that this order should have covered such a company??

    well for one there needs to be a showing that the company’s contributed to Iran’s WMD programs

    this has not been shown

    To the extent that failmerican sanctions have any real effect, the effect is deterrent in nature: companies will fear being sanctioned and will not become bad actors.

    But if we sanction companies willy nilly, with no evidence, that deterrent effect vanishes.

    What’s interesting is how this discussion illustrates the very real danger that sleazy deep state actors can suborn a sanctions regime and use them to target domestic political opponents (President Trump), and that they’ll do so openly.

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  119. poopsies do not be discouraged i will help you

    ok here are examples of how you communicate why a company has been sanctioned under EO13382…

    We’ll start with an Iranian industrial company.

    Shahid Alamolhoda Industries (SAI)… is involved in the development of missile components

    Can you spot the reason “SAI” is suspected of contributing to Iran’s WMD program? If that part about being “involved in the development of missile components” caught your eye you nailed it in one!

    Let’s try another example:

    Rastafann Ertebat Engineering Company… has provided radar systems to SAIG and communications equipment to the IRGC.

    Hrm. This one’s tougher. How can radar systems and communications equipment be used to further w WMD program?

    Ooh – maybe by helping make it to where Bob Corker’s jew-killing missiles hit their target? Yup! Check this out:

    Furthermore, some missiles use initial targeting, sending them to a target area, where they will switch to primary targeting, using either radar or IR targeting to acquire the target.

    hah! Radar’s a key component on the nuclear missiles! Ok so we understand the rationale for sanctioning Rastafann.

    Let’s try one last example.

    Fanamoj… has designed components for the Iranian military’s missile systems.

    OK that one seems fairly straightforward, though perhaps “components” is a little on the vague side for my taste.

    So there we go – that’s how you communicate the reasons for sanctioning a company under EO13382.

    Your turn now, poopsies – how would you communicate the reasons for sanctioning a roadbuilding/guardrail installation company like Azarpassillo under EO13382?

    Please to show your work!

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  120. oops

    be used to further *a* WMD program?

    is what that should say

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  121. 116 — LOL. Its just a tweek — he knows it wouldn’t fly, and he knows why. If you want to argue a conclusion as a fact, then your conclusion better have some basis. The “conclusion” of the author is based on two experts who provide him nothing more than their assumptions based on limited known facts. That doesn’t cut it — and he knows it.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  122. 117 —

    Trump fired Comey on May 9. I wonder if this story (“whether the Trump Organization’s partnership with an Azerbaijani businessman to build Trump Tower Baku, a hotel project that ultimately went undeveloped, served as a conduit for money-laundering and other illicit activities undertaken by the IRGC”), and the fact that Democratic Senators had asked Comey on March 30 to investigate it, had anything to do with Comey’s firing?

    You know what I find most interesting in the article you linked?? The picture of the Baku Tower in 2011. The structure is finished.

    You know what else is interesting? The Trump organization signed its first contracts with Baku XXI Century on the project in 2012, and didn’t even announce its involvement until 2014.

    The Baku Tower was already built before Trump got involved. It was originally conceived, and construction on the structure was done with the intention that it would be a high end apartment building, according to the New Yorker article.

    After Trump signed the contracts in 2012, the building was repurposed, and the interior design was changed. The first 13 floors were to be a luxury hotel, and the 19 floors above that were to be residential units. One of the contracts was for the Trump organization to operate the hotel on a % of revenue basis.

    The article says “By 2014, when the Trump Organization publicly announced that it was helping to turn the tower into a hotel …”

    “By the time the Trump team officially joined the project, in May, 2012, many condominium residences had already been completed; at the insistence of Trump Organization staffers, most of the building’s interior was gutted and rebuilt, and several elevators were added.

    So Trump’s organization was NEVER in a partnership with the Mammadov family to “build” the Baku Tower.

    The hotel project did not go “undeveloped”. The project was complete, but for reasons the article doesn’t explain, the hotel never opened. In late 2016, Trump’s organization canceled the contract to manage the hotel — not much of a decision since the hotel wasn’t operating. Its up to the owners, not the management company, to say when the hotel goes into operation.

    If you follow through to the end of the New Yorker story, you see that the Mammadov family fell out of power in Azerbaijan sometime in 2015 or 2016, lost pretty much all their influence and most of their money. Their personal finances probably had a lot to do with the fact that their Baku XXI Century project collapsed and the hotel never opened.

    And the “money laundering” allegation in the story you link is just a reference to the New Yorker article’s reference to “money laundering” which was made out of “whole cloth.”

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  123. It still hasn’t been established that Azarpassillo is a Revolutionary Guard front.

    (2). It isn’t established by the article that any member of the Mammadov family did business with a member of the Revolutionary Guard. The gov’t of Azerbaijan gave road construction contracts to Azarpassillo. I would have to read the article again, but I don’t recall anywhere in the article taht the Mammadov family did business with Azarpassillo.

    (3). And the Trump organization did business with the Mammadov family, not the Azerbaijan gov’t.

    Huh. Well, I’ll admit I didn’t spend hours researching this. I heard something about it on a podcast a day or two ago and had it in mind to write about it soon. This morning, I found the article, read it, and saw that Davidson said Azarpassillo is ”an Iranian firm with a leadership made up of lifelong Revolutionary Guard officers.” Elsewhere he says it is “run by Revolutionary Guard veterans.” Davidson said “Ivanka Trump directly oversaw the relationship with the Mammadov family” and that family has done business with the company Trump won’t sanction.

    Seems like that stuff, if true, answers the issues you have summarized. No?

    Am I misreading something?? I tried to be careful to use quotes from the article just now.

    There’s much more, and it gets increasingly agitated.

    Why this is grounds for agitation I have no idea. The increasing references to my job sound . . . . let’s just say I would like that to stop.

    Anyway, that is it for me tonight. I started typing this comment a while ago and some personal things have come up and now I have to go to bed.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  124. the dogs what aren’t barking on this tell you everything you need to know i think

    there’s no story here

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  125. Ah Dr. Evil, guess what firms he reps for, mercury, which is also on the grushenko grifter, but thanks for linking fro the den of scum and villainy, whose inspiration, has made pattericos life hell.

    narciso (d1f714)

  126. The problem with your post is that YOU said Trump didn’t sanction Azarpassillo because his company did business with Azarpasillo.

    Wrong.

    You backtrack and say Trump did business with someone who was a business partner of Azarpassillo involving laundering money for IRG.

    Wrong — the article invents the money laundering part. The basis for that claim is at the end of the article — “Gee, the Mammadovs sure have a lot of money. Would make sense that they were getting it from IRG through Azarpassillo. You know money launderers love construction projects, right?”

    THAT’ IT. Nothing else in the article supports the claim.

    And NOTHING anywhere suggests Trump’s business history had anything to do with the sanctioning decision.

    I pointed out that if you had read the official document announcing the sanctions, you would have seen it was based on an EO sanctioning companies that supported proliferators of WMDs. The 3 Iranian companies sanctioned all built missile components in support of the Iranian Ballistic Missile and Nuclear Weapons program. That was the basis for sanctioning them.

    Azarpassillo’s role in supporting WMD proflieration?? None mentioned in the article.

    So the premise of the article, and your post linking the article — that Trump’s decision to not include Azarpassillo was because of his business dealings — is absolutely False and smacks of yellow journalism.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  127. Is it possible you have confused this building with other Baku buildings, swc? Everything I’ve read indicates the Trump building remains unfinished more than 6 years after it was started. There seem to be several similar buildings, including the Baku Flame Towers.

    DRJ (15874d)

  128. If a company’s board is composed of lifelong members of the Elks, or the Mormons–well, it could be, but you generally have to do more than that to establish that the company is a “front” for “the Elks” or “the Mormons”.

    Frederick (49c849)

  129. 132 – I’m taking references right out of your article and the New Yorker article. The New Yorker article has a picture of the building as it sits today. Its the same building that there is a picture of in your link, dated 2011.

    The hotel remains unopened — not undeveloped. After Trump announced his involvement, the agreement required that the interior of the hotel portion be ripped out and replaced, and the New Yorker article goes into great detail about how involved Ivanka Trump was in the renovations. I’m sure it’s original design — when it was just going to be a luxury apartment building — didn’t live up to the standards of other Trump branded projects of a similar nature. I’ve been in the Trump building in Honolulu — not owned by Trump — and its the same kind of building. A combination of hotel and condos. Its extraordinarily opulent inside. That’s their calling card — they are aiming for 5 stars from all the rating companies.

    As the I mentioned earlier, the Mammadov’s fell out of power in 2015 or 2016, so its likely they just ran out of money to finish the renovations that began after Trump came into the project. That’s probably why it sits unused today, not because it was some vehicle for money launderers way back when.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  130. 127 — the reference to Azarpassillo not having been established as a IRG front is with respect to it not having been officially designated by the US Gov’t in the same manner the sanctioned companies had been officially designated.

    The New Yorker article only says two Iran experts “assume” and suspect its an IRG front company because of the family members who appear to control the operations.

    But simply calling it a front company doesn’t make it subject to sanctions under the EO. As the New Yorker article points out, there are literally hundreds if not thousands of Iranian companies in Iran and elsewhere which are suspected of being IRG front companies. But until they do something that aids in the proliferation of WMDs, they don’t fall under the EO that was used by Trump against the other 3 companies.

    The author of the piece simply adds “2 + 2” and comes up with 22.

    1. “Azarpissollo is an IRG front.
    2. Azarpassillo has done business with a business partner of Trump.
    3. Trump failed to sanction Azarpassillo in order to protect his brand.”

    No. 3 has absolutely no basis in fact, there’s nothing in the article that supports that conclusion, and simply looking at the official basis for sanctioning the other 3 companies gives you all the reasons you need to know why this other company — one among hundreds or thousands of similar suspected IRG front companies — was not included.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  131. The picture in the March New Yorker article linked in the OP is of the Trump Tower Baku according to the caption.

    The picture in the Times of Isreal link you provided is captioned “Trump Tower in Baku, 2011”.

    So I’m not confused.

    The New Yorker article says many of the residences were complete before Trump became involved. That doesn’t sound like a building that hadn’t been built yet.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)


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