Why Trump fired Preet Bharara

A major money-laundering case set to go to trial last week in New York was suddenly settled three days earlier, with both the US government and the defendant, the Russian firm Prevezon Holdings, claiming victory.

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"It was a surprise," said John Dillard, a spokesman for Prevezon's attorneys. "We were getting ready for opening statements and fully expected to try the case. In fact, we were looking forward to it."

"We reluctantly agreed to accept the government's offer when it became clear that the fine proposed was no more than we would have spent fully litigating the case, and that no admission of guilt, forfeiture or continued seizure of any assets was required," Dillard added. "Essentially, the offer was too good to refuse."

The investigation into whether Prevezon, a real-estate company incorporated in Cyprus, laundered millions of dollars into New York City real estate garnered high-profile attention given its ties to a $230 million Russian tax-fraud scheme and Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, whose suspicious death aroused international media attention.

Magnitsky uncovered the scheme in 2008 on behalf of one of his clients at the time, the investment advisory firm Hermitage Capital. He was later thrown in jail and died in custody.

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The US government had been investigating the $230 million scheme that Magnitsky uncovered — and what happened to the proceeds — for nearly four years.

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The trail ultimately led to Manhattan, where Preet Bharara, then the US attorney there, accused Prevezon in September 2013 of receiving "at least $1,965,444 in proceeds from the $230 million fraud scheme" in early 2008 via wire transfers from at least two suspected shell companies through the Southern District of New York.

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he Russian government declined to provide the US government with evidence of Russian money flows that would strengthen the case against Prevezon. Nikolai Gorokhov, a lawyer representing Magnitsky's family, was able to photograph documents contained in a Russian case file targeting two people involved in the $230 million scheme that traced the money to Russia.

Gorokhov mysteriously fell from a window in Moscow just over a month before he was due to testify in the Prevezon case.

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Louise Shelley, an illicit-finance expert who was set to testify in support of the US government, told CNN the day after the case was settled that she was concerned about the possibility that "political pressure" had been applied to the US attorney's office.

  Business Insider

Trump did fire the prosecutor and replaced him with someone more compliant.

A spokesman for the US Attorney's office said the settlement saved taxpayers the expense of a trial, and reiterated that the settlement was for "many multiples more" than the amount of proceeds of the Russian tax fraud alleged to have been laundered through real-estate purchases in New York. He characterized it as a "very good outcome" for the government.

If you think of Trump as the government.

"I would have liked to see the case come to a public trial so that sun could shine on the evidence and details of the alleged wrongdoing," said John Cassara, a former intelligence officer who served in the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and its Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.

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"According to estimates approximately $5 trillion is laundered globally every year. In comparison, what is $5.9 million?" Cassara said. "We probably recover about 1% of the money laundered globally. We have to keep things in perspective. Our efforts to combat international money laundering are failing, and this case did nothing to turn the tide."

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.