Donald Trump Jr., son of failed former president Donald Trump, is under criminal investigation in New York for allegedly laundering at least $8 million from two Russian companies with ties to the Kremlin, according to The Guardian.
Reportedly, Don Jr. facilitated the transfer of money from the two Russian entities to Trump Media, which owns the Truth Social platform.
Towards the end of last year, federal prosecutors started examining two loans totaling $8m wired to Trump Media, through the Caribbean, from two obscure entities that both appear to be controlled in part by the relation of an ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin, the sources said.
The expanded nature of the criminal investigation, which has not been previously reported, threatens to delay the completion of the merger between Trump Media and DWAC, which would provide the company and Truth Social with up to $1.3bn in capital, in addition to a stock market listing.
The initial $2 million payment came in December of 2021. At the time, Trump Media was on the verge of imploding financially.
Trump Media needed a bridge loan to keep the company afloat. But it struggled to get financing until DWAC’s chief executive Patrick Orlando sourced a $2m loan wired from Paxum Bank registered in Dominica, according to the wire transfer receipt reviewed by the Guardian.
Paxum is partially owned by Anton Postolnikov, who has connections to Putin ally Aleksandr Smirnov.
Who exactly is Aleksandr Smirnov? Rosmorport, and he worked in the Central Office of the Russian government until 2017.
Prior to that, Smirnov was First Deputy Minister of Justice of Russia until 2014, “and for most of Putin’s first two terms as president, Smirnov served in the executive office of the president.”
Trump Media’s then-chief financial officer Phillip Juhan was ready to return the money in the spring of 2022, but Don Jr. intervened.
There appears to have been some awareness at Trump Media that the first $2m was to come through because Trump’s eldest son Don Jr, who joined the board with Trump ally Kash Patel and former Republican-turned Trump Media chief executive Devin Nunes, had confirmed to the company’s lawyers to proceed with the transaction.
“Just want to keep you in the loop – no guaranty that these will get signed and funded, but we remain hopeful,” John Haley, outside counsel for Trump Media said in a 24 December 2021 email seen by the Guardian, to which Don Jr replied: “Thanks john much appreciated. d.”
Even though the Trumps have repeatedly denied financial ties to Russia or Putin, in 2008 the ex-president’s son, Eric, bragged that the opposite was true.
“In terms of high-end product influx into the US, Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets.”
