Dmitry Firtash was once Donald Trump's campaign manager Paul Manafort's business partner. He made billions of dollars in natural gas, possibly with the assistance of President Vladimir Putin. He could also be the missing link which connects the Trump campaign and administration's alleged ties to the Kremlin. And thanks to an Austrian appeals court ruling on Tuesday, Firtash could be extradited to the U.S.
According to the Financial Times, the 51-year-old Russian had been detained by Austrian officials on an arrest warrant stemming from money laundering charges in Spain.
Ironically, Spain officials were waiting for him immediately his court appearance yesterday so it is not yet known when he will be traveling to the United States. Firtash has been cooling under house arrest in Vienna since March 2014, waiting for the court to announce his fate.
Will the U.S. be able to connect the dots between Firtash, Putin, Trump, and a potential Russiangate?
Dmitry Firtash and Paul Manafort had ties to ousted Ukranian President Victor Yanukovych. In fact, while serving as a political consultant, Manafort was credited with helping Yanukovych get elected. In a lawsuit filed in 2011 in a U.S. court, former Ukraine Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko alleged the hotel and shopping mall Firtash and Manafort were planning to build in midtown Manhattan was nothing but a front to launder money.
In November 2016, Barcelona officials issue an arrest warrant for Firtash who had been accused of being part of a criminal organization that laundered $10.5 million in Spain. In 2015, a lower court in Vienna rejected a request from the United States to have Firtash extradited to America. However, all that changed Tuesday when a judge decided that the U.S.
did indeed provide sufficient evidence showing Firtash may have committed the crimes alleged against him.
The wide, wide world of espionage and intrigue
There is an ongoing investigation centering around Paul Manafort and the President of the United States, who curiously surrounded himself with men who have ties to Russia. For Donald Trump, a simple reveal of his income taxes could certainly clarify things for him. Otherwise, continued secrecy only adds to suspicion.
