The link between art and money laundering ( pizzagate )

submitted by anon401

More pieces of the puzzle? I brief look into possible links between Honey Traps-Trafficking-Art Dealers-Money Laundering-IMF-DSK.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/european-business/economists-urge-tighter-regulations-to-curb-money-laundering-in-art-market/article26217852/ The International Monetary Fund estimated that “the amount available for laundering through the financial system” was worth 2.7 per cent of global gross domestic product in 2009 or $1.6-trillion (U.S.). The relative ease of laundering illicit funds through art dealers and auction houses is thought to have contributed to the spectacular rise in the value of fine art in recent years.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/04/how-illegal-poker-and-russian-mob-might-have-sunk-obama-appointee/315861/ What do President Obama, the Russian mob, Tobey Maguire, hedge funds, Olympic figure skaters, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Bill Clinton, A-Rod, France, and the "London Whale" have in common? They're all connected (more or less) to a complicated web of money, politics, and illegal poker that may have cost one innocent man an ambassadorship. The trouble started last week when about 30 people were busted in New York City and Los Angeles for running a lucrative gambling and money-laundering racket. The scheme involved high-stakes poker games that featured celebrities, poker pros, and high-powered Wall Streeters playing for hands of ten of thousands of dollars, which were then laundered through a high-end Manhattan art gallery

http://www.malaysiandigest.com/world/540253-high-profile-french-trial-shines-light-on-use-of-sex-to-sweeten-business-deals.html High-Profile French Trial Shines Light On Use Of Sex To Sweeten Business Deals The trial of former French presidential hopeful Dominique Strauss-Kahn ("DSK", former head of IMF) and several businessmen on pimping charges has shone a light on the world of high-end prostitution in which sex is often used to sweeten business deals.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/dominique-strauss-kahn-pimping-trial-former-head-of-the-imf-expected-to-take-the-stand-10035324.html (DSK) Former head of the IMF is one of 13 people accused of organising sex parties with prostitutes in six countries

http://nymag.com/news/features/dominique-strauss-kahn-2011-8/ Billionairess Anne Sinclair stood by her man when just about everyone else in the world believed the maid. Is it that she knows Dominique Strauss-Kahn? Or that she doesn’t? (Former DSK wife, Anne) Sinclair, an extraordinarily wealthy art-world heiress and a pillar of European Jewish society, was born in New York, but she didn’t like the U.S. much. Though she bought a $4 million townhouse in Georgetown for Strauss-Kahn after he took over as head of the IMF, ... Sinclair is the granddaughter of Paul Rosenberg, one of the most important French dealers of nineteenth- and ­twentieth-century art. (Sinclair, who has written more than three dozen books, is currently researching one about his life.) His gallery, in the Boétie quarter of Paris, where most of the Jewish art dealers sold their wares before the Nazi occupation,

DOUBLED-EDGED SWORD??? http://www.globalresearch.ca/regime-change-at-the-imf-the-frame-up-of-dominique-strauss-kahn/24866 In many regards the DSK scandal was a watershed in the evolution of EU-US relations, with European governments becoming increasingly subservient to Washington’s demands. Regime Change at the IMF. The Obama administration had demanded DSK’s replacement by a more compliant individual. In retrospect, the framing of Strauss Kahn and the appointment of Lagarde had an impact not only on EU economic restructuring including the crisis in Greece, but also on the State structures of the French Republic. The “Honey Trap” is a powerful instrument. Had DSK not been framed, Francois Hollande — who largely serves US interests– would no doubt not have been elected president of the French Republic and Christine Lagarde would not have acceded to the positon of Managing Director if the IMF.

ReadThatAlready

From the way I understand it art and art forgery is an easy and old money laundering operation and scam. Paintings are cheap to make, maybe $500 or less, so the art is made cheap and quick and is bought cheaply by an "investor" from the artist, then a "critic" talks up the artist (both are usually a member of the communist party) and his work so the art is deemed "important" as "socially conscience" even if it's crap, and then it is sold at a high price to a foreign buyer also of the communist party or just some dupe, the money is kicked back to the artist through group "endowments" (often government endowments or endowments established by communist party leaders a hundred years ago) and through individual "patrons" that support the artist. Because an actual item was purchased large amounts of money can be shifted from one person or country to another and the money is "clean." And so politicians and crime lords can use the art community as a way to move large sums of money around. Real art has value but it isn't worth millions of dollars. It just isn't. Especially not modern art and that's what is usually being sold for lots of money. And from my research it seems that forgeries can be more profitable than modern art. A decent artist makes a copy of an old piece or something like one he's seen so it that would qualify as a newly discovered work by an old artist, and art "experts" are called in to verify it, those experts are paid off to verify the work, and "official" art catalogues of old artists are forged and inserted into old libraries so the books look like contain a record or photo of the work as having existed, and those books and experts are used to grant legitimacy to the piece, the stamps and stickers from auction houses can be forged or somebody there can be bribed to stamp the piece so that it looks like it's passed through legitimate sale through auction houses a long time ago, and somebody is sold a fake piece, or maybe even with their knowledge just so the piece held onto for a while and then sold for big profit to a dupe. Youtube has documentaries about John Myatt case and Eric Hebborn and "hot art" that explains how it's done. Word has it Myatt's partner was using their scam to raise money for OPs, but that was never confirmed.

2impendingdoom

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/19/business/imf-trial-christine-lagarde-france-verdict.html

IMF head Christine LaGarde was just convicted on corruption charges a few weeks ago...

Orange_Circle

There is a big invoice in Wikileaks for Podesta to pay for art.

anon401

For the sale of the following / Per vendita della seguente opera: Elisabetta Benassi Kill for peace 2013 .. 35 x 1300 cm Subtotal / Subtotale VAT 10%* TOTALE DUE/TOTALE IMPONIBILE € 24.000,00

Orange_Circle

I wonder how much that is in dollars? Thanks for hunting it up.

99luftballons

€24k is about $25k US.

KansasJakeBG

I just realized that your article doesn't highlight that this illegal poker empire s run out of The Trump Tower.

KansasJakeBG

Tony and John talk about the process of art donation. Tony forwarded an interesting article to John. https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/14271 What You Need to Know Before Donating Art

putneg

Just wanna say that the DSK scandal about prostitutes is probably real but that maid thing was a hack job to ruin DSK. I was following the subject very closely back then.

That "maid" lied in front of jury, changed her story many times, her fiance was in prison, she got shady deposits in her bank account never explained, her past in guinea was lied about, etc. It was a job to remove DSK from power because they had no control on him and it worked. It forced him to resign even if it wasn't true and now the IMF has their puppet in place.

here's what I mean:

One issue was her constantly changing story about what she did immediately after the alleged attack, ranging from hiding fearfully in a corridor to returning to the room to clean after Strauss-Kahn left.

Most seriously, Diallo admitted that she had entirely made up a story during her asylum application to the United States about being gang-raped in Guinea.

During one session with prosecutors, she repeated the story with so much emotion that "she cried, spoke hesitatingly, and... even laid her head face down on a table in front of her."

Later, she said "she had entirely fabricated the attack".

Anyway, paying prostitutes for sex, i don't see that as a big problem if both parties are doing it willingly.

For the rest. Yeah, paintings have been used to launder money for a long time. Same with small luxury products like diamonds, watches, etc.

anon401

DSK was in line to be the next president of France. He organized "sex parties", and perhaps was thrown under the bus by the powers that be.

The "maid" claims to have been trafficked. They settled civil lawsuits out of court. A French newspaper report pegged his payout to Diallo at $6 million.

I am also curious about DSK's IMF actions, and his billionaire, French HuffPo Editorial Director ex-wife's art dealings and connections.

https://archive.is/qkQDk (Translated French to English)

René Kojfer organized evenings gathering notables and prostitutes. He is helped by his friend Dominique Alderweireld said "Dodo Brine" which provides prostitutes .

Participants in the evenings Dominique Strauss-Kahn , then director general of the IMF , David Roquet, head of a subsidiary of construction group Eiffage , Fabrice Paszkowski , head of the medical equipment company in Medicalis the Pas-de-Calais and Jean-Cristophe Lagarde, Divisional Commissioner of Police in charge of security Lille .

In several thousands of SMS exchanged between industrial Fabrice Paszkowski and Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the latter would be asked about the selection of women to participate in evening, speaking of "girls", "friends", "small" and even " material "to refer to . These meetings were held in Washington DC , or on the sidelines of his official travels of Managing Director of the IMF, to Paris or Brussels . Dominique Strauss-Kahn speaks of "lunches or dinners that sometimes had more intimate subjects," of "couples evenings [...] who wanted to have a collective sexual activity."

LeChevalBlanc

There are some hilarious sides with this story like the Belgian pimp "Dodo la Saumure" after "justice" had cleaned him - well, sort of - tried to open a bar named "DSK" as "DS Klub" ( could phonetically be read as "the club of the Goddess"). He was sued by Dominique Strauss-Kahn and lost!

Art, deviances and dirty politics : think of Berlin, 1920's and Berlin 1930's: logical shift.

CBoutlier's family seems to have been into French art collection (impressionist) too.

postfascion

Yet another instance of a valuless commodity being used to aid power. Art has subjective value, but you get a few well connected fashionistas behind it and its a money launderer's wet dream. The power they have is there because we recognize it as such. The fiat/plastic in your wallet is another great example.

KansasJakeBG

This is AMAZING! Just got back from the cabin and I am going to make art to talk about Pizzagate. I am not an artist but since the people involved in pizzagate make such bad art, I feel empowered. The art part fascinates me (because the morbid side of pizzagate is traumatizing me).

As a side note, I just got RSS notification of this blog: https://advertorialmag.wordpress.com/

What is odd is that the modern art video included was posted today. So I am not sure if this person knows the people involved (she seems to run in the same circles) or is trolling. She seems to be a 'failed artist' or someone who wants to make fun of the Washington scene. But she points at art and interesting things within the world. She hasn't answered my message sent last month.

ETA: I made a deviant art http://kansasjake.deviantart.com/ and I submitted it to ADVERTORIALmag as well. Hopefully people share it on social media.

bolus

there absolutely appears to be a link between the art/auction/museum/real-estate pieces of the alefantis/brock/sotheby's/podesta puzzle, but your post doesn't come close to linking anything new, and none of your links are archived.

If you're serious about this investigation - dig up leads specific to the identified players, and post archival links instead of direct links.

if you're not, posts like this devalue the work already done.

anon401

Sometimes an investigation looks from the outside, on a broader scale ... then track back to individual suspects. I've yet to read where the IMF and DSK are mentioned in these investigations. This isn't just a narrow DC operation.

EDIT: Add these players into George Webb's timeline for better understanding between contractors and trafficking.

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/24/arts/design/auction-houses-taking-no-chances-on-american-royalties-too-act.html Sotheby’s has hired the Podesta Group, run by the Democratic super-lobbyist Tony Podesta, to help defeat a bill.

bolus

Word.

Archive everything though.

Thanks for the Sotheby’s article.

remedy4reality

Excellent Post !! I believe James Alefantis is the salesman and Comet is(was) the showroom for the product ( children ). Patrons browse the inventory, select their merchandise, and then head over to J'amie l'enfants gallery to buy some pile of shit painting at highly inflated prices ( the price of the child, which is actually PRICELESS ). Surf through evil Jimmy Comet's IG page, click on the people who follow and like his posts and you will find quite a network of horribly ill talented hacks and their crappy, crayon like 'art' with a predominate Satanist themes. Most of these people are Satanists, for sure ( the 666 tattoos are a tip off ). This is the steady supply that hangs in his gallery of horrors where the money laundering occurs.

derram

https://archive.is/D0RcA :

How Illegal Poker and the Russian Mob Might Have Sunk an Obama Appointee - The Atlantic

https://archive.is/3EbBW :

Dominique Strauss-Kahn 'had brutal anal sex with prostitute at orgy', pimping trial hears | The Independent

https://archive.is/K7nk :

Why Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s Wife Anne Sinclair Has Stood by Him -- New York Magazine

This has been an automated message.