Interesting... - Tony Cataldo and the Russian Mob
Tony Cataldo is the Chairman of CYPT. Cataldo had a link with a Russian company in the past. Cataldo was brought in by Ian Rice (a promoter who got into a nasty fight with Rene Hamouth) to get involved with Asia Media Communications before it became MyWeb.
Cataldo and Fanchini did the Asia Media pump and dump, Fanchini gets arrested in Belgium for wrongdoings in this company; the Russian mob is cited. Next company is CYPT. Again, Cataldo and a Russian financier are involved.
Asia Media Communications had planned to merge with a Russian vodka company. Involved with Cataldo was Riccardo Fanchini and Robert Gaspar; see 8K for ASMC dated 4/2/96
"Item 2. Acquisition or Disposition of Assets. -------------------------------------
On March 18, 1996 (the "Effective Date"), the Registrant, completed a merger (the "Merger") with Kremlyovskaya Group, Inc., a privately held Delaware corporation ("KGI"). Pursuant to the terms and provisions of an Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated the Effective Date (the "Merger Agreement"), by and among the Registrant, AMC Merger Co., Inc., a Nevada corporation and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Registrant ("MergerCo"), KGI and Riccardo Fanchini and Robert Gaspar, two principal shareholders of KGI, on the Effective Date, MergerCo was merged with and into KGI, with KGI being the surviving entity.
In connection therewith, the shares of MergerCo's common stock outstanding immediately prior to the Merger were converted into shares of KGI's common stock and each of the 15,500 shares of KGI common stock outstanding immediately prior to the Merger was converted into the right to receive 5,750 shares (89,125,000 in the aggregate) of the Registrant's common stock. KGI, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Kremlyovskaya Group NV, a Belgium corporation, is engaged in the distribution of Kremlyovskaya vodka, a proprietary brand of premium vodka manufactured by others pursuant to KGNV's formula and specifications. The primary market for such vodka during 1995 was Russia, where the Kremlyovskaya brand was the number one imported vodka in quantity. KGNV also distributes, primarily in Russia, luxury consumer goods such as chocolates, fine cigars and liquors, and general merchandise such as cigarettes, beer and wine.
In connection with the Merger, Melissa Rice and Charles Buhlmann resigned as directors of the Registrant and Robert Bruloot, Kurt Schlapfer, Valentin Kassatkine and Anthony Cataldo were appointed to the Registrant's board of directors and Mr. Cataldo was appointed as the Registrant's Chief Executive Officer.
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It turned out that the Russian vodka company was a scam controlled by the Russian mob.
"The Express
December 7, 1999
LENGTH: 887 words
HEADLINE: RUSSIAN MAFIA IN DOUBLE VODKA SHARE SCAM
BYLINE: By Michael Gillard
BODY:
The threat to the City of London from the godfathers of Russian organised crime is not restricted to money laundering through its banks as indicated by the recent Bank of New York investigation. The Express can today reveal how the Russian mafia was involved in an attempt to make millions from two companies listed on the London and New York stock markets.
A Russian crime group wanted to exploit the companies to sell one of Russia's most popular brands of vodka which promoted international sales by sponsoring a Formula One motor racing team, international tennis tournaments and other sporting events that were unaware of their real benefactors.
However, investigations by American stock market regulators and the Belgian police exposed the involvement of the Russian mob, leading to the collapse of both deals.
At the heart of the scheme was an Antwerp-based company which then owned the rights to Kremlyovskaya vodka. Antwerp is a major centre for Russian organised crime groups attracted by its diamond business. Kremlyovskaya Group was controlled by a syndicate of mainly Russian businessmen headed by Riccardo Fanchini.
Fanchini's Russian contacts had close connections to the circle around Russian president Boris Yeltsin. This facilitated a legitimate deal to export the "Kremlin's vodka" to Russia under a partnership with Moscow's National Sports Foundation which received a royalty from every bottle sold.
The foundation was supposed to use the royalties from importing tax-free alcohol to fund Russian sport. Instead it became a magnet for the mobsters. Its director survived an assassination attempt in 1996 only to die mysteriously this year.
Fanchini, 43, came to Belgium from the "Little Odessa" neighbourhood of Brooklyn, the centre for the Russian mafia in New York.
Kremlyovskaya Group was formed in 1992, two years after the vodka was launched. In March 1996 Fanchini and friends negotiated for the company to be injected into a NASDAQ-listed "shell" company, Asia Media Communications. They were to receive 89million AMC shares.
Internal documents seen by The Express show it was intended to raise up to $ 100million by loans and further share sales to finance a Russian vodka distillery and the export of cigars, chocolates and other luxury goods to Russia. Most of the AMC shares were to go to a maze of offshore companies in various tax havens. Some of these companies were managed by a London-based company administrator who declined to be interviewed by the Belgian police about his work.
Investigators believed their secret aim was a "pump and dump" scam whereby the AMC share price would have been grossly inflated, enabling the offshore companies to unload equity and cash while at the same time the vodka business provided an opportunity to launder money.
Sergei "Mikhas" Mikhailov, the leader of Moscow's Solntsevo organisation, the largest Russian crime group, who has substantial interests in Belgium, and fellow Russian godfather Semion Mogilevich, who featured in last night's BBC-TV Panorama programme, carried out a similar operation with YBM Magnex.
This Canadian-listed "shell" company acquired magnet businesses in Eastern Europe. YBM was worth GBP 400million on the Toronto stock market before the bubble burst.
In July 1996 it was announced that Greenhills, a "shell" company listed on the AIM market in London, was to acquire the rights to sell Kremlyovskaya in Britain, Ireland and Cyprus. Greenhills was to take over Russian Dawn, a private British company that had acquired these rights, for up to GBP 1.35million to be paid in Greenhills shares.
The major vendor of Russian Dawn was London-based Australian businessman Ian Rice, the controlling shareholder and chairman of AMC before the proposed Kremlyovskaya Group deal.
Attempts to contact Rice, who is not suspected of any wrongdoing, were unsuccessful.
But in mid-August 1996 the AMC deal collapsed due to what Rice called a "mutual mistake". AMC disclosed there had been "breaches of certain of the representations and warranties" made by Fanchini and the other vendors of Kremlyovskaya Group. As a result suitably audited statements could not be produced to satisfy the US Securities & Exchange Commission watchdog.
A day after the purchase of Kremlyovskaya Group was rescinded, the Greenhills deal also collapsed. Rice and the other vendors of Russian Dawn said they no longer wanted to proceed. Greenhills went into liquidation later in 1996. Russian Dawn collapsed in 1997 with debts of GBP 250,000. Kremlyovskaya Group became bankrupt in December 1996. The vodka is now sold by an unrelated company and owners.
Fanchini was convicted earlier this year in Antwerp of bankruptcy fraud in relation to the company's collapse. He was given a two-year prison sentence, most of it suspended. Two associates were also convicted. Others, including director Yacov Tilipman, remain wanted in Belgium. Next month Fanchini will appeal against his conviction while prosecutors will appeal against his acquittal on money-laundering charges on the basis of new information about the Kremlyovskaya Group deal."
Here is an online story on the Belgium case: ogd.org
"Other cases are linked to the growth of Eurasian organized crime in the Antwerp port area. The Russian gangs had bided their time until 1987, but after they moved in they made their presence felt with a series of killings, including the slaying of mafia oil trader Vladimir Misyurin in Ukkel on December 18, 1994. It was from Antwerp that Boris Nayfeld organized a ring smuggling heroin from Bangkok to New York via Warsaw between 1990 and 1994. Antwerp was also the European source of a metric ton of cocaine seized at Vyborg, Russia, on February 21, 1993. After ten years of expansion, organized crime now seems to be suffering some reverses; the Russian mafia officially lost the liquor import/export company Kremlyovskaya Group in November 1996, which had been used as its main cover in the port area. The company's chairman, mafioso Riccardo Marian Fanchini, is under investigation for allegedly laundering Moscow mafia money through Geneva to Antwerp for investment in residential real estate.
The fall of Fanchini, tagged by the FBI as probably one of the biggest mafia drug bosses active in Western Europe, until 1996, began with the repeal of Russian president Boris Yeltsin's decree allowing the import of liquor duty free, with the tax going to sports associations. It was repealed in December 1995 and the Belgian company's financial crash came in April 1996. Media reports about the Kremlyovskaya Group's mafia ownership soon had its legitimate partners running for cover from the company and its representatives. The 1996 Monaco grand prix was one of the last big sporting events with which the group was associated; after that, its formula one partners dissolved their partnership with the Antwerp company. Peugeot was the first to bale out, and Eddie Jordan, another partner in the same sponsorship project, followed suit somewhat later.
Although Fanchini's gang seems to have a dim future — in Belgium at least — his successor seems unfortunately to be moving in; in September 1996, Sergei Mikhailov, the new boss of Moscow's currently most powerful mafia gang, and his right-hand man Viktor Averin, were in Brussels to negotiate a partnership with French-speaking Belgian industrialists. Mikhailov was also trying to arrange new identity documents. He and Averin, who are now unwelcome in Israel and under investigation in Moscow, are actively looking for a safe haven in Western Europe."
Nexis found a story that says this:
"Fanchini himself was arrested by the Belgian police, and is currently in prison." SOURCE: Novaya Gazeta, No. 40, October 6-12, 1997, p. 5
Novaya Gazeta is a Russian newspaper that summarizes what western newspapers say. |
