In the fraternal circle

Russian singer Grigory Leps fell into the "black lists" of the US Department of Finance. Leps is suspected of relations with the criminal group "Bratsk Circle". The Kremlin promises to protect the musician beloved by the people, who was the confidant of Vladimir Putin.

Two more Russians were included in the black list - Vadim Lyalin and Igor Shlykov, as well as an Israeli citizen Yakov Rybalsky, a citizen of Uzbekistan Sergey Moskalenko and Arthur Badalyan, whose citizenship is not indicated. The sanctions are also imposed against four companies: the Russian MS Group Invest Ooo and Gurgen House Fzco, the Austrian Meridian Jet Management GmbH and Fasten Tourism LLC from the UAE.

Gregory Leps is suspected of relations with the US deported from the United States Vladislav Leontyev named "Bely". “What these people were guided by, placing me on the list involved in the criminal group, I would also be very interesting to know. I am a law -abiding citizen. If the leadership of the US Department of Finance believes that I am a criminal, then let Frank Sinatra dig out and put him for friendship with Al Capon. This is as absurdly as accusations against me,” Grigory answered the news from Washington. Leps. Its representative said that the singer has no accounts or real estate in the United States.

Leps is an interesting figure because it is in a strange way connected with Putin

One of the first to respond to the news of the problems of Leps, his comrade in misfortune Joseph Kobzon. He has been refused an American visa for 19 years, suspecting that he is associated with the mafia. Kobzon told reporters that he called Leps and advised him to give a damn. Reacted in the Kremlin. Press Secretary of Vladimir Putin Dmitry Peskov promised that Leps’s interests would be protected, as well as the interests of all Russian citizens. Peskov noted that Grigory Leps is a confidant of Vladimir Putin and a “loved one throughout the country” by the performer.

Telekritic Glory Taroshchina draws attention to the fact that the news of Leps's problems has become news No. 1 for federal channels:

- I was struck that all news programs began with messages about Leps. The opinions of Peskov, Kobzon, there were many hidden threats: how can we encroach on our everything. At the same time, propagandists live in firm belief that all their spectators are people with deep amnesia, do not remember anything at all. Indeed, last year, the NTV channel showed a very interesting cycle "Secret show business", Grigory Leps became one of its heroes, and all these people with clicks, who are now appearing in the press with the filing of American researchers, spoke in sufficient detail. On Channel One was the film " Labyrinths of Grigory Leps ." There were other programs in which Leps did not at all be removing from the criminal aura of his career. It is amazing that none of the high persons said at least: “Yes, we ourselves will try to figure it out,” but immediately began to protect him. Leps is generally an interesting figure, because he is strangely connected with Mr. Putin. When Putin on the yellow “Lada Kalina” swept along the Chita-Khabarovsk highway, it was said, and this was somehow pedaling with news channels that he had a leps disk in a glove compartment of the yellow “Lada Kalina”. Apparently, then the Leps star finally rose, he became completely untouchable. The taste of our public leader looks strange. Before that, there was a period with Roma Zhigan, to whom he handed a special prize at Muz-TV. A strange taste, and the bacchanalia that has unfolded around Leps is another clarification of the diagnosis of the disease into which the country flows slowly but true.


How could Grigory Leps be in the list of people subjected to sanctions in the United States for communication with the criminal organization, and why does the indignation of its defenders in Russia look like unfounded from the point of view of American experts?

Bacchanalia, which unfolded around Leps, is another clarification of the diagnosis of the disease into which the country flows slowly but surely

Judging by official documents, Leps, coupled with five citizens of several countries, became the object of relatively routine sanctions, which are a kind of purely financial means of combating dangerous criminal groups. The action against Leps was undertaken on the basis of the presidential directive of two years ago. On July 25, 2011, President Obama signed a decree on the seizure of several transnational criminal organizations, which, according to the president, “extreme” threat to national security, foreign policy and the United States economy. These groups were classified as a “fraternal circle”, previously known as “twenty”, and “family of eleven”, Italian Camorra, Japanese Yakuza and Mexican Setas. On Wednesday, the US Department of Finance announced a list of six people and four companies that have connections with key figures of the Bratsk Circle. Grigory Leps, meaning as Grigory Lepsveridze, according to this document, “moves money” for Vladislav Leontyev, who, according to the US Department of Finance,, among other things, is transporting drugs.

What evidence became the basis for the inclusion of a famous Russian singer among Leontyev’s companions is unknown. But as the American political scientist and commentator Edward Lutvak from the Center for Strategic and International Research in Washington, Leps could get into this list, for example, as a result of several financial transactions.

- First of all, we must realize that this is not a politicized process. The names in such lists are included as a result of the investigation conducted by the employees of the Ministry of Finance, the so -called judicial accountants who monitor financial transactions. Apparently, Leps's name was connected with cash transactions or operations-it could be a transfer of money or making money to a certain account-related to a criminal organization. In this context, this is a criminal action.

- Such an investigation is not the equivalent of a criminal investigation with all the ensuing consequences?

- Not necessarily. After all, this option is not excluded, for example, the head of a company engaged in criminal activity, entrusts his unusual employee to make a money transfer or enter the money to the bank. This employee may be on the list, being innocent, only because his name was related to a criminal financial operation. This, by and large, is a mechanical process. At one time, a great noise was caused by the introduction of a rich Saudis, very close to the royal family, raised complaints into the White House. But the presidential administration has no relation to this process, this is not their concern.

- The Russian Foreign Ministry accused the US Department of Finance of the fact that it was trained in the principle of the presumption of innocence, enrolling the famous Russian in the ranks of the criminal organization. How do you feel about such an argument?

- Your presumption of innocence comes to an end when you perform a criminal financial operation. When you committed it, you moved to the category of suspects in the commission of a criminal action, but not convicted. You are not sent to court or jail, and you are given the opportunity to justify yourself. People subject to financial sanctions have the opportunity to present documents proving their innocence. I believe that such an opportunity will be provided to Leps, and if he wants, he can prove that he accidentally ended up on this list or, say, was substituted, - explains Edward Lutvak.

People subject to financial sanctions have the opportunity to present documents proving their innocence

Entry into the list entails only, so to speak, material sanctions for punishable. Their property is blocked, they do not have the right to conduct financial or commercial operations in the United States.
One of the predecessors of Grigory Leps on a similar list, an American citizen who lived in the United States at that time received, for example, a notification, which in a polite form explains that he cannot dispose of his property, cannot receive monetary funds in any form. Exceptions can be made at a special request to the Ministry of Finance. The letter concludes a reminder that the punishable has the right to request a review of this decision. Written requests must be sent to the director of the department of control over foreign assets of the US Department of Finance.