Scandal: A series examining corruption in leadership and its downstream consequences.
Umar Kremlev, who leads an international boxing organization that has received financing from Russia’s state-owned Gazprom, had established a public relationship with Donald Trump Jr. before the private Bahamas celebration.
A Russian businessman and sports official with documented ties to President Vladimir V. Putin paid hundreds of thousands of dollars toward Donald Trump Jr.’s wedding in the Bahamas, according to an investigation published Monday by ProPublica. The payments had not previously been publicly reported.
ProPublica reported that Umar Kremlev, president of the International Boxing Association, paid to rent one of two private islands used for the three-day celebration in May and covered other major expenses, including a fireworks display.
His team also helped plan the event, the outlet reported, citing records and interviews with three people familiar with the wedding. The payments were made through IB Challenger, an IBA-affiliated entity in Dubai, according to ProPublica.
“Laws are like spiders’ webs; the big flies get through, while the little ones are caught.”
— Honoré de Balzac, The Firm of Nucingen (1838)
Scandal examines political misconduct, institutional failure, elite impunity and the systems that allow powerful people to escape accountability.
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