House of Paine

bizz ness as usual ukraine style

here's a few locals
that play hard ball...



==========================


"Two Massachusetts men 
and their boyhood friend,
 the billionaire son-in-law 
of Ukraine's former president
 were at the center 
of a complex international scheme 
that defrauded a Ukrainian steel manufacturer
 of hundreds of millions of dollars,
 according to a federal lawsuit
 filed yesterday in US District Court"

The suit by stockholders
of  Ukraine's Nikopol Ferro-Alloy Plant, 
one of the world's largest steel producers,
 charges that Jerry Margulis of Natick,
 Alexander Novack of Boston,
 and Ukrainian tycoon Victor Pinchuk,
 who is married to the daughter 
of former Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma,
 siphoned the plant's profits 
through a web of bribery, kickbacks,
 wire fraud, and money laundering."


"the suit claims 
that Margulis, Novack, Pinchuk,
.. acted as a criminal organization 
rather than a legitimate business"



According to the suit,

" Margulis, Novack, and Pinchuk used 
a corrupt bidding process 
to gain control of the formerly state-run plant
 for a fraction of its worth
 after it was privatized"

"The plant's estimated value was more than $1 billion
, but Pinchuk bought it for $80 million,
 the suit alleges. 
The three men allegedly then looted 
the plant by diverting its profits
 to companies they controlled 
in the United States and abroad"






"a series of self-dealing contracts 
designed to siphon its profits 
to companies he controlled 
with Margulis and Novack"

" Through those contracts,
 Nikopol purchased raw materials
 at above-market prices 
from entities controlled by
 the three men,
 and then sold the finished product 
at below-market prices 
to entities also controlled by them"

"Bribes and kickbacks 
were allegedly paid to Ukrainian officials"
" including Kuchma "


''That's what the RICO statute does 
-- it protects the facilities
 of the US from being used 
by Americans or foreigners
 in furtherance of a crime."

"Pinchuk, whose net worth is estimated
 by Forbes magazine at $1.3 billion,
 is a Ukrainian citizen 
and founder of Interpipe, 
a steel pipe conglomerate"

interpipe indeed