The Working Group on Combating Corruption in Higher Echelons of Power of the Russian State Duma (parliament) issued a report last year in which Monte Friesner (Монте Морис Фризнер), Lawrence B. Heath (Лоренс Хиз) and their company Carlyle-Coutts Capital Corporation S.A. are accused of laundering massive amounts of stolen funds from the former Soviet Union.
The report, in Russian (bad translation here), was published on April 20, 2009, and describes massive theft of Russian gold, silver, funds, helicopters, trucks and all sorts of other goods and illegal activities, totaling billions of dollars, perpetrated on behalf of members of the Yeltsin family, Russian oligarchs, and their associates:
Former and present senior government officials and corrupt high-ranking law enforcement officials in the country have accumulated, both domestically and abroad, huge amounts of “shadow” assets, many times exceeding the budget of Russia, which is the main cause of the current financial and economic crisis in the country and enables them to at any time commit economic sabotage, to provoke a social explosion and the seizure of power, which threatens national security.
Over the past two decades, senior government officials including the so called Yeltsin “family”, under the guise of law enforcement officials, have stolen vast sums of money, gold, oil, steel, diamonds and other wealth, much of which was illegally exported from our country abroad and accumulated in various foreign banks in the accounts of front men. As a result of inaction of authorities and law enforcement, export of assets continues on a daily basis at a rate of 50 – 70 billion dollars a month. Only in December 2008, this criminal group attempted to take 4 trillion rubles out of the country.
All the following materials are soundly confirmed by the content of hundreds of criminal cases that are frozen in the SU(investigation dept), CS(investigation committee) of MIA, SC at the RF Prosecutor General’s Office, and the FSB of Russia, none of which have found a legal resolution, but objective information about them was deliberately hidden from senior management of the country and the public.
The document then continues to name a list of persons involved in the theft of billions worth of assets, including members of the Yeltsin family and members of the Russian oligarchy.
The robber barons used a myriad of techniques to get gold, silver and other assets as well as cash out of the country, some of it in conjunction with Chechen and Uzbek groups that would produce falsified documentation for that purpose.
The criminal activity was of such a big scale that it led to huge price rises in Russia in the nineties and the creation of massive debt with the IMF, according to the report, as IMF funds to prop up the economy were stolen as well.
Monte Friesner
One of the Russian front men, Zagrebelny, was in charge of stashing the loot in foreign bank accounts all over Europe, Asia and the Americas. And that's where Monte Friesner, Lawrence B. Heath and their Carlyle-Coutts Capital Corporation S.A. ṕop up in the report:
As ordered by his masters, Zagrebelny transferred the right to disperse the assets to other persons, in particular Ryazanov, Ephraim, Khairulin, Morozova E., Kozlov, Zakharov YF, Shakirov, Kuznetsova VM, Tokarev E. Gurkin V V, Kuzmin, Orloff, foreign nationals of Canada Monte Morris Friesner, Lawrence Heath, managers of Carlyle Coutts Capital Corporation SA, etc. All these activities of Zagrebelny and persons to whom he gave the right to receive credit, took place under the cover of the special services of Russia.
Ryazanov, after receiving documents from Zagrebelny, was cashing large sums of money – 300, 150 thousand U.S. dollars in European banks, and received money from Friesner – 845 thousand USD.
(In Russian: По указанию "хозяев" Загребельный, права на часть активов передал другим лицам, в частности Рязанову, Ефремову, Хайрулину, Морозову Е., Козлову, Захарову Ю.Ф., Шакирову Г., Кузнецову В.М., Токареву Е. Гуркину В.В., Кузьмину, Орлову, гражданам иностранных государств Канады Монте Морис Фризнеру, Лоренсу Хизу, руководителям Carlyle Coutts Capital Corpartion S.A. и др. Вся эта деятельность Загребельного и лиц, кому он передавал права на получение кредитов, постоянно находилась под прикрытием спецслужб РФ.
Рязанов после получение документов от Загребельного в банках Европы получал крупные денежные суммы по 300, 150 тыс. дол. США, а также получал деньги от Фризера 845 тыс. дол. США.")
Carlyle Coutts Capital Corporation S.A. is a Panamanian company incorporated in October 2005. Its president is Lawrence B. Heath. Company treasurer and secretary is Tatiana Viktorovna Nazarova, who was, according to the biography on one of Friesner's websites, born in "Tashkent, Uzbekistan on March 08, 1965 into a very reputable and established noble Russian Family, who are able to trace their roots to the noble families of ancient Russia".
She is also Monte Friesner's wife.
Vice-president of the company is one Curtis Harrell Taylor.
On the web, a myriad of websites is maintained, and on one of those the principals of Carlyle Coutts claim:
* In 1990 Colonel J. Douglas Crashely CD., and his partner of over 40 years Mr. Lawrence B. Heath QC., opened their offices in Geneva, Switzerland managed by Dr. Monte Friesner – Lawyer and working with them both since March of 1984.
* On January 4th, 2001, J. Douglas Crashley CD., and Lawrence B. Heath Q.C. undertook an innovative and major business venture and formed Carlyle Coutts Capital Corporation S.A. Carlyle Coutts Capital Corporation S.A. specializes in various credit facilities, asset management, venture capital, joint ventures, and an assortment of creative financial procedures. Dr. Monte Friesner appointed as Senior Corporate Counsel
* In May of 2004 Carlyle Coutts Capital Corporation S.A., and many of the subsidiaries opened up the Head Office in the Republic of Panama and managed by Dr. Monte Friesner and Ms. Tatiana Viktorovna Nazarova – Treasurer & Secretary of Carlyle Coutts Capital Corporation S.A. and Financiera Pronto Cash S.A.
* For the past years Colonel J. Douglas Crashley, Mr. Lawrence B. Heath QC and Carlyle Coutts Capital Corporation SA have been appointed, as Special Financial Advisors to numerous countries around the world and including major corporations, in which several Secured Capital Asset Portfolios and Creative Financing Portfolios have been structured.
As we pointed out here previously, the indefatigable Colonel Crashley has for those past years, notwithstanding what Friesner continues to claim, been soundly dead. He died in 2003. In none of the Canadian corporate registries we could find a trace of a Carlyle Coutts Capital Corporation S.A. In other words, if Friesner and Heath were involved in the laundering of stolen Russian assets before 2005, it was not through Carlyle Coutts Capital Corporation S.A. but using some other corporate structure.
Friesner appears indeed to have spent time in Geneva, Switzerland. There are records of him getting qin legal trouble for assault of an Iranian born Canadian woman while in Geneva, one Mrs. Hancock.
Meanwhile, the gang of Russian criminals even stole a billion dollars that were meant to dismantle the old Soviet arsenal of chemical weapons and laundered the funds through its Western accomplices. The report contains a vast number of sordid tales about criminal investigations mysteriously being stalled, witnesses silenced, murders and assassinations - and even the death of American businessman Paul Tatum.
So, what did Monte Friesner, Tatiana Nazarova and Lawrence Heath do with the money?
In the course of our investigations, we stumbled upon another investigative report, which outlines the dealings and connections in Toronto, Panama and Colombia of various (former) Russian individuals with whom Friesner has done or intended to do business. The finance network as sketched in the two pictures below (click for bigger) is still subject to further analysis.
PROTECTION IN PANAMA AND FAKE DIPLOMATS
Don Winner on Friesner's sailing yacht
Monte Friesner, his wife Tatiana Nazarova and the elusive Mr. Lawrence Heath appear to enjoy political and other protection in Panama. There is of course the ever-present Don Winner, in his habitual role of promoting Friesner's endeavors on his scam promotion website. But more importantly, there is the law firm Young & Blandón, of lawyer Herbert Young and well-known legislator José Blandón of the ruling Panameñista party.
Herbert Young
Herbert Young is the registered agent of Carlyle Coutts Capital Corporation S.A., as well as of Financiera Pronto Cash S.A., One World Financial Solutions S.A. and the Swiss Hannover Real Estate corporations - all of which are managed by the same cast of characters. Moreover, Young's wife is president of Swiss Hannover, while working at the Banco Nacional de Panamá. And to top it off, according to president Tatiana Nazarova, Herbert Young is also a shareholder of Financiera Pronto Cash S.A. (which, by the way, has filed a civil suit against this journalist for $1 million for revealing that MasterCard was investigating Pronto Cash). As per its own literature on the web quoted above, Financiera Pronto Cash is closely linked to Carlyle Coutts Capital Corporation S.A. that is accused in the report of the anti-corruption group of the Russian Duma as a conduit for stolen funds.
In short: all the aforementioned companies share the same office address, the same staff, the same board of directors, the same registered agent, the same phone numbers.
Herbert Young is also involved as the founder and registered agent in something called the Societé Core Diplomatique Foundation, which is some sort of wacky fake diplomatic club started in 2008 and which Friesner uses to pass himself off as a diplomat. The public registry lists the same characters mentioned above as its principals, plus a number of individuals from Slovenia, part of former Yugoslavia.
Legislator José Blandón meanwhile, on his Facebook page, denied any knowledge of the shady business ventures of his partner Herbert Young. If that were true, Blandón would know more about the garbage in the municipality of Panama City than about what goes on in his own law firm - something we find a bit hard to believe. Yet his staunch denial is hardly surprising after reading about the massive corruption and vast amounts of money involved in this case.
The report of the Russian Duma urges president Dmitry Medvedev to finally have the wholesale looting and corruption investigated. Maybe in Panama, president Martinelli can offer a helping hand.
@ the editor: thank you, nice week end reading. So, mmmhhmm, are there no comment because everyone is speechless, or because noone is surprised?
What I dont get is with all this stuff, and I mean ALL this stuff, why has Friesner not entered Panama and operated under an assumed name? All the other bad players seemed to have done so. Maybe he did not realize YOU were here!
On another note, do you think Russia REALLY wants this investigated? And by Russia I do not mean the Russian people, I mean the people running Russia. And if the report has been made public, why has there not been a revolution or at least a revolt, over it?
On Blandon, I would not be surprised if he did not know much about what goes on in his own law firm, or more specifically with his associates. Once elected they do not spend as much time in their respective law offices.
I think that, as usual in these type of situations, some forces in Russia want this investigated and others very much don’t. For me the interesting part is that apparently Friesner et al were big enough in these schemes to be mentioned explicitly together with the name of their firm.
Massive looting in Russia is nothing new, and if you do some searching you’ll find plenty of news reports about what went on in the nineties and – what are we in now, the zeros? “Bizniz” in Russia almost equals mobster practices and corruption. Even in the US there have been some high-profile cases against Russian robber barons. So, in a way this is just another report to be swept under the carpet.
I can’t find a Canadian Carlyle Coutts, which doesn’t mean persé that it never existed. The domain names carlyle-coutts.com and carlylecoutts.com were registered in 2001, years before the Panamanian S.A. with that name was incorporated, and using a Canadian address. So at least from then on there was some sort of presence.
As for Blandón; he really should know better than to shield this type of shit. His partner a shareholder in a rogue finance firm that is suing a foreign journalist for a million dollars? I mean, now that he knows, what is he gonna do about it?
I think, more than anything Friesner is looking for fame an glory, in a sick oligarch way. Any “smart” business man would have established a smoke screen and stayed in the background.
I have had dealings with guys like him. They see themselves as some sort of messiah. Never enough status. They need the Dr. and CD titles to stand out and in fact use it to get some sort of credibility (read trust), from a practical point of view. Boy, do they love those titles.
Not unlike Martinelli, “these guys” can be extremely smart at one point and 5 minutes later completely fuck up, when their ego shows up.
It was a good reading, Fleming in real life. Compliments.
what’s with the jizz stain on friesner’s photo?
@Eazy: They always do that. It’s also common to claim or allude to connections with the wonderful world of espionage – which Friesner did when he was sending me messages posing as “Shanita Ramdin”.
Alas, stay tuned, there is much more to come. But we should give Friesner and his henchmen some time to sue me for this article as well – in their characteristic Pavlovian fashion – before dealing another blow, don’t we?
Okke, I just love to read stories about Monte Friesner (alias “Wild Monty”). Please continue digging into that guy’s past, because I am sure that you will uncover a lot of newsworthy stuff.
Lawrence B. Heath doesn’t look like he knows what day of the week it is in the above photo. Tatiana appears to be propping up the poor old guy. That or giving him the old reach-around.
Panama.ru is linking to the story:
http://panama.ru/content/news/index.php?news=4139
They have the Google translate tool, which will bring you the content in funny English. Of course Friesner comments below it (or his wife). He says I’ve been caught with a twelve year old hooker!
@Editor: I checked out the link you indicated and in doing so I discovered the link to wantedsa.com . I assume that the person behind this blog is either Monte Friesner, or Don Winner (?) In any case you – Okke Ornstein – seems to be the only subject of their interest. In that blog you are slandered “ad nauseum”… Why don’t you sue Monte Friesner and/or Don Winner for disparaging you in such a nasty manner ?
@XIO: Behind that website is Monte Friesner. He has been sending emails to various people through that domain from his own computer, which gave him away. I mean, that is rock-solid evidence.
But I’m not gonna join the legal circus in Panama with a lawsuit or criminal complaint against him. I believe writing the truth here about this criminal is what will eventually be more effective. I’ll give you an example: Years ago I exposed another fraud, the San Cristobal noni and teak swindle. They replied by hiring Fulele Calvo to smear me in a rag called “La Cronica”, a full page and then another one the next day, about how I was trying to blackmail them, how I was wanted in Holland, all sorts of crap about my family and so on. And people asked me the same: “Why don’t you sue?” I didn’t. I just kept writing about them.
End result: The leader of the scam, one Tom McMurrain, was arrested here and extradited to the US and thrown in jail. The scheme collapsed.
In this Friesner case, what he writes is so bizarre and over-the-top that I don’t think anyone takes it seriously.
But the most important is that I don’t want to deal with Panama’s legal system. Here’s the scoop: I just got back from the personeria tercera, where I was called for a declaración indagatoria. First they didn’t have an interpreter ready, even though they had promised one. I then said I wouldn’t give any statements, because A) the lack of an interpreter is a violation of my rights and B) Panama has no jurisdiction in a case that is between a non-resident Dutchman, a non-resident Canadian and a website that is hosted in the United States.
Well, so far so good, but then they presented me with an order from the personera, some old pea-brained tart called Silvia Delgado Gonzalez, which orders me to remove one or two articles from my website. Now I don’t know where they breed these imbeciles, but she can order all she want but that doesn’t give her authority over my websites outside of Panama, and I obviously won’t be taking down anything, and even less so since there hasn’t been a trial and I had not even been heard before she signed that order.
Friesner has also filed several identical complaints with different fiscalias in a clear effort to cause as much harassment as possible. And this is the problem with Panama’s legal system and why I won’t deal with them any further: They’re like an old prostitute who opens her legs to any foreign criminal who wants to abuse her to shut a journalist down. For the crooks it’s a cheap fuck, and they can file cases that would never be accepted in the proper jurisdictions, and the Panamanian tax payer pays for the investigations, the prosecution and what have you. Subsidized abuse. Libel tourism. And I have no confidence whatsoever in the people who facilitate and encourage such abuse. I won’t deal with them, and I’m not going to follow their retarded orders. And thus I won’t use them for similar tactics against the mentally ill Monte Friesner, his idiotic wife (“Ornstein killed my poodle!”) or any of their accomplices.
However, I am not the only one who is being smeared on Friesner’s website, and others may respond differently.
To the Editor:
Who are they gonna send Ghost busters?
Well, they might try to throw me in jail for contempt, but that doesn’t remove the articles, does it?
This “legal add on” reads like a big joke, while we’re waiting for the punch line. They must know they have no legal grounds to pursue you? So why do they? Money? For some reason I don’t think so. It could be very interesting to find out what that is.
Could Friesner be indeed a (ex-) “spy”? Snitching for the the US. Providing information about financial dealings with certain individuals, who generally do not like to work with banks? It would explain a lot.
@EAZY: Believe me, Friesner is way too stupid to be a spy. He would give himself away within two minutes, because he’ll start bragging about it, and then your career as a spy is quickly over. I mean, he can’t even shield off his real identity with this wantedsa crappy site, or when he was posing as “Shanita Ramdin”. So forget it, he is not a spy or anything even remotely like it. He’s just a typical con man, and he’s panicking because his “business” is falling apart. More on that to follow.
That would be the other option. 😉 Also extremely lucky so far, I’d say. I don’t know the man, so I’m just rationally trying to see the picture. I just can’t believe he’s protected like that. May be my hopes for Panama are too high. Is Panama really that stupid? (I know your answer.. 😉
Anyway, whatever he may be, we’ll find out soon enough. When he goes bankrupt and/or to jail, he’s just what you said he is. If he is the unlikely informant, my guess is he will be found “belly up” one of these days.
I can’t wait to see what happens next.
In the meantime, I wish to nominate Monte Friesner for the ASSHOLE OF THE YEAR AWARD. He might have a very good chance to become the 2010 Winner !
Friesner=stoopid
@XIO
He’d probably be honoured by that. Another title, yeaaah!
An ass hole at least serves a purpose, for some even more than one. 😉
@EAZY: Allow me to be kind to him for a change and grant yet another title to “Dr.” Monte Friesner, the infamous editor of the biggest amount of crap ever produced on the Web (wantedsa.com): “Winner of the 2010 Asshole of the Year Award”.
As you say, he might even be honoured to figure on the same list of nominees as Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Don Winner, Bosco Vallarino, Tito Afu and Wild Bill…
@XIO: You’re giving him waaaaay too much credit. All the people you mention (okay, minus Wild Bill), voice their crap under their own name. But Friesner is not just mentally ill, he’s also a coward and hides in the shadows. And then he is so stupid that he doesn’t hide his tracks. And he doesn’t just smear me, but some other people as well who can easily afford to have him shut down.
This guy Monte, and his fear mongering tactics. It’s so obvious when he projects his own delusional personality deficiencies outwardly, trying to smear everyone for exactly what he is…a fraudulent, money laundering, jailbird ass, shemale loving, child molester. I would bet his daughter will need a very competent psychologist soon…if she doesn’t already see one! For men like Monte, who are so obviously obsessed with sex, and pedophiles…how did he manage while he was in jail? This must have been the beginning of his penis fixation. Why is he allowed to walk the streets? He’s a full joke…with no punch line! He tries to say he’s a lawyer from Columbia State University, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_State_University a diploma mill out of California! Or he’s a graduate of Chelsea University, http://www.chelsea.arts.ac.uk/ an art school…and it’s safe to say they don’t teach fraud artistry. Or he’s a commodore…c’mon, what movie is that from? Monte is a menace to the world….easily diagnosed sociopath http://www.mcafee.cc/Bin/sb.html. How about a nickname game…Monte the Menace? However, I do like Wild Monte!
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Monte the freak.
I got this from .. Edmund Hui… and look who his ONE friend is…
http://ow.ly/2ATE3
I like the “GlobalShow.ru ”
Gee Russia. really?
I know people who like Monte… i mean they really like him. They don’t do drugs.
This is also interesting…
go down to “forums and blogs” and “Informative Websites ”
http://ow.ly/2ATDH
freak.