By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive Patreon
BBC - Guardian UK - Honduras - The Source
SDNY COURTHOUSE, Aug 6 – As Inner City Press covered the OneCoin trial in October 2019, a number of names of indicted co-conspirators emerged on which we followed up.
One of them was Gilbert Armenta, who recorded Ruja Ignatova. Inner City Press has repeatedly asked the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York for more information; it continues even now to withhold the exhibits it flashed on the screen at trial. Inner City Press had to file a FOIA request; the Department of Justice denies expedited processing.
While some of what Inner City Press has managed to pry out has been used without credit, now we can report one of the linsk we had we had been seeking through FOIA and elsewhere: a connection to Hristoforos Amanatidis, Taki, whose main squeeze was paid by One Coin, and who is also connected to Krasimir "Karo" Kamenov and Hrant "Jesus" Varteryan, previously to Georgi and Vasil Iliev, and to Metodi Metodiev, aka “Meto Ilienski” who like Ruja Ignatova disappeared mysteriously, earlier. If the search for Ruja is a competition, game on.
Now we can report this, not yet stolen: the US Attorney's Office gave Armenta his own secret docket number and kept it sealed for three years, until AFTER Inner City Press exclusively reported on Armenta's continuing dubious business activities even while a "cooperator." The case was initially assigned to SDNY Judge Willian H. Pauley III, then moved to Judge Edgardo Ramos - who to his credit has now put an end to continued extensions, and set a sentencing date for October 21, 2020. The unsealed indictment is now on Patreon here.
Now on August 6, this - Konstantin Ignatov has gotten himself released from the civil suit, full filing here: "WHEREAS, Lead Plaintiff Donald Berdeaux and Plaintiff Christine Grablis (together, “Plaintiffs”) and defendant Konstantin Ignatov are interested in resolving the issues alleged against Defendant Ignatov in the Amended Complaint in this action, and have negotiated in good faith for that purpose; and WHEREAS, Plaintiffs and defendant Konstantin Ignatov (together, the “Parties”) wish to discontinue between them without prejudice the claims asserted against Defendant Ignatov while not impeding in any way Plaintiffs’ further prosecution of their claims against the other defendants in this action; IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED AND AGREED by and between the Parties and/or their respective counsel as follows: 1. Plaintiffs hereby agree that the above-captioned action is dismissed and discontinued without prejudice solely as to defendant Konstantin Ignatov pursuant to Rule 41(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure." Full filing on Patreon here. We'll have more on this.
The willingness to hide Armenta and the case against him, as he continued dubious business presumably for others, has Inner City Press wondering about these individuals it is researching through links to Ruja Ignatova's RavenR:
Thomas Christodoulou
Maria Serbina
Joanna Hilary Alinson
Simon John Longworth
Anna Marie Longworth
Robert Henry Rothenberg
Gary Michael Gilford
Nikolaou Nikolaos
Louca Theocharis
Mary Skoullou
Giannakis Tsiannaros
Svitlana Kolesnyk
Cyprus Development Bank
Vladislav Velkov
We'll have more on this. Here are the Armenta business moves Inner City Press exclusively reported on December 1, 2019, here:
ESOL B.V. LLC was incorporated on July 8, 2019; the manager is Gilbert Armenta and the agent is Giselle Valentin, both of 500 E. Broward Boulevard, PH 2, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33394. See here. And here.
Armenta's Tblisi, Georgia-based money laundering bank JSC Capital Bank had as its parent a company of exactly this name. See KPMG review of Georgia banking sector here. More on Armenta's ongoing companies on Patreon here.
Inner City Press asked, on December 1, 2019: Is the US Attorney's Office allowing its cooperator to keep on money laundering? Or looking the other way while whatever cooperation agreement exists is openly violated?
Perhaps these and other quesitons will be answered in connection with Armenta's sentencing in the too long seal case against him. Watch this site.
More on Patreon here.
