美国国家公共电台 NPR Looking Into Trump Campaign's Russia Ties, Investigators Follow The Money

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Federal investigators¹ are looking into banking² records to examine the ties between Russia and the Trump³ campaign. One thing they're looking for is evidence of money laundering⁴. Now, U.S. officials keep records of suspicious financial transactions, and these records may be key to exploring Russia's involvement in the 2016 election. NPR's Jim Zarroli has more.

JIM ZARROLI, BYLINE⁵: President Trump has spent much of his career in real estate and casinos. And these two industries have one thing in common - both are notorious venues⁶ for money laundering. It's something Trump had to contend with in 1990 when he opened the glittering Trump Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City.

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UNIDENTIFIED MAN: In a space the size of three football fields there are over 3,000 slots, some taking $100 chips, plus 167 gaming tables.

ZARROLI: Within a few years, the Taj was cited by federal officials for having inadequate⁷ money laundering controls. Fred Gushin, a longtime gaming industry consultant⁸, says fines like these were common at the time.

FRED GUSHIN: His level of compliance⁹ was no better or worse than everybody else's in Atlantic City. It took time for these regulations to take effect. There were some early violations¹⁰ by almost every casino in Atlantic City at that point in time.

ZARROLI: Over the years, the Taj was repeatedly cited for violations. And in 2015, when Trump was much less involved with the property, it had to pay a civil fine of $10 million. The agency behind the fine was the Treasury¹¹ Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN. It's responsible for tracking suspected money laundering - that is, hiding illicit¹² funds from regulators and tax collectors.

Lately, FinCEN has been concentrating on real estate. Mark Hays is with Global Witness, which campaigns for tighter money laundering laws. Hays says if you're a drug dealer¹³ or a corrupt¹⁴ government official, one great way to stash¹⁵ your ill-gotten gains is buying and selling expensive properties in places such as New York and Miami.

MARK HAYS: These make for attractive landing pads if, say, you're a suspicious person wanted for criminal activity in your home country and you actually need a place to cool your jets.

ZARROLI: This is especially true of high-end properties that attract a lot of foreign buyers, such as Trump's. Hays says such transactions are easily shrouded¹⁶ through shell companies.

HAYS: You make the purchase. The real estate person says, who owns this company? It's so-and-so LLC. Well, who owns that? Well, that's not on the record. No one knows that.

ZARROLI: Still, banks and real estate companies are required to tell FinCEN about suspicious transactions such as all-cash purchases of large properties. And over the years, FinCEN has built an extensive database of possibly shady transactions. Senate investigators have already said they will use it to examine the ties between Russia and Trump associates. Notre Dame¹⁷ law professor Jimmy Gurule.

JIMMY GURULE: Congress has kind of shifted the focus here to the money. And they're trying to see if there's a money trail that could link and identify different participants.

ZARROLI: Gurule, who used to oversee¹⁸ FinCEN at the Treasury Department, says the agency's database could provide investigators with important leads.

GURULE: If there was collusion between the Russians and members of the Trump campaign, I mean, was it for free? Or was there some exchange of monies or payments from foreign governments?

ZARROLI: And Gurule says if someone in the Trump campaign was involved with criminal activity, that should make them very nervous indeed. Jim Zarroli, NPR News.