Crime and Non-Punishment /
Russia’s oil wealth is no shield from global economic turmoil, but its subsurface parallel economy thrives with undeclared trade in people, arms, drugs, counterfeit goods, and even nuclear materials. Cyber crime ranges from child pornography and identity theft to attacks on the Web infrastructures of such troublesome neighbors as
Estonia and Georgia. The line between criminal and official is often blurred. Young hackers operate on their own and freelance for the state.
Essentially, the whole system is corrupt. Oligarchs who run legitimate businesses are often linked closely with organized crime, particularly in the vital energy and raw materials sectors. Comparisons often drawn between these oligarchs and American robber barons fall short. U.S. industrialists used violence and corruption to eliminate competition or coerce workers. Russians use violence and corruption to take over companies. Then they get rid of competitors.
Much of this illicit economy is hard to track. Computer hackers hide behind rapidly changing Internet addresses. But it is hard to miss the “Natashas,” Russian prostitutes who are everywhere from the Roppongi district of Tokyo to Istanbul brothels and London’s West End. In between, organized crime plays a large role in real estate, transport, oil and gas, and aluminum.
Honest people learn not to ask questions. I was an expert witness in a court case brought by the family of a young musician who signed onto a trawler to earn extra money. When its mobster owners realized he had seen too much, he was killed and thrown in the hold.
Previously murky relations between crime and business are increasingly clear as partners fight in Western courts rather than shoot it out on the streets. Lawyers must explain why Russian judges are too compromised to assure a fair trial. To win their cases, they reveal secrets about the criminal origins of disputed fortunes.
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