Arik kislin biography of donald
Owner of Gansevoort Hotel Allegedly Tied to Russian Mob
Photo: Dave Kotinsky/Dave Kotinsky
Arik Kislin, real-estate developer and Hamptons society fixture, is one of the owners of the Hotel Gansevoort, the kind of place where you wouldn’t be surprised to hear that the guy dropping thousands of dollars one table over has sketchy ties to the Russian mob. But at least according to the Post, Kislin himself has sketchy ties to themob.
Hamptons-hopping businessman Arik Kislin was one of three people “authorized to give [financial] instructions” to a company in Liechtenstein now identified as a front for the Ismailovskaya organized-crime group, according to law-enforcement officials and court documents from three countries obtained by the Post.
It’s not the first time Kislin has been linked to the Russian mob — but the documents allege a new crucial role for him init.
According to the papers, only Kislin, Anton Malevsky — then the reputed godfather of the mob group — and Malevsky’s brother Andrei exercised control over the illicit gang’s front operation, called the Trenton BusinessCorp.
In the nineties, Kislin was the president of a commodities-trading firm that helped Malevsky get a U.S. visa, according to an FBI report. But as the Post notes, there are no charges against him; rather, his involvement has surfaced because London police want Kislin to hand over documentation that would prove his former business partner, Michael Cherney (who’s wanted by Interpol for money-laundering), has mob ties. Attention Hollywood types who might also find themselves at the Gansevoort from time to time: Whatever else comes of it, this would all make an excellentmovie.
Sources
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Why this multimillionaire owns a private jet company and still flies commercial
Ester Bloom
Updated
JetFlite International woos customers with pictures of its fleet of private planes and the promise, "Let us pamper you." But part-owner Arik Kislin still flies commercial.
"It's a lot less luxurious," the self-made multimillionaire tells CNBC. "You have to deal with all the nuances of the airport." But it's "an economical decision," especially when he's on his own and when he's "going across the pond."
"There's a lot more options to fly commercial. There's a lot more flights going to business cities," he says, and that availability of flights is convenient. "If I wanted to go to London, I'd probably have 20-plus flights to choose from."
For those reasons, he says, "it's just easier" to fly commercial.
But that doesn't mean he finds it pleasant. The hassle of going through airports make those transit hubs his least favorite part of flying. He's also put off by the crews on some airlines; he finds them unfriendly, as "service just generally isn't as strong." The treatment of passengers that used to be standard 30 years ago "just doesn't exist anymore," at least not the U.S., he says, though it can still be found on certain Middle Eastern and Asian airlines.
Unionized crews, which are found on American Airlines, United and many other domestic airlines, he believes, have less of an incentive to perform: "When you're less worried about your job, you're less eager to do your job."
When he can, Kislin flies an airline like Emirates, which is one of his favorites. "They have quite a first class, [one] that's very, very comfortable. They do have that intricacy of service: that
A developer behind a proposed Calverton industrial park that planners have described as “far and away one of the largest industrial subdivisions the town has seen” has ties to Russian organized crime, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and a 2013 report from investigators with the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.
While no investigation into Arik Kislin’s business dealings has ever led to any criminal charges, the gaming commission deemed his hotel company’s licensing agreement with Caesars a “significant investigative issue” in connection with a bid for a casino at the Suffolk Downs racetrack in East Boston. Caesars was later dropped from the bid.
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“We received information from the FBI that Arik Kislin is in fact known to them and has been linked to various members of Eurasian Organized Crime (EOC),” the gaming commission noted in its report, which remains available online. “The FBI indicated that historical law enforcement information indicates that Kislin handles large-scale investments within the United States for wealthy members of EOC and that Kislin’s activities focus on laundering EOC profits from overseas.”
The gaming commission’s investigation was part of the licensing process and it noted “the instant report determinedly does not endeavor to confirm or refute allegations of Kislin’s criminal affiliations.”
Mr. Kislin’s representatives confirmed this week that he is among the developers behind HK Ventures, the company proposing the 425,464-square-foot Calverton Industry Park. A spokesperson for Mr. Kislin, Juda Engelmayer of Herald PR in New York City, said reports of his client’s alleged ties to organized crime are untrue.
While the New York businessman’s involvement in the project had not previously been disclosed publicly, his name does appear in a financial disclosure report filed last month by the Riverhead Town Republican Committee. The report shows Mr. Kislin, on behalf of HK
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