The Kazakhstan Connection: Trump, Bayrock, Felix Sater, Russia, a shopping mall in Ohio, and plenty of questions

Is a former Mob-connected hustler- a real estate developer who in 2010 worked on the same floor as Donald Trump as his "Senior Advisor"--threatening to spill some beans that could harm the President's reputation?

And how is the twice-convicted Felix Sater linked to an alleged multibillion-dollar money-laundering scam originating in Kazakhstan — and extending to Russia, Ukraine, the U.S. and France?  Who is Viktor Khrapunov, a former mayor of Almaty, and why should we care? And why was Sater, along with another businessman (Daniel Ridloff) who once worked for Donald Trump, sued in a multimillion-dollar transaction over an Ohio shopping mall that is now owned by a company chaired by Neil Bush?

This story appeared in DCReport [May 12, 2017] and The National Memo [May 14, 2017]. In this version on my website, links to key documents have been added.