Did the United States, under the administration of Donald Trump, intentionally ignore massive money laundering in the Republic of Malta, for purely political reasons ? It appears that, given what we know about the failure of the Department of Justice to indict any prominent Maltese players for either money laundering of for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), notwithstanding rampant, overt and very public acts, it was due to well-founded internal fears that Trump political appointees would promptly squelch all such investigations, the moment they are opened, with negative career consequences for those prosecutors and law enforcement agents bold enough to try.
Malta was the center of huge money laundering activities involving US Dollars, cleaning criminal proceeds exiting Venezuela, which were moved through the country's largest banks and financial entities. Given the extraterritorial reach of American anti-money laundering laws, action should have been taken at that time. A scandal involving a prominent Maltese healthcare operation, with Republican campaign contributors as principals, went ignored, during Trump's pro-Russia reign.
My unofficial contacts during that period with powerful individuals inside the US Government indicated that they declined to promote action against Malta's money laundering apparatus, because they knew anything they initiated would be promptly shut down in DOJ by senior officials following Trump's favorable position on Russia, whose oligarchs, intelligence agents and sanctions evaders have found fertile ground there among the constitutionally neutral, and highly local Labour Party, which remains in power through bribing and bestowing favors upon the electorate.
To be blunt, Trump had a love affair with Putin and Russia throughout his administration, and no career Assistant US Attorney wanted to cross him by charging Republicans who financed his campaign, or those Maltese who laundered greenbacks in a Russian financial playground.Malta's international money laundering machine was never attacked by the US criminal justice system in 2017-2021, allowing hundreds of millions of dollars to be washed, dried and folded with impunity.
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