Bill Gertz, Washington Free Beacon

Corruption by Russian President Vladimir Putin and his administration in Moscow has produced tens of billions of dollars worth of illicit funds for the Russian leader and his top aides, according to U.S. officials.

Putin is estimated to have amassed a fortune worth at least an estimated $28 billion through kickbacks from projects like construction at the Sochi Winter Olympic games, holdings in Russian real estate and energy conglomerates, and kickbacks from deals with associates going back to the late 1990s. …

The Putin corruption network is centered in a network of associates, many of whom are former KGB political police and intelligence officials like Putin. … “Corruption has ceased being a problem in Russia; it has become a system,” says a 2011 report by Russian opposition figures. “Its metastases have paralyzed the country’s social and economic life. The annual turnover of corruption in Russia now stands at $300 billion.” …  U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity provided an outline of official corruption under Putin:

Putin controls an estimated 37 percent of shares in the oil and gas company Surgutneftegaz; a 4.5 percent stake in the huge gas company Gazprom; and 50 percent of the oil trading company Gunvor. …    Putin and his associates stole between $25 billion and $30 billion from funds used in developing Sochi for the Olympics. Putin has spent the illicit funds since the early 2000s on luxury items, including 20 residences, 58 aircraft, and four yachts.

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  Background-Brief.com, Gazprom, KGB, Sochi Olympics, Surgutneftegaz, U.S. officials outline massive scale of Putin’s corruption