De Blasio: I wish I could stop Russian oligarchs from buying up real estate
De Blasio: I wish I could stop Russian oligarchs from buying up real estate
By Rich Calder
October 20, 2017 | 2:28pm
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https://www.alipac.us/image/gif;base...ABAAEAAAIBRAA7Paul Martinka
Mayor de Blasio said Friday that he’s troubled by shady Russian oligarchs snapping up multi-million-dollar properties in the city — but can’t figure out how to stop them.
“I see Russian oligarchs as a problem,” the mayor said during an interview with BuzzFeed.
“What has happened in Russia is deeply, deeply troubling across the board. The fact that oligarchy is people who basically stole the wealth of their country with the help of their government — by the way their government is trying to subvert our elections – there’s a whole host of things.”
And that, he added, ends up as an issue for New York City.
“It manifests here as people with a lot of ill-gotten gains buying a lot of property. I don’t like it one bit. I wish I had a specific law or approach to address it. I haven’t found one yet. But, of course, it’s distressing.”
Hizzoner, who strolled in a half hour late to the live interview, was responding to a question about whether he’s disturbed by the trend of rich Russians setting up shop in the city to launder money.
The mayor said any additional tax revenue the city gets from such transactions isn’t worth it.
http://nypost.com/2017/10/20/de-blas...p-real-estate/
