Navigator, the company that links a key member of Trump’s administration to Putin’s inner circle
At the end of 2016, Donald Trump offered the position of Trade Secretary to the billionaire investor Wilbur Ross.
DONALD TRUMP
WILBUR ROSS
SECRETARY OF COMMERCE
Authority over U.S. commercial and industrial policy.
Influence over U.S. economic decisions involving to other countries.
DONALD TRUMP
WILBUR ROSS
SECRETARY OF COMMERCE
Authority over U.S. commercial and industrial policy.
Influence over U.S. economic decisions involving to other countries.
DONALD TRUMP
Authority over U.S. commercial and industrial policy.
Influence over U.S. economic decisions involving to other countries.
WILBUR ROSS
SECRETARY OF COMMERCE
Authority over U.S. commercial and industrial policy.
WILBUR ROSS
DONALD TRUMP
Influence over U.S. economic decisions involving to other countries.
SECRETARY OF COMMERCE
During his Senate speech as part of the approval process for his cabinet post Ross said he would be very "scrupulous" about any possible conflict of interest.
To take the job, Ross got rid of his investment in 80 companies and other interests.
However, he kept his investments in nine companies.
Of those nine, four hold shares in the shipping firm Navigator Holdings Ltd., incorporated in the Marshall Islands.
Through those four entities, Ross with other investors own 31.5% of Navigator shares, according to Navigator's latest annual report (2016).
NAVIGATOR HOLDINGS Ltd.
31.5%
Ross and other investors
NAVIGATOR HOLDINGS Ltd.
31.5%
Ross and other investors
NAVIGATOR HOLDINGS Ltd.
31.5%
Wilbur Ross and other investors
NAVIGATOR HOLDINGS Ltd.
31.5%
Wilbur Ross and other investors
Who owns Sibur
Among the main customers of Navigator is the Russian energy company Sibur, which has links to Russian President Vladimir Putin through three of its owners.
VLADIMIR PUTIN
RUSSIAN PRESIDENT
KIRILL
SHAMALOV
GENNADY
TIMCHENKO
SON-IN-LAW
OF PUTIN
RUSSIAN
OLIGARCH
LEONID MIKHELSON
RUSSIAN ENTREPRENEUR
VLADIMIR PUTIN
RUSSIAN PRESIDENT
GENNADY TIMCHENKO
KIRILL SHAMALOV
SON-IN-LAW
OF PUTIN
RUSSIAN
OLIGARCH
LEONID MIKHELSON
RUSSIAN ENTREPRENEUR
KIRILL SHAMALOV
GENNADY TIMCHENKO
LEONID MIKHELSON
SON-IN-LAW OF PUTIN
RUSSIAN OLIGARCH
RUSSIAN ENTREPRENEUR
VLADIMIR PUTIN
RUSSIAN PRESIDENT
KIRILL SHAMALOV
GENNADY TIMCHENKO
LEONID MIKHELSON
SON-IN-LAW OF PUTIN
RUSSIAN OLIGARCH
RUSSIAN ENTREPRENEUR
VLADIMIR PUTIN
RUSSIAN PRESIDENT
KIRILL SHAMALOV
Married to Putin’s youngest daughter. Had more than 20% of Sibur shares. In April 2017 he reduced his holdings to 3.9%.
Putin
Shamalov
GENNADY TIMCHENKO
U.S. sanctioned oligarch. The Treasury Department said that his activities in the energy sector are "directly linked to Putin."
Putin
Timchenko
LEONID MIKHELSON
Controls an energy company that also was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department. Sibur's largest shareholder.
Putin
Mikhelson
Revenue that Sibur contributed to Navigator over the last three years.
16M
2014
(5.3%)
28M
2015
(9.1%)
23M
2016
(7.9%)
16M
2014
(5.3%)
28M
2015
(9.1%)
23M
2016
(7.9%)
16M
2014
(5.3%)
28M
2015
(9.1%)
23M
2016
(7.9%)
16M
2014
(5.3%)
28M
2015
(9.1%)
23M
2016
(7.9%)
In 2017, Navigator bolstered its services to Sibur with two new tankers.
Yauza
Luga
Sibur belonged to the Russian state for years and after its sale to private owners it has maintained a relationship with the Russian government. As an example, in 2013, a Russian state program helped Sibur build a port terminal in the Baltic Sea. The construction cost around $700 million.
Venezuela among Navigator's clients
For the last three years, the Venezuelan state oil company, PDVSA, (sanctioned by the Trump administration in 2017) has been one of Navigator's five main clients.
Benefits from Venezuela's PDVSA contributed to Navigator during the past three years.
32M
2014
(10.7%)
36M
2015
(11.7%)
26M
2016
(9.1%)
32M
2014
(10.7%)
36M
2015
(11.7%)
26M
2016
(9.1%)
32M
2014
(10.7%)
36M
2015
(11.7%)
26M
2016
(9.1%)
32M
2014
(10.7%)
36M
2015
(11.7%)
26M
2016
(9.1%)
A spokesman for Wilbur Ross, on the occasion of this investigation, assured ICIJ that the Secretary of Commerce recuses himself from any "issue centered on the transoceanic maritime transport". He said that Ross, "generally," has supported the sanctions of the US administration to Russia and Venezuela.
REPORTING: Sasha Chavkin y Martha M. Hamilton | DESIGN: Luis Melgar
SOURCES: C-SPAN, U.S. Office of Government Ethics, U.S. Senate, Government Publishing Office, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Sibur and Navigator's corporate websites | IMAGES: Reuters, Getty Images, FleetMon, Marine Traffic