The program revealed that the bride was Cherny's daughter, that the wedding was paid by him and that Israeli ministers and members of parliament (Knesset) of Russian origin attended.
[11] In 1994, TWG was drawn into a government inquiry into the theft of more than $US100 million from Russia's central bank by a number of separate criminal groups during the early 1990s.
In an article on TWG, Fortune magazine reported: "That a theft occurred is not in dispute, nor is the fact that the Cherneys ended up with a piece of the stolen money and used it to partially fund Trans World's startup phase in 1992....
"[10] In an attempt to clean up its reputation and refute allegations of questionable business practices, the Reuben brothers hired Mayer Brown & Platt, a US-based law firm.
Terrence Burke, an investigator employed by the law firm and former acting head of the DEA, recommended that the Reubens sever their ties with Cherney after the FBI told him that "it believed Michael himself was an organised crime figure."
However, the same article states that the Kroll report "doesn't discuss an essential part of the story", nor does it "explore the complex business and financial relationships in Russia between the Reubens and Lev and Michael Chernoy.
[24] Critics found it hard to understand "why the state bought an asset for such a high price from someone who was effectively a go-between who stood to pocket a fat profit, rather than directly from the original owner of the company".
[2] In February 2006, The New York Sun reported that John Deutch and James Woolsey had resigned from the Intelligence Summit's board of advisers after receiving information that the conference's primary sponsor, Cherney, had "alleged ties to the Russian mafia".
[27][28] Jalol Akhatovich Khaidarov (Russian: Джалол Ахатович Хайдаров; born 18 March 1963, Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, USSR) assisted the Israeli law enforcement community.
One claim is that Cherney paid a company called Path to the East large amounts of money between the years 1999 and 2006, and that these sums were then allegedly passed on to Lieberman as a bribe.
[32] In April 2007, Israeli police questioned Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's Deputy Prime Minister, on suspicions of illegally financing his 2001 electoral campaign.
[33] In May 2011, Haaretz reported that the Israeli Attorney General had issued a draft indictment against Avigdor Lieberman for fraud and money laundering, including allegations against Cherny.
The investigators believe that Cherney managed several Spanish businesses, registered in Alicante and Levante, used by the mafia for money laundering of 4 million euros.
[40] The Spanish authorities claim they succeeded in tracing the organization's complicated money laundering track, including Deripaska's, Makhmudov's and Cherney's alleged participation.
[42][43] As of December 2006 RusAl was in the final stages of negotiating a takeover of domestic rival SuAl and the aluminium assets of Glencore, a major Swiss commodities trader, which could create a new company valued at up to $US30 billion.
High Court Justice Christopher Clarke ruled that Cherney might be assassinated or held on trumped-up charges if he tried to bring the case in Russia.
[45] At a June 2011 case management conference, the judge deferred a decision on whether Cherney would be allowed to give evidence by video link from Israel rather than appear in person as an outstanding Interpol arrest warrant means he would be detained if he visited the UK.
In February 2008 Cheney filed a suit in a Tel Aviv court that alleged the illegal spying was commissioned by a Russian citizen, Alexei Drobashenko who at the time was the head of the External Relations department at Basic Element, a financial and industrial group that belongs to Oleg Deripaska.
In his claim, Cherney accused a group of 10 plotters, including Oleg Deripaska, Alexei Drobashenko and the already sentenced Aviv Mor, of illegal wiretapping, hacking the computers of his charity fund, publishing slanderous articles, and harassing him with insulting graffities and leaflets.