From Florida to Russia
The 125-page federal financial disclosure statement recently submitted by Florida´s Governor Rick Scott listed at least 50,000 dollars in revenue last year from the sale of corporate stock in Navigator Holdings, Ltd. We are talking about a shipping company that specializes in the transportation of liquefied petroleum gas to international energy companies, state utilities and commodity traders, according to a corporate profile of the Reuters news service.
One of Navigator's main clients is a Russian energy company connected to the Kremlin. The Russian company is Sibur, whose owners include the son in law of Russian President Vladimir Putin and a Russian oligarch facing sanctions from the US government, according to the New York Times.
An investment in Navigator became a public issue in June for President Trump's Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who deactivated his Navigator actions shortly after the Times questioned him on the issue last fall, the newspaper reported.
Scott's statement, filed last Friday before the US Senate, listed his wife Ann's income for the share between 50,001 dollars and 100,000 dollars, and that Rick Scott earned between $ 0 and $ 201 in capital gains income. The statement said the shares are no longer in the hands of the Scotts, which have assets of at least 255 million dollars.
Previous Scotts ownership of Navigator shares would not have come to light had the Republican governor (who is running for the Senate) not been required to make a full disclosure of their financial holdings.
In a statement, Scott's campaign said: "Governor Scott no longer has an investment in Navigator Holdings. In any case, the governor had no role in the selection of that investment. The blind trust is managed by an independent financial professional who decides what assets are bought, sold or exchanged. Blind trust rules prevent any specific assets or the value of those assets within the trust from being disclosed to the governor, and those requirements have always been met. When asked recently, Governor Scott was clear that he believes Putin is not our friend or ally, and he should not be trusted. "
At a rally in Boca Raton on July 18, Scott told reporters he was "completely at odds" with Trump over any claim that Putin could be trusted.
"Putin is not our ally. He is an enemy, "Scott said, according to a Sun-Sentinel report. "I'm very skeptical of anything he says. I do not trust Putin. "
Scott has not said whether he will continue to use a blind trust if he is elected to the US Senate in November.
