Russia! magazine has an exclusive today on a letter it obtained from a Russian lawyer whose client has been the victim of an attempted asset seizure, by the same group of Russian officials who were involved in the death of Sergei Magnitsky (and who, if the last Hermitage Capital video is to be believed, are still very much at large and reaping the benefits of their monumental fraud operations).  The added twist in the tale is that these murky connections have led the trail back to one of the world’s biggest cigarette companies, US major Philip Morris, which, the lawyer claims, could thus be implicated in corruption schemes perpetrated by the very same group.  The Helsinki Commission has stated it may investigate the issue:

“The matter was brought to the Commission’s attention by Alexander Dobrovinsky, a Russian lawyer, in a written appeal to its chairman, U.S. Senator Benjamin Cardin of Maryland.

Dobrovinsky’s letter, a copy of which was obtained by Russia! Magazine, recounted how his client, Moscow entrepreneur Armen Yeganyan, was allegedly blackmailed by corrupt Russian officials attempting to seize his $120 million wine and cognac business. Many of the officials involved in the attempted takeover, Dobrovinsky wrote, were also implicated in the tragic 2009 case of Sergei Magnitsky.