March 01, 2022 11:17 AM UTC

"Uilyam Ouens" Resigns From Chairmanship Of Russian Bank

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• by: Colorado Pols

Late last Friday afternoon while you were working out your plans for the upcoming lovely weekend, the Colorado Sun’s Jesse Paul wrote a story that despite its “Friday news dump” timing was a big topic of discussion among a small but influential group of people:

Former Colorado Gov. Bill Owens is the chairman of the supervisory board of the Credit Bank of Moscow, which has been barred by the Biden administration from issuing shares and debt in the U.S. after the Russian invasion of Ukraine…

Owens, a Republican, told The Colorado Sun that the bank has no ties to the Russian government and that it’s listed on the Russian stock exchange. He said that he’s not aware of the Credit Bank of Moscow planning to issue shares or debt in the U.S. regardless of the limitations, and he said he has no shares or debt in the bank.

“CBM has thousands of investors, including one of our largest — the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development,” Owens told The Sun in an email. “I represent these independent investors. … Our board has a majority of ‘western’ directors including two Americans, two Germans, as well as individuals from the U.K. and Finland.”

Although former Colorado Gov. Bill Owens, his name Russified as “Uilyam Ouens” on the bank’s board of directors page, insists that the Credit Bank of Moscow isn’t involved in financing the ongoing war by Russia against Ukraine, and went to great lengths in this story to express support for Ukraine, as of last Friday Owens did not plan to resign from the bank unless the U.S. directly issued sanctions against it as we have for several other large Russian banks.

But by last night, that had all changed:

The Republican told The Colorado Sun that he formally resigned from his position in an email sent Sunday but that he “made the decision several days ago.” He said he needed to delay his announcement until he had spoken to each board member…

Owens, who was Colorado’s governor from 1999 to 2007, told The Sun on Friday that he would resign from the board if the U.S. were to sanction the Credit Bank of Moscow. The bank was never sanctioned, but Owens stepped down anyway.

Given that Owens had only promised to resign in response to further sanctions that have not been imposed, it’s a pretty good bet that Owens was “encouraged” to take this step due to any number of associations that could have been tarnished if he didn’t–and even then only after the story broke last Friday. The Credit Bank of Moscow was not Owens’ first foray into the lucrative but ethically murky world of Russian big business, having served on the board of the Russian Far Eastern Shipping Company (FESCO) for several years after his term as Governor of Colorado was over.

Today, Owens is a senior director at the storied lobbying law firm Greenberg Traurig, which most lay political news consumers know best via convicted influence peddler Jack Abramoff. Owens also serves on the Finance Committee of the Senate Majority Fund, who had an embarrassing situation unfold last week after thousands of dollars in checks made out to the fund were found in a Capitol bathroom. In fairness, we’ve seen nothing to suggest any of those checks were payable in rubles.

Owens has served on the board of the Credit Bank of Moscow since 2012. Now that he’s chosen this moment to resign in order to “stand instead with my country and Ukraine,” it’s fair to ask Owens why so many previous occasions like Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 did not persuade him to do so. More generally, how does an American politician become chairman of a Russian bank to begin with without taking part in the corruption the Russian economy is infamous for? How much has Owens personally profited from the exploitation of Russia’s vast natural resources while the Russian people enjoy less than half the U.S. per capita income?

As the saying goes, nice work if you can get it!

Bill Owens may know which way the wind blows, but he’s no hero.