‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Oscar 2023 noms questioned amid Russia accusations

nypost.com:

“Top Gun: Maverick” — nominated for six Academy Awards, including best picture — has a dark secret. The blockbuster, which celebrates the scrappy nature of US fighter pilots flying dangerous missions to keep the world safe, is being targeted for being funded in part by a Russian oligarch named Dmitry Rybolovlev, who is close to the Kremlin and sanctioned by Ukraine.

In an open letter to the Academy, the Ukrainian World Congress, which represents Ukrainian expats around the world, expressed its “serious concerns over Russia’s influence on the Hollywood film industry.”The letter circulated last week during the final days of voting for the Oscars.

Rybolovlev, 56, is no stranger to controversy.He maintained his innocence while spending a year in a Russian jail in the 1990sfor a murder he was later acquitted of.In 2008, during the economic recession, Rybolovlev, via a trust, paid $95 million for Donald Trump’s Palm Beach mansion.

At the time, Trump was cash-strapped and radioactive to US banks.In 2011, Rybolovlev also paid a then-record $88 million for a 15 Central Park West penthouse owned by Joan Weill.Joan lived in the penthouse with her husband, Sanford Weill, former chair of Citigroup, which was active moving Russian money offshore in the 1990s, according to the US General Accounting Office.In 2000, a GAO report stated that Citigroup allowed more than $800 million in suspicious Russian funds to flow through US accounts tied to shell companies registered in Delaware.The deposits were believed by investigators to be “money fleeing taxes or the profits of criminal activities,” according to the Tax Justice Network, a UK-based advocacy group.While the first “Top Gun” film mentions Russia as the enemy, “Top Gun:.