By: Staff Writer
July 13, 2021
In the midst of Russian hackers wreaking havoc in the United States and other parts of the Western World, the Caribbean is deepening its ties with a Russian millionaire working as Ambassador in Grenada with interest in a Caribbean blockchain association and unified digital payments solution.
Oleg Firer is chairman and chief executive officer at Net Element Inc, a global technology-driven group specializing in mobile payments and value-added transactional services that operates globally.
Firer is also ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of Grenada to the Russian Federation and also has close connections to Grenadian prime minister, Dr Keith Mitchell and Mitchell’s son, Olinga Mitchell.
Firer himself was born in Odessa, Ukraine in 1977 and moved to Brooklyn, New York, from the then Soviet Union at the age of 12, where he established a payment-processing company, Unified Payments LLC.
He is believed to have acquired Grenadian economic citizenship before being appointed the country’s ambassador to the Russian Federation.
Firer’s other company Star Capital, of which Firer is the managing partner and chairman, with Star Capital having additional interests in subordinate businesses.
Star Capital has its headquarters in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and also has offices in Moscow.
Firer is also associated with the My Caribbean trade centre, which is said to have been established to promote bilateral trade between the Caribbean, Russian and Eurasian markets, and also has offices in Moscow.
Olinga Mitchell is managing partner of Chimera Spice Holdings, a company with a strong Russian link and is owed $144,000.00 to the Grenada Co-operative Nutmeg Association (GCNA) for a shipment of its nutmeg and mace products.
Chimera and My Caribbean had several joint promotional initiatives hosted over the years, while Firer was the ambassador of Grenada.
The existence of Firer’s substantial business interests in Russia and Grenada appear to directly contravene the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, Article 42 of which states: “A diplomatic agent shall not in the receiving state practice for personal profit any professional or commercial activity.”
Firer now has his hooks into Olinga’s father, the Grenadian prime minister and is behind Dr Mitchell pushing an initiative through CARICOM for a unified digital payments system for the entire Caribbean region.
Dr Mitchell is the lead head of government in the CARICOM quasi cabinet who holds responsibility for science and technology, including ICT.
Dr Mitchell is also approving of Firer’s interest being on the supervisory board of the Eastern Caribbean Blockchain Association.
The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank just recently launched its digital currency earlier this year, the “D-cash.” The Eastern Caribbean Currency Union includes the islands of Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Firer is no choir boy and has been involved in other serious matters outside of his forays in Grenada with Olinga Mitchell and nutmeg.
The Miami Herald has said Firer has been arrested for mortgage fraud, but charges were later dropped.
Also reported by the Herald, Firer has been sued at least seven times for breach of contract, including by his own lawyer. Since he took over Net Element the company has lost over 98 percent of its share value and for a time faced delisting from the Nasdaq.
The D-cash has Bitt Inc as its digital payments processor and has no directly visible links to Firer or Net Element.