Mr. Kinahan’s lawyer told the BBC that Kinahan has no criminal record or convictions and the allegations about him being a crime boss are false and have no evidential basis.
The lawyer said: “In so far as our client’s record in boxing is concerned, he is proud of his record in boxing to date.”
According to the Mail Online, Arum said that Fury has been told by Warren that their future dealings will not include Kinahan.
“We are not going to deal with Kinahan and his people. We will deal directly (with Fury) or his lawyer Robert Davis.”
The OFAC described the KOCG as “a murderous organization involved in the international trafficking of drugs and firearms.”
The OFAC said that “each member of the KOCG reports to Daniel Kinahan, who is believed to run the day-to-day operations of the organization.”
According to the OFAC, Kinahan is based in Dubai.
‘Getting this deal over the line’
The OFAC’s sanctions also affect a number of Kinahan associates, notably Ian Dixon, who owns or controls “directly or indirectly, Hoopoe Sports LLC.”
Hoopoe Sports is a UAE-based sports management and advisory company, according to the OFAC.
Dixon did not respond to CNN’s request for comment via email.
In 2020, Fury made a point of thanking Kinahan in an Instagram video for “getting this deal over the line” to potentially fight fellow British boxer Anthony Joshua in 2021. The two did not eventually fight.
Subsequently, Ireland’s then Taoiseach (prime minister) Leo Varadkar told the Irish Parliament he was “taken aback” to see Fury using Kinahan’s name in his video “as if this was somebody who did not have quite a chequered history in this State and elsewhere.”
The law firm representing Kinahan did not respond to CNN’s request for comment regarding the OFAC’s announcement. CNN has not been able to independently confirm the allegations made against Kinahan.
MTK also did not respond to CNN’s request for comment over the OFAC sanctions or to questions about Kinahan’s links to the agency. CNN also reached out to MTK, Fury’s management company.
In the same statement, Vaughan explained that fighters will often had independent advisors adding that the organization had been able to sign Fury because he was “recommended” to them by Kinahan.
“It happens all the time and I hope it continues to happen,” Vaughan said. “As long as we fulfill what Daniel says about us being a great management company and keep doing the best for the fighters as much as we can, hopefully we’ll continue to get recommendations from Daniel.”
The current CEO and president of MTK Global, Bob Yalen, told The Athletic in 2020 that Kinahan was stepping back from the sport.
‘A threat to the entire licit economy’
The OFAC sanctions announced on Monday targeted seven individuals, including Kinahan.
According to the OFAC, the KOCG emerged in the late 1990s and became the “most powerful organized crime group operating in Ireland.”
The group has links to international money laundering and has been “involved in a gang war with another group in Ireland and Spain, resulting in numerous murders,” said the OFAC.
According to the UK’s NCA, recent investigations have caused “major disruption” to the KOCG’s activities.
The OFAC sanctions, which target Daniel and two other Kinahan family members as well as several associates, announced on Monday mean that “all property and interests in property of the designated individuals or entities that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons must be blocked and reported to OFAC.”
In the announcement, the OFAC said that Daniel Kinahan “was designated for acting or purporting to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, the KOCG.”
“Kinahan has instructed KOCG members to send money to a variety of individuals serving prison sentences, including a person convicted of attempted murder on behalf of the KOCG, and an individual imprisoned for murder on behalf of the KOCG,” alleged the OFAC statement.
“Kinahan, who sources large quantities of cocaine from South America, plays an integral part in organizing the supply of drugs in Ireland, and is attempting to facilitate the importation of cocaine into the United Kingdom. Daniel Kinahan is known to have used false identity documents,” added the OFAC statement.
“The Kinahan Organized Crime Group smuggles deadly narcotics, including cocaine, to Europe, and is a threat to the entire licit economy through its role in international money laundering,” said Brian E. Nelson, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.
“Criminal groups like the KOCG prey on the most vulnerable in society and bring drug-related crime and violence, including murder, to the countries in which they operate.”
Kinahan has never been charged with any of the crimes the OAFC alleges he has committed.
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