Tag: RUssian oligarch

Prosecutors flagged possible ties between Ukrainian gas tycoon and Giuliani associates

Washington Post logoWhen two business associates of Rudolph W. Giuliani, President Trump’s personal lawyer, were arrested this month on charges that they funneled foreign money into U.S. elections, federal prosecutors working on a different case in Chicago took note.

The investigators had previously come across the two men, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, as they pursued a long-standing case against a Ukrainian gas tycoon accused of bribery, according to two people familiar with the matter. They, like others interviewed regarding the case, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing litigation.

The Chicago prosecutors reached out to their counterparts in New York, where the foreign money charges had been brought, to offer assistance, the people said.

View the complete October 22 article by Matt Zapotosky, Rosalind S. Helderman, Tom Hamburger and Josh Dawsey on The Washington Post website here.

How Russia infiltrated the world of American religious-right filmmaking

Movieguide partnered with a key associate of a Russian oligarch sanctioned by the U.S.

Why did Ted Baehr (right), the king of America’s Christian entertainment industry, partner with Alexey Komov (left), a key employee of a sanctioned Russian oligarch? Credit: Illustration by Diana Ofosu, photosP by Getty

On Feb. 7, 2014, Alexey Komov arrived in Los Angeles to speak at the 22nd Annual Movieguide Faith & Values Awards Gala — an event The New Yorker called the “Christian Oscars.” As the director of the Russian chapter of Movieguide, Komov had a special task: announcing the foreign guests in attendance. According to a now-deleted photo posted to his personal blog, he wore a black tuxedo for the occasion.

But Komov wasn’t there merely because he was interested in pursuing Christian themes in films. As emails made public by hackers and investigations by ThinkProgress have shown, Komov has played a key — perhaps the key — role in Russian efforts to infiltrate American religious right organizations.

He also has a history of praising fascists and anti-Semites, as well as working directly with some of the most notorious anti-LGBTQ voices in both the U.S. and Russia. And, perhaps most notably, he’s worked directly for a Russian oligarch, Konstantin Malofeev, who was sanctioned by both the United States and European Union for his role in helping the Kremlin try to carve up Ukraine. As the U.S. noted when sanctioning Malofeev in Dec. 2014, the oligarch “is one of the main sources of financing for Russians promoting separatism in Crimea.”

View the complete February 8 article by Casey Michel on the ThinkProgress website here.

Belarusian model: I gave info on Trump to Russian tycoon

MOSCOW (AP) — A Belarusian model who claims to have information on ties between Russia and Donald Trump’s election campaign told The Associated Press on Friday that she has turned that material over to Russian billionaire businessman Oleg Deripaska.

Anastasia Vashukevich fueled speculation around possible ties between Trump and the Kremlin last year when she posted a video from a police van, saying she had 16 hours of audio and video proving ties between Russian officials and the Trump campaign that influenced the 2016 U.S. elections.

Deripaska denied the allegations and even went to court to seek to remove the video Vashukevich posted in which he discusses U.S.-Russia ties with a senior Russian government official.

View the complete February 1 article by Nataliya Vasilyeva on the Associated Press website here.  Iuliia Subbotovska contributed to this report.

Manafort filing accidentally reveals damning evidence of collusion

Paul Manafort’s attorneys accidentally revealed that their client is accused of sharing polling data from the 2016 election with a Russian operative.

Lawyers for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort have accidentally revealed information about their client that could provide the strongest evidence yet of direct coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Due to an apparent filing error, Manafort’s lawyers let slip that special counsel Robert Mueller’s team has accused Manafort of sharing polling data from the 2016 presidential election with a Russian operative — while Manafort was working with the Trump campaign — and later lying to Mueller about it.

Manafort’s attorneys submitted a new court filing Monday in response to special counsel Robert Mueller’s allegation that Manafort broke his September 2018 plea agreement by lying to federal investigators.

View the complete January 8 article by Carolin Orr on the ShareBlue.com website here.

‘Knock it off!’: Judge tears into Mueller-charged firm with a fiery exchange in open court

Judge Dabney Friedrich sparked a tense back-and-forth with the American lawyer for a firm charged in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation during a status conference on Monday.

Defense attorney Eric Dubelier, representing the firm Concord Management & Consulting, which is charged for it involvement in Russia’s troll farm activities aimed at influencing the 2016 election, had filed a harshly critical attack on Mueller as a part of his work for the client. Friedrich was not impressed.

“Judge slams defense lawyers for Russian firm charged by Mueller as ‘unprofessional, inappropriate & ineffective. ‘Knock it off!’ she added,” reported Politico’s Josh Gerstein, in an account matched by several other reporters in attendance.

View the complete January 7 article by Cody Fenwick on the AlterNet.org website here.

A Russian Oligarch Bought Maryland’s Election Vendor. Now These Senators Are Questioning the Rules

The following article by Niels Lesniewski was posted on the Roll Call website August 20, 2018:

Letter to Rules Committee follows request to Treasury Secretary Mnuchin

Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Benjamin L. Cardin are concerned about Russian ownership of a Maryland election contractor. Credit: Tom Williams, CQ Roll Call file photo

Maryland’s Democratic senators want a Senate committee to require disclosures of foreign investments in U.S. election systems, an alarm bell set off by a Russian oligarch’s connection to their state’s voter registration system.

The request to the Rules and Administration Committee comes from Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin and Sen. Chris Van Hollen. Van Hollen is also the chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

The Maryland senators have been alarmed by a Russian oligarch’s investment connection to ByteGrid LLC, which handles the Old Line State’s voter registration database and candidate management operations.

View the complete article here.

Michael Cohen payments put spotlight on New York investment firm linked to Russian billionaire

The following article by ROsalind S. Helderman, Michael Kranish and Steven Mufson was posted on the Washington Post website May 20, 2018:

Here’s a breakdown of the people that President Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen has dealt with and the investigations he’s entangled in. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

In June 2017, Michael Cohen, President Trump’s longtime personal attorney, had an invitation for one of his other clients: Would he like to attend a fundraiser for Trump’s reelection?

Andrew Intrater — the chief executive of Columbus Nova, a New York-based investment management firm linked to a Russian billionaire — paid the $35,000 donation to attend the event, which also benefited the Republican National Committee. Continue reading “Michael Cohen payments put spotlight on New York investment firm linked to Russian billionaire”

How money flowed through Michael Cohen’s multi-purpose shell company

The following article by Philip Bump was posted on the Washington Post website May 8, 2018:

When Stormy Daniels’s lawyer tweeted out bank records for President Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen, a whole new web of connections was unfurled. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

To keep news of a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels quiet, President Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen created a limited liability company in Delaware called Essential Consultants. Cohen said that he paid $130,000 of his own money into a bank account associated with the company and, from that account, transferred the money to Daniels’s attorney at the time, Keith Davidson.

The bank account, it seems, was a little busier than just that. Continue reading “How money flowed through Michael Cohen’s multi-purpose shell company”

Five things to know about Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska

The following article by Max Greenwood was posted on the Hill website April 7, 2018:

© Getty Images

The Trump administration’s decision to hit dozens of Russian oligarchs, companies and government officials with sanctions on Friday took direct aim at those close to President Vladimir Putin.

Among those hit by the penalties was Oleg Deripaska, a billionaire aluminum magnate who once had ties to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Continue reading “Five things to know about Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska”

Drudge’s Russian propaganda pipeline pushes Daily Caller op-ed by close Kremlin ally Oleg Deripaska

The following article by Matt Gertz was posted on the MediaMatters for America website March 9, 2018:

Drudge Report has linked more than 400 times to RT, Sputnik News, TASS since 2012

Conservative website The Daily Caller’s decision to publish an op-ed in which infamous Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska attacks special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into interference with the 2016 presidential election drew harsh criticism from journalists but quickly earned a link on The Drudge Report. Drudge regularly promotes Russian propaganda, providing more than 400 links to the websites of Russian state-media outlets RT, Sputnik, and Tass since 2012.

The incident points to a confluence of interests: Russians seeking to deflect from the scrutiny brought on by the Mueller investigation find a ready audience in American conservatives looking to excuse the shady and allegedly criminal behavior of Trump associates, helped along by right-wing media outlets. Continue reading “Drudge’s Russian propaganda pipeline pushes Daily Caller op-ed by close Kremlin ally Oleg Deripaska”