He has been known to Russian intelligence since at least 1977. His first father-in-law was a Czech informer, and his first wife received favors based on that. Ten years later the Russian ambassador buttered him up and suggested a Trump Tower in Moscow.
This was at a time when they lacked for targets and specifically sought the arrogant, vain, etc. Once they got you in Russia, they cast the lures and saw where you bit.
If you did, they might sit on the material for years. I don't know if he did, or if so what it was. Nobody does. But I suspect he may not have needed to.
As I wrote after Helsinki, it's no accident he came back to prominence in the early 21st century when Russian money started flowing into New York. I expect he "invests" for them for a "fee."
They allow him to appear as rich as he pretends, and it was a good bet for them; he was a laughingstock. No one would look twice. The Russians may simply understand that being exposed as a relative pauper is a fate worse than death for him.
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