Exclusive: A @BuzzFeedNews and @OCCRP investigation reveals American Conservatives worked with the founder of the first so-called fake news site in Macedonia. One of these Americans is now running for office. Story and thread: buzzfeednews.com/article/craigs…
We’ve learned that these US politics sites in Macedonia are now the focus of two investigations by Macedonian officials in cooperation with Western European intelligence and the FBI. There are 20 people of interest, including one Russian. The Americans are not on the list.
One person on the list of people interest is well-known Macedonian media attorney, Trajche Arsov. In Sept. 2015 he registered the domain usapoliticstoday.com. It’s the earliest US politics site we found in Macedonia. He is patient zero, though he initially denied any role.
In 2016, he worked closely with two Americans, Ben Goldman and Paris Wade. They own a hyperpartisan conservative site called Liberty Writers News. Wade and his brother both wrote for Arsov’s site, as did other Americans, one of whom currently works for the Gateway Pundit.
Paris Wade is a Republican candidate for Nevada State Assembly. Like Arsov, he initially denied involvement with Macedonian publishers. His partner, Ben Goldman, later issued a statement that acknowledged they worked with Arsov. If Wade/Goldman seem familiar, here's why... 
Our report about fake news from Macedonia, from Nov 3: buzzfeednews.com/article/craigs…
Wash. Post profile of two US guys — Wade and Goldman — running a hyperpartisan conservative site, Nov. 20: washingtonpost.com/national/for-t…
Turns out these two hugely viral stories were completely connected.
Wash. Post profile of two US guys — Wade and Goldman — running a hyperpartisan conservative site, Nov. 20: washingtonpost.com/national/for-t…
Turns out these two hugely viral stories were completely connected.
Arsov, Wade, and Goldman all said they had no idea authorities were investigating the news sites in Macedonia. They all say they did not break the law. Wade and Goldman are not under investigation as of now. There is no suggestion that anyone under investigation broke the law
Now let's talk about the Russian that investigators are looking at. Her name is Anna Bogacheva and she worked for Russian troll farm, the Internet Research Agency. She was indicted by special counsel Mueller earlier this year. And she was in Macedonia the summer of 2015.
Here's Bogachva's passport photo. Her time in Macedonia came 3 months before Arsov bought his first US politics domain name. There's nothing else connecting her to him or the sites. PLEASE don't claim the IRA started these sites. But it's something investigators are looking at.
What's striking is that Americans partnered with (and even worked for) a Macedonian during a *US election* for one main reason: he had a big Facebook page, a truly international form of currency. I wrote more about this dynamic here: buzzfeednews.com/article/craigs…
Please be sure to note all of the bylines on the story: @AubreyBelford @saskac and @jlfeder. We and @OCCRP had multiple people in Macedonia chasing this. We also got extra reporting from @JasonLeopold, @JaneLytv and Maja Jovanovska.
