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Adam Klasfeld @KlasfeldReports
, 12 tweets, 4 min read Read on Twitter
SDNY inbox: Senior FinCEN Employee Arrested and Charge with Unlawfully Disclosing SARS [Suspicious Activity Reports]

"The illegally disclosed SARs pertained to, among other things, Paul Manafort, Richard Gates, the Russian Embassy, Mariia Butina, and Prevezon Alexander."
The 18-page complaint names the headlines of articles based on the leaked SARs.

Starting with this one in BuzzFeed: "Secret Finding: 60 Russian Payments 'To Finance Election Campaign Of 2016'" buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonl…
Prosecutors describe the leak as to "a" news organization for 12 articles.

Here's the complaint: documentcloud.org/documents/5004…
The dozen articles were published for a year: between October 2017 until Oct. 15, 2018, prosecutors say.
"During the interview described herein, EDWARDS told the Interviewing Agents, in sum and substance, that she is a 'whistleblower' who provided the SARS to Reporter-1 for 'record keeping.'" #AlwaysReadTheFootnotes
If the allegations in this complaint are accurate, Edwards leaked the information behind this BuzzFeed scoop on Monday - typing TD Bank to the Prevezon scandal. buzzfeednews.com/article/azeeng…
Also cited in the complaint: "Here Is The Money Trail From The Russian 'Agent' And Her Republican Partner." buzzfeednews.com/amphtml/jasonl…
This story is quoted - without the headline - in the complaint.
"Investigators Are Scrutinizing Newly Uncovered Payments By The Russian Embassy" buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonl…
Another report in the series showed that "just 10 days after the US presidential election in 2016," feds noticed "a $120,000 lump-sum check to then-ambassador Sergey Kislyak that was twice as large as any payment he’d received in the previous two years." buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonl…
Note: Edwards is NOT accused of leaking SARs to Ronan Farrow for his report over Michael Cohen's financial records, but it's worth re-reading the final graf of Farrow's report on the gravity of leaking SARs - and why his source leaked.

Same stated motive

newyorker.com/news/news-desk…
That is to say, BuzzFeed's source - and the New Yorker's - have both claimed that they had concerns that the SARs would not have been preserved if they did not leak to the press.
Developing story on the charges against BuzzFeed's source. Much more to come. courthousenews.com/fincen-officia…
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More from @KlasfeldReports see all

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Prosecutors claim that indicted attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya fabricated supposed findings from a mutual legal assistance treaty. @PeteBrush dug up that Russian MLAT, and it's signed by "S.A. Karapetyan."

A top Russian prosecutor with that name died in a copter crash last year.
Just as prosecutors allege, the Russian MLAT clears itself and vilifies an "Investment Company" throughout, in particular, Bill Browder's Hermitage Capital.

Here's a story on the death of Karapetyan, whose name matches the one on the doc's signature. rferl.org/amp/russian-pr…
It should be noted that figures connected to the Prevezon case, believed to be tied to Russian organized crime, have a habit of encountering misfortune.

After Magnitsky's death in a Moscow prison, his family's attorney survived a four-story fall from his Moscow apartment.
Read 5 tweets
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🚨 MAJOR: Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian attorney in the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting, charged with obstruction of justice in the Prevezon case.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said she fabricated evidence.
Remember when Donald Trump, Jr. claimed that he "mostly talked about adoptions" with Veselnitskaya at the Trump Tower meeting?

That's Russia's response to sanctions over the death of Sergei Magnitsky, a key figure in the Prevezon case.

Background: courthousenews.com/judge-enforces…
The sealed indictment was docketed on Dec. 20, 2018.

You can find the unsealed 18-page indictment here. documentcloud.org/documents/5677…
Read 8 tweets
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Take the quote: “Impeach the motherfucker.”

It seems to me that a serious journalist should contextualize the operative verb “impeach.” The noun “motherfucker” typically requires little additional context.
For instance, how many people know that the day Rep. Tlaib made that remark, she co-wrote an op-ed with a constitutional attorney laying out the grounds they would cite?

Or that, a day earlier, her colleague Rep. Sherman announced plans to introduce articles of impeachment?
I spoke to Tlaib’s co-author in the below op-ed, attorney John Bonifaz, on Friday, to discuss the push for impeachment, touching upon the grounds, timing, momentum and more.

Look out for a story next week on the substance beyond the swear word. freep.com/story/opinion/…
Read 3 tweets

Related threads

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Natalie Mayflower Sours Edwards is facing charges of illegally disclosing Treasury Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) to @JasonLeopold. His byline was in all 11 articles cited in the court documents.
nbcnews.com/politics/justi…
SARs are filed by banks in order to confidentially notify law enforcement of potentially illegal financial transactions. The documents leaked by Edwards starting in October 2017 were used as the basis for the news articles.
Edwards is also accused of sending Leopold internal Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) emails and documents including confidential memos and intelligence assessments that contained various threat assessments to individuals and businesses.
Read 3 tweets
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💰FINCEN💰

US intel are very convinced that Saudi CP MBS is culpable in the killing of Khashoggi, challenging a WH intent on maintaining a close relationship w/ KSA.

RR defends SC Probe as ‘appropriate & Independent’
& the probe has revealed widespread RU effort to elect Trump
💰FINCEN2💰

Of course the NSA has the adio of the gruesome details of the Khashoggi killing, despite Trump & Pompeo’s denials.

Saudi Delivers $100M to US as Pompeo Lands in Riyadh

SPompeo met with Erdogan, re the killing of Khoshoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
💰FINCEN3💰

Saudi officials promised consequences for anyone, even a member of the royal family, found responsible.
.
🐢& GOP call to cut Social Security, Medicare to pay for the massive tax cut for the GOP gave the wealthy.

SA has a $6M lobbying payroll despite departures
Read 83 tweets
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Senior FinCen Employee Arrested And Charged With Unlawfully Disclosing SARs | USAO-SDNY | Department of Justice
Who’s the Reporter 1?
Who’s the co-conspirator?
justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/s…
October 2017-2018
EDWARDS unlawfully disclosed numerous SARs to Reporter-1
published over approximately 12 articles
The illegally disclosed SARs pertained to, among other things, Paul Manafort, Richard Gates, the Russian Embassy, Mariia Butina, and Prevezon Alexander
JFC
Mother pucker: throw the book at Edwards.
I don’t think all of these articles & reporter 1 & 2 are all buzzfeed. Pretty sure the WSJ wrote 2 or 3 articles about Peter Smith
Read 14 tweets
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DOJ has filed criminal charges against a Treasury Dep't official alleging a conspiracy to leak confidential "suspicious activity reports" about Paul Manafort, Rick Gates and others to a BuzzFeed reporter.
The official, a FinCen senior adviser, saved the encrypted messages she exchanged with a reporter. Agents said they found them after searching her cellphone.
DOJ alleges that the FinCen employee, Natalie Mayflower Sours Edwards, saved 24,000 suspicious activity reports to a thumb drive.
Read 8 tweets
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🔥WHOA🔥

The USG official leaked Cohen’s financial records b/c the official became “alarmed” after being unable to find 2 suspicious-activity reports on Cohen in a government database & worried the info was being withheld from law enforcement‼️ 1/

newyorker.com/news/news-desk…
Two previous suspicious-activity reports (SARS) documented **even larger flows of questionable money** into Cohen’s account👉🏼>$3 million‼️ Which individuals or corporations remains a mystery.🤨 2/

#Coverup
#Bribery
#Corruption
The 2 SARS were *absent* from #FinCEN’s database: “I have never seen something pulled off the system. That system is a safeguard for the bank. It’s a stockpile of info. When something’s not there that should be, I immediately became concerned. That’s why I came forward.”😳 3/
Read 23 tweets
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This big story by @JasonLeopold and @a_courmier_ shows how #FinCEN uses it’s suspicious activity reports/SARs collected from financial institutions (like Citibank here) to track illicit financing and connect the dots for $ laundering. You can bet Mueller has it if he wants it.
Please excuse spelling errors. A few words about SARS - #FinCEN requires banks, financial institutions, wire transfer companies, money services businesses, jewelers, etc. to file reports documenting suspicious banking activities that they witness online or in person./2
So for example, if you normally make deposits at one rate and pace, and all of a sudden your accounts starts receiving deposits once a month for $300,000 from a non-employer, your bank may file that as a SAR with FinCEN. Or if a guy walks into a bank with $19,000 in cash, and /3
Read 15 tweets

Trending hashtags

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