Thread by @jedshug

THREAD: Barr's Conflicts:
Outstanding by @CrisLeeMaza on Bill Barr's financial ties to Russia-related entities:
1. Howard Lorber's Vector Group (@DonaldJTrumpJr allegedly called Lorber about Trump Tower meeting)
2. AlfaBank
3. Ochs-Ziff
4. DeutscheBank.
newsweek.com/so-many-confli…

2/ This isn't evidence of actual bias, but that's not the standard.
As I told @CrisLeeMaza, “The legal standard is not actual conflict, it’s about the appearance of a conflict, appearance of bias."
A remarkable number of Russia-related ties raises concerns about Barr's judgment.

3/ Howard Lorber's Vector:
Barr earned $5K-$15K in dividends. Based on what sized investment?
Lorber brought Trump to Moscow in the 1990s, and he's tied to Trump Tower Moscow.
@DonaldJTrumpJr allegedly called Lorber about Trump Tower meeting w/ Russian agent. ("I love it.")

4/ Alfa Bank:
Georgetown's Michael Frisch: “In terms of a lawyer’s prof. codes, it’s definitely legally significant if [Barr] is in counsel position. If he is counsel & ... he isn’t personally working on a matter but the company is, the company’s conflicts are imputed to him.”

5/ Och-Ziff:
Veselnitskaya focused on Browder and the Prevezon case, for which she was indicted. (Manafort's Tower notes mention Browder). Browder is connected to the Ziff brothers, and the Russian govt had been focused intently on the ZIffs:
thedailybeast.com/report-russian…

6/ Barr was a board director of Och-Ziff Capital Management from 2016 to 2018.
Ziff pays a role in one of the core events in the Russia investigation (Browder/Magnitsky/Trump Tower). I'm not sure if it creates an actual bias, but it raises questions about an appearance of bias.

7/ Last but not least: DeutscheBank
"Barr has significant assets ($100K-$250K) with DeutscheBank, the only bank that would lend to Trump... The bank has also been implicated in Russian money-laundering scandals." Today, a House committee subpoenaed Deutsche Bank.

8/ I and the other legal commentators in @CrisLeeMaza's article do not argue that there is evidence of an actual concrete conflict. But this remarkable number of problematic ties suggests an appearance of bias... and questionable legal judgment, on top of his other major errors.

9/ But this combination of ties suggests an actual bias: Barr appears to be one who supports financial relations w/ Russia and/or whose legal & financial relationships would make him sympathetic to Russian capital and Russian contacts.
Barr has a remarkably pro-Russia portfolio.

10/ Reminder: DeutscheBank was caught in a $10B Russian money-laundering scheme and paid a massive fine in Jan. 2017, after its ties to Trump - as the only western bank that would continue to loan him money - were widely reported as questionable in 2016. money.cnn.com/2017/01/31/inv…