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Adam Klasfeld Profile picture
@KlasfeldReports
Sep 20, 2020 • 8 tweets • 3 min read • Read on X
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Part 3:

The day of his arrest for a record-breaking sanctions-busting scheme, Reza Zarrab planned scuba diving trips in Florida.

Zarrab’s divemaster chronicled his high life online: yachts, submersibles, & partying with rapper Ludacris.

Another @CourthouseNews / @OCCRP 🔽
This is a deep dive into the lavish life of money launderer Reza Zarrab, known as the “Turkish Gatsby” for his high living, access to top government officials, and his marriage to Ebru Gündeş, a famous Turkish singer and actress.

It’s also the story of his divemaster.
Before Reza Zarrab’s arrest made him a notorious money launderer, he dreamed of being French ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau.

“He was constantly watching videos about Jacques Cousteau’s research,” the former captain of his superyacht 60 Years said in an interview.
Reza Zarrab’s love for the sea put him in contact with divemaster Adam Wood, who was with the now-convicted money launderer on the day of his arrest in Miami International Airport.

Wood has never been accused of any wrongdoing.
Divemaster Adam Wood appeared dazzled by Reza Zarrab’s lifestyle: He documented his travels, boats, dining, watches and wealth on Facebook and Instagram.

He posted this photo at Istanbul’s Ataturk International Airport on the day of Zarrab’s arrest.
Authorities detained the divemaster at the time of Reza Zarrab’s arrest. He has never been accused of wrongdoing.

SDNY declined comment on his story too.
The divemaster backed out of a previously agreed-upon interview with my colleague, telling him: “I don’t really have time for this.”

He has deleted a CV on his website boasting of having served as “project manager” for Zarrab’s Royal Holding, working “directly for the owner.”
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More from @KlasfeldReports

Adam Klasfeld Profile picture
May 21
This isn’t a legal document.

It’s a PR document that in parts contradicts how the legal document reveals how the fund will actually operate.

Some examples 🧵⬇️
PR Document: "There is no partisan restriction."

Here's how the plainly partisan way in which the legal document defines the "representative" conduct. Image
PR Document: Trump, his family and the Trump Organization won't receive any monetary compensation or damages from it.

Half-true, but there's a big asterisk: "Claimants can include entities," which is why sources told ABC News that Trump's entities could apply. Image
Read 13 tweets
Adam Klasfeld Profile picture
May 20
The “confidential investigation documents” that Patel evasively alludes to is Volume II of the Jack Smith report, per the indictment.

It’s the only special counsel final report in US history that’s not been publicly released, as a result of Judge Cannon’s order at Trump’s urging.Image
... Also true and relevant context.
Lineberger's case was filed in the Southern District of Florida's Fort Pierce division, virtually guaranteeing a favorable judicial assignment for Trump DOJ.

Instead of Cannon, the case goes to newly minted Judge Ed Artau, who has this tangled history. politico.com/news/2025/06/2…
Read 5 tweets
Adam Klasfeld Profile picture
May 6
Trump DOJ opposes the release of SPLC grand jury transcripts, but what the memo *doesn't* say speaks volumes. Feds don't dispute the SPLC's account of the Trump admin's "gross misrepresentations" about the informant program.

Instead, the US Attorney says that's "not relevant."

Why that matters.🧵Moreover, the public comments in question—whether the SPLC ever shared information obtained by its field sources with law enforcement—are simply not relevant to the charges in the indictment. This case is about fraudulently obtaining money from donors, lying to banks, and concealing payments to the same organizations the SPLC publicly told donors they were fighting against. (Doc. 1 at 3–6). What, if anything, the SPLC did with the information it obtained through field sources is not relevant to the charges.
The SPLC's motion seeking the grand jury records rattled off a series of "false statements" by Trump and his surrogates about Charlottesville and the informants program.

The group said info gathered there thwarted a terrorist attack and led to arrests. allrisenews.com/p/splc-tipped-…
Debunking Trump's revisionist history of Charlottesville, SPLC said it handed the FBI a 45-page “Event Alert” with informant-gathered information.

The dossier tipped off agents about the names, photos, criminal histories and "weapons of choice of the people there."
Read 6 tweets
Adam Klasfeld Profile picture
Apr 23
By the DOJ's own account, the SPLC's informant program was cheap and effective.

For a fraction of a *percentage* of their annual budget, SPLC penetrated the nation's worst hate groups and published their secrets with info from their turncoats.

The DOJ's case assumes donors felt defrauded by this. buff.ly/cwTnYg6
The Trump DOJ alleges that the SPLC spent about $3 million on informants over the course of a *decade.*

Check out of the SPLC's revenue and expenditures from 2024, the last fiscal year records were public. That's a typical year, and it's a drop in the bucket. projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/org…Image
In return, SPLC infiltrated the KKK, the neo-Nazis, and other extremist groups, and they shared their secrets with federal law enforcement until Kash Patel put an end to that last October.
Read 4 tweets
Adam Klasfeld Profile picture
Apr 14
Two Trump appointees on the D.C. Circuit panel blocked Boasberg from even INVESTIGATING contempt of court related to the March 2025 flights to El Salvador.

The dissent: "Without the contempt power, the rule of law is an illusion, a theory that stands upon shifting sands."

Opinions buff.ly/4kr3ALC"Contempt of court is a public offense, and the fate of our democratic republic will depend on whether we treat it as such. In the many forms in which it can be committed, contempt degrades the power that the People, through their Constitution and Congress, gave the federal courts. Without the contempt power, the rule of law is an illusion, a theory that stands upon shifting sands. For contempt offends not only the authority of whichever judge has been subjected to such incursions, but it also offends our system of governance. Addressing contempt is, therefore, a responsibility that is...
This is the second time Judges Rao and Walker granted a writ of mandamus, an "extraordinary" rebuke of a lower court judge.

But Walker went out of the way to praise Boasberg, saying he was in a tough spot even as Walker overruled him. The district court needed to make a quick decision. The facts on the ground were changing, jurisdiction was unclear, and the merits depended on the meaning of a statute from the 1700s that hadn’t been invoked in the past 75 years.6 I do not envy the position of any judge facing such time pressure to make hard and high-stakes legal decisions. Fortunately, the trial judge assigned to this case had more than two decades of judicial experience, with a widely respected record of dispassionate decisionmaking.
The nuance here will be important to note in light of the Trump DOJ's campaign to vilify Boasberg, whose D.C. Circuit peers largely stood up for him even when his rulings didn't hold.
Read 4 tweets
Adam Klasfeld Profile picture
Mar 10
A hearing over Anthropic's lawsuit against the Pentagon is underway: The AI giant's lawyer Michael Mongan asks for a hearing as early as Friday.

“There really are irreparable injuries that are concrete and are mounting every day.”

Judge Lin appears skeptical about moving too quickly.
Trump's government has been "affirmatively reaching out to [Anthropic's] customers" and urging them not to work with the company, per Mongan.
DOJ Attorney James Harlow pushes for a March 18
Read 4 tweets

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