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Jason Leopold Profile picture
@JasonLeopold
Sep 28, 2020 • 4 tweets • 3 min read • Read on X
In 2018, @a_cormier_ & I wrote about a series of suspicious financial transactions that was reported to FinCEN involving Emin and Aras Agalarov that immediately preceded & followed the Trump Tower meeting in June 2016 #FinCENfiles

buzzfeednews.com/article/anthon…

buzzfeednews.com/article/anthon…
We followed that up with this story this week

A Russian Billionaire With Close Ties To Putin Made Suspicious Payments To Nobu

The high-end sushi empire received $600,000 as part of a deal with Aras Agalarov, a friend of Donald Trump's

buzzfeednews.com/article/johnte… #FinCENFiles
We now know that Mueller didn't really follow through on the revelations we disclosed in 2018
A month after @a_cormier_ & I reported about the suspicious financial transactions involving the Agalarovs, the US bank accounts used by their business, Crocus, were shut down

motherjones.com/politics/2018/…

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More from @JasonLeopold

Jason Leopold Profile picture
Feb 21
NEW FOIA Files newsletter is out

USAID told me it can’t release documents via #FOIA due to “recent developments”

Meanwhile, a memo I obtained sent to DHS FOIA officers this week directs them to “maximize transparency” when processing FOIA requests
bloomberg.com/news/newslette…
Just a month into Trump’s second presidency, the FOIA has made its way into the swirling, political chaos. The administration’s mass firings of federal employees has impacted FOIA operations at some agencies, jeopardizing the public’s ability to access records.
A few weeks ago, USAID was targeted for closure by billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Nearly all of USAID’s employees were fired or placed on administrative leave.
Read 11 tweets
Jason Leopold Profile picture
Feb 14
A FOIA Files SCOOP: Elon Musk’s DOGE Targets #FOIA Requests at Agency Under its Purview

DOGE also wants to be notified when there’s any attempt at oversight from Congress, inspectors general, even the Government Accountability Office. Image
Earlier this week, I reported on DOGE’s takeover of the CFPB. One of the standout documents I reviewed was an “Assignment Agreement,” or a memorandum of understanding between DOGE and CFPB that bears the seal of the Executive Office of the President.
It explained that authority for the CFPB operation emanated from a Jan. 20 executive order and would center on “software modernization.” It also said DOGE "will discuss projects and the overall engagement with CFPB on an as needed basis."
Read 7 tweets
Jason Leopold Profile picture
Dec 20, 2024
NEW: The last edition of FOIA Files this year! This week, we’re going out on a lighter note & highlighting the Deep Cuts—the redacted, obscure & overlooked docs buried in stacks of newsworthy releases that are so good they could have been hit singles!
bloomberg.com/news/newslette…
Thank you to everyone who has subscribed and helped make my weekly newsletter a success. It’s been an amazing 1st year, despite the fact that govt agencies have tried to wear me down by throwing roadblocks in my way. But I’m well aware that obtaining documents via FOIA is a battle so I was prepared.
Since I launched FOIA Files nine months ago, I’ve liberated more than 6,000 pages of documents on a wide-range of issues and shared them with the public. (If you missed any of the previous 35 editions you can find them here.)
bloomberg.com/authors/AV1xN7…
Read 4 tweets
Jason Leopold Profile picture
Dec 15, 2024
🧵 If you can spare a couple of hours, please read this groundbreaking, yearlong global investigation by my @business colleagues into the money, opportunity & exploitation into the booming fertility industry. I guarantee once you start reading you won't be able to stop

🎁 bloomberg.com/graphics/2024-…
To tell its story, my colleagues follow a teenage girl in India, lured into selling her eggs; a model in Argentina whose genetic makeup is prized; a mother in Greece, told by police that her eggs were stolen; and two “egg girls” from Taiwan who have put themselves at risk to earn money in the US.
This project began when Kanoko Matsuyama, a health-care reporter in Bloomberg’s Tokyo bureau, noticed that private equity firms were snapping up in vitro fertilization clinics around the world
Read 9 tweets
Jason Leopold Profile picture
Nov 22, 2024
🔎 Here's the backstory about the ODNI intelligence memo on Putin campaign to assassinate his enemies I exclusively obtained after pursuing it for years.

🧵 Image
Lawmakers tucked language inside a 2016 intelligence spending bill that tasked ODNI with preparing a classified intelligence assessment for the committees. Specifically, it was to be about “the use of political assassinations as a form of statecraft by the Russian Federation since January 1, 2000.”Image
The directive from Congress, which the public was unaware of at the time, also called for ODNI to produce a list of prominent Russians, including politicians, businessmen and journalists, “that the intelligence community assesses were assassinated by Russian Security Services”
Read 15 tweets
Jason Leopold Profile picture
Oct 25, 2024
NEW FOIA Files newsletter is out!

Emails and text messages obtained by FOIA Files from the US Forest Service reveal how investigators responded to threats aimed at FEMA personnel who were aiding victims of Hurricane Helene in North Carolina Image
After my former @BuzzFeedNews colleague @bri_sacks (a kickass reporter) broke the story in WaPo that
a North Carolina man—armed with an assault rifle—threatened FEMA personnel, forcing them to be relocated I deployed the Freedom of Information Act to see what else I could find out.
Using the FOIA to report breaking news is really difficult because federal agencies are required to respond to requests within 20 working days, long past the date of “breaking” news. But there are ways journalists can speed up the process. You can ask an agency to grant you expedited processing because there’s a threat to life and safety and an urgency to inform the public about actual government activity. That cuts the response time down to 10 calendar days if you can make a compelling case and the agency agrees.
Read 13 tweets

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