Yuri Vanetik: Master of selfies with GOP pols, Soviet emigre has a confounding past
idahostatesman.com/news/politics-…
idahostatesman.com/news/politics-…
Again, Kevin McCarthy's people REFUSED TO COMMENT re Yuri Vanetik.
Rohrabacher: “My daughters were the flower girls at his wedding. I consider him a friend, and he certainly has supported me politically, he donates to my campaign,” Rohrabacher said of Vanetik in an interview with McClatchy."
"Politico reported last July that Vanetik and a bodyguard joined Rohrabacher and other US lawmakers on trip to Germany and Holland...."
Then there’s the fact that during the Republican convention in Cleveland in 2016, Vanetik’s name appeared on an invitation to a private reception with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani..." 🚩
"a high-profile surrogate for candidate Donald Trump. Vanetik is listed as one of 14 members of a leadership committee for the Great America PAC, the largest pro-Trump PAC in the last election, which reported it raised more than $30 million."
Dan Backer of Great America PAC, now DENIES Yuri is/was tied to PAC. WHY?: “He was never on the board of directors,” said Dan Backer, general counsel for Great America. “As far as I know, I don’t think he’s ever done anything w/the org.”
Here's Yuri Vanetik, in Politico, speaking on behalf of Great America PAC:
Oh OK, it was AN ACCIDENT:
"Backer said the Californian was hit up for a donation and accidentally was placed on the list of bigwigs. But Politico’s reporters in May 2016 had interviewed Vanetik and described him as having signed on to the Great America PAC’s board."
"Backer said the Californian was hit up for a donation and accidentally was placed on the list of bigwigs. But Politico’s reporters in May 2016 had interviewed Vanetik and described him as having signed on to the Great America PAC’s board."
"When Soviet emigre Yuri Vanetik was appointed finance co-chair of New York state’s Republican party last February, it took a few people by surprise. The Southern California-based fundraiser, who had hauled in funds for the past two GOP presidential campaigns...."
"..didn’t seem to have deep connections to the Empire State.
But state party officials hailed him in a news release as a “tremendous asset.”
Cali Russian guy, promoted by NYGOP Republicans. Not odd at all, nope.
But state party officials hailed him in a news release as a “tremendous asset.”
Cali Russian guy, promoted by NYGOP Republicans. Not odd at all, nope.
"But state party officials hailed him in a news release as a “tremendous asset.”
What they didn’t know then was that Vanetik had misrepresented his academic bona fides, been involved in several civil suits..." He's got a RICO CASE, OK...
What they didn’t know then was that Vanetik had misrepresented his academic bona fides, been involved in several civil suits..." He's got a RICO CASE, OK...
Back to the article: "...including one in which he and his father were hit with a combined $4.75 million judgment for defrauding investors — and would soon be lobbying Congress on behalf of a controversial Ukrainian politician."
Kev, Kev Kev: Vanetik has given almost $11,000 from 2013 to 2016 to McCarthy, and he was on the national board of Gen Next, whose Gen Equity PAC gave almost $16,000 to the McCarthy Victory Fund, a PAC, in the 2016 election cycle, about a third of its total giving in that period."
"McCarthy and Vanetik intersect once again via controversial Ukrainian lawmaker Serhey Rybalka, who posted a photo last year of himself standing with the majority leader. Weeks later, Vanetik would BELATEDLY register as a FOREIGN AGENT representing Rybalka.
"....McCarthy spokesman Matt Sparks declined comment for this story."
Why decline to comment? Your plastered all over this dude's social media. EXPLAIN IT.
Why decline to comment? Your plastered all over this dude's social media. EXPLAIN IT.
"There's no evidence that Vanetik is under investigation...or that he factors into the ongoing probes of possible collusion between Russia and Trump campaign officials.
But Vanetik has operated in the same sphere as some figures in the Trump-Russia saga, including Paul Manafort"
But Vanetik has operated in the same sphere as some figures in the Trump-Russia saga, including Paul Manafort"
Yup. This pic, around same time NYGOP "promoted" him to a finance chair:
"Great America hit a rough patch in 2016 when British journalists posing as representatives of a Chinese businessman got a former PAC representative to pledge he’d route an illegal $2 million foreign donation to the PAC through a nonprofit that didn’t have to disclose its donors"
"A McClatchy investigation shows that some of the credentials Vanetik claims on his personal website, where he touts philanthropy and his love of fine wines, don’t stand up to scrutiny."
WE'VE BEEN SCREAMING FROM THE ROOFTOPS! DUDE'S A FRAUD!
WE'VE BEEN SCREAMING FROM THE ROOFTOPS! DUDE'S A FRAUD!
"Vanetik boasts that he was “class valedictorian” when he graduated from the University of Ca, Berkeley, in 1991. He also claims to have “graduated from the Anderson Business School at UCLA where he studied management.”
However..." LOL.....
However..." LOL.....
"...However, a list provided by Berkeley of winners of its University Medal for the last 146 years (Berkeley’s equivalent of a valedictorian) doesn’t include Vanetik’s name for 1991 or any other year." AND....
"At UCLA, officials said there are no enrollment records for Vanetik and that he did not get an MBA degree there. He did attend an executive program in 1991, which gave a certificate to participants taking one class per week over a period of months." A CERTIFICATE.
*^%#@!@!!
*^%#@!@!!
"Vanetik’s claim to have earned a law degree in 1998 from the University of CA's Hastings School of Law was confirmed by the school, but officials there said they could not confirm or deny whether he graduated with top honors."
1 out 4 claims not being fake, is good.
1 out 4 claims not being fake, is good.
They even link to our intrepid reporter @ScottMStedman "A few details about Vanetik have emerged in news reports over the past 18 months, including some recent deeper dives on the website Medium..." Yup...
"Vanetik’s apparent misrepresentations and the extent of CRIMINAL behavior of some of his business associates haven’t previously been reported.
Vanetik’s official bio also skips over the legal troubles his businesses and several associates have faced over the past 15 years...."
Vanetik’s official bio also skips over the legal troubles his businesses and several associates have faced over the past 15 years...."
"[Vanetik] has said he emigrated from Soviet Ukraine in 1976. Online biographies of his father, Anatoly “Tony” Vanetik, boast of his father’s role as a “renowned international businessman” who helped put in place Vladimir PUTIN'S law allowing charitable lotteries in 2000..." 🚩🚩
"Earlier, said one bio, Tony was appointed to head talks on behalf of U.S. engineering firms negotiating w/RUSSIA for the destruction of Soviet-era biological, chemical and nuclear weapons. McClatchy could find no publicly available diplomatic documents supporting this claim." 😏
"Although Vanetik and his father have set up numerous companies, at least on paper, over the years, NRG Resources Inc. is most frequently cited in court documents and litigation.
According to corporate documents, NRG Resources had at least two board members..." 🔥
According to corporate documents, NRG Resources had at least two board members..." 🔥
"One was Serge Lipatov, now a former executive in Russia’s state rail agency. Lipatov was arrested last November in Russia on bank embezzlement charges, according to media reports there." 🔥🔥🔥
Kazakh lawsuits. Recall, Trump has laundered Kazakh $$$ though his properties/companies. Interesting, ain't it?
"The most striking is a 2008 civil suit brought in CA by Kazakh investors claiming to have been cheated out of their stake in a second co, Turan Petroleum Inc..."
"The most striking is a 2008 civil suit brought in CA by Kazakh investors claiming to have been cheated out of their stake in a second co, Turan Petroleum Inc..."
"The investors, who allege that Yuri Vanetik set up the co, though on paper it was controlled by his father, said that a fellow Kazakh investor DIED under suspicious circumstances" Yeah, he DID:
con'td: "... and directly accused the elder Vanetik and his partner Naum Voloshin of ordering two hits on another investor, Yerkin Bektayev.
Bektayev was stabbed in Kazakhstan outside his office in July 2007..."
Bektayev was stabbed in Kazakhstan outside his office in July 2007..."
"...according to the suit, then warned the next time he’d be killed by gunfire. He was shot five times on Oct. 31, 2008, but survived to allege Tony Vanetik was behind both attempts." 🔥🔥🔥
Piece then goes into his many legal troubles in depth. Continues: "In rejecting a request on June 15, 2016, for a new trial, [a] court opined that the Vanetiks and Weed were “artful puppeteers” who scammed investors on the promise of Russian oil riches."
The judge, continuing: “Not a spoonful of dirt was turned in any Russian oil field,” the opinion said. “As near as the court can recall, there was no testimony that either of these defendants ever even visited the oil fields with any of the plaintiff’s money in their pockets.”
Back to MANAFORT: "Among the dozens of political photographs Vanetik posted on social media last year was one that showed him flashing a thumbs-up sign at a table next to Paul Manafort; both were involved in lobbying for Ukrainian politicians."
"The Feb photo came 8 mos before charges were brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller against the one-time Trump campaign chief for alleged financial and lobbying misdeeds, including failing to register as a foreign agent...."
"About three wks before Manafort was charged, Vanetik registered on Oct. 7 w/the Justice Department as a foreign agent. Like Manafort’s, Vanetik’s filing came well after his lobbying began."
And look at that, Yuri FINALLY regs as a FOREIGN AGENT. No coincidence there, nope! 😆
And look at that, Yuri FINALLY regs as a FOREIGN AGENT. No coincidence there, nope! 😆
Look at that! Yuri has opened a shop in Ukraine too! 👏🏽👏🏽 Just like Paul Manafort!
"In December 2016 Vanetik had quietly opened an office in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev to provide legal advice and political consulting."
"In December 2016 Vanetik had quietly opened an office in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev to provide legal advice and political consulting."
"When Vanetik eventually registered as a foreign agent, he identified himself as vice president of a company called Medowood Management, LLC, which lists its “corporate office” as being in Cheyenne, Wyoming. McClatchy’s Panama Papers reporting..." 🚨🚨🚨
"...reporting in 2016 found that state was favored by overseas Russians using secretive limited liability companies to camouflage their assets. Medowood’s founding predates Vanetik’s reg as a lobbyist and its original purposes are unknown."
Nice, RU mob likes Wyoming. 🚩🚩🚩
Nice, RU mob likes Wyoming. 🚩🚩🚩
Another tie to Trump campaign:
"Medowood’s filing indicated it had made payments totaling $25,000 to subcontractor Potomac International Partners, a Washington lobby run by MARK COWAN, a member of the Trump transition team and former CIA officer. "
"Medowood’s filing indicated it had made payments totaling $25,000 to subcontractor Potomac International Partners, a Washington lobby run by MARK COWAN, a member of the Trump transition team and former CIA officer. "
"..Potomac’s own FARA...notes the lobbying was on foreign policy issues and issues of concern to Ukraine’s Agrarian Party. Cowan declined further comment."
All these ppl don't want to talk about WHY they're reg'g as FOREIGN AGENTS. I thought that was the point, get the word out!
All these ppl don't want to talk about WHY they're reg'g as FOREIGN AGENTS. I thought that was the point, get the word out!
"The registration documents for Vanetik show he also lobbied on behalf of Serhey Rybalka, a wealthy Ukrainian businessman w/farm and snack-food interests who now heads the banking committee in his country’s legislature."
"Rybalka is affiliated not with the Agrarian Party but with the ultra-nationalist Radical Party, whose leader Oleg Lyashko claimed last year on his Facebook page that his 10-year US. VISA HAD BEEN REVOKED shortly after it had been issued."
"Media reports in Ukraine allege Rybalka’s snack-food company has been EXPORTING TO CRIMEA against international bans following Russia’s seizure of the peninsula in 2014. That same year, Ukrainian media reported an assassination attempt on Rybalka."
Nice Yuri! 🙃
Nice Yuri! 🙃
"None of this, however, seems to have caught the attn of the people w/whom Vanetik posed for countless photos, or who turned to him to raise money for political campaigns.
But at least one doesn’t see any issues with Vanetik’s past. " Can ya''ll take a guess who that is? 😳🙄
But at least one doesn’t see any issues with Vanetik’s past. " Can ya''ll take a guess who that is? 😳🙄
“I don’t know a businessman who hasn’t had those kind of probs so I can’t fence myself off from anybody and allegations of business upheavals like that,” said ROHRABACHER, adding that “allegations are always made by people’s enemies who want to make it sound as bad as they can”😆
"Vanetik’s background came as an unpleasant surprise to the New York state GOP when McClatchy shared its findings, though."
Oh really, someone in NYGOP actually cared? You mean they didn't know that Yuri is RU mob? 😆🤣
Oh really, someone in NYGOP actually cared? You mean they didn't know that Yuri is RU mob? 😆🤣
“It's a volunteer position in which cursory vetting is conducted, but clearly he did not reveal this information otherwise we would have rejected his offer to help,” said Proud.
Vanetik is no longer affiliated with the state party, she said." Yeah right....🙄
Vanetik is no longer affiliated with the state party, she said." Yeah right....🙄
Here's Yuri with Dana Rohrabacher, and Ed Cox of NYGOP. Ed Cox is a KITCHEN CABINET ADVISOR TO TRUMP 🚩🚩🚩...
THEY ALL KNOW and don't care. Yuri's shady ties are a feature - not a bug - to these people:
Great piece @KevinGHall 👏🏽👏🏽 many people have been pointing out Yuri Vanetik for mos. You should dig on his ties to Ed Cox of NYGOP 😉 Cox sent Carter Page to Trump 🚩 (He's pic'd w/Cox towards the end of this THREAD) Also, Gen Next is good digging, Kev McCarthy's a member 🚩
Ed Cox is also a director at Noble Energy, an oil company based in TX, yet also operates in the Leviathan oil shelf:
Noble ties to Ratio in their oil deals, and Ratio ties to Inovo. Inovo is Ekim Alptekin, and that brings us to Michael Flynn 🚩🚩🚩
Ed Cox NYGOP and Giuliani:
Yuri in Turkey, same week as Dana Rohrabacher and Flynn are meeting about Turkey in DC:
I need to correct my 6am bleary-eyed mistake above: need to tag in reporter @Erinlank, as she co-wrote the piece w/ @scottstedman that is being linked to by the McClatchy reporter @KevinGHall, in his explosive piece about Republican bundler, Yuri Vanetik:
idahostatesman.com/news/politics-…
idahostatesman.com/news/politics-…
Why does a Republican bundler need a BODYGUARD to travel to Germany and Holland? Is he carrying around bags of $$$$? 🤔🙄
Also, recall, Yuri Vanetik has a #TrumpPanama condo he purchased in 2007; recently @ScottMStedman and @Erinlank discovered that #TrumpPanama is directly linked to #TrumpMoscow via one man: 🔥🔥🔥
(11/17) Ex-head of the board of directors of FC Lokomotiv [Serge Lipatov] was suspected of a large embezzlement
rbc.ru/business/15/11…
rbc.ru/business/15/11…
Yup, there's Yuri Vanetik's name, with Eric Beach (caught on audio recording accepting foreign $$$ into Great America PAC), Ed Rollins (it was reported this week that Rollins lamented he was jealous of Manafort's prowess to raise illegal $$$ offshore): 
...Eric Beach with Trump, the day he was caught on audio discussing laundering foreign 🇨🇳 $$$ thru PACs...
telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/2…
telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/2…
and Ed Rollins saying he's jealous about Manafort's $$$ laundering prowess:
Quotes on Ed Rollins are in this piece:
Well, Rick Gates did say Manafort has a "whole separate shadow gov't structure" in Ukraine. I wonder if that involves Yuri? 🤔
Mark Cowan, the Trump transition team member that Vanetik is close too, is here: "China-owned 🇨🇳oil company cozies up to Washington"
thehill.com/business-a-lob…
thehill.com/business-a-lob…
Well, let me correct: I don't know if they're close, yet the two orgs the men both represent, are tied together via the #FARA reg mentioned above.
He does donate to Rohrabacher. And Kevin McCarthy. And Rand Paul. Oddly, he gave to HRC and DNC in 2016 cycle too. WHY? 🤔 Only cycle he donated to Dems. (They cycle that he went to RUSSIA too, right before e-mails dropped 🚩🚩🚩) 
