Thread by @SlatsHenry

/1 PSY-Group’s top executives not only have associations with SCL Group, Cambridge Analytica’s parent company, but Linkedin pages under their names outline connections to top levels of the Israeli government, including the Office of the Prime Minister.

bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

/2 The Bloomberg article posted above mentioned PSY-Group’s association with Cambridge Analytica. “In a contracting proposal for the U.S. State Department that PSY Group prepared with Cambridge Analytica and SCL Group, Cambridge’s U.K. affiliate, the firm said … “

/3 “ … that it “has conducted messaging/influence operations in well over a dozen languages and dialects” and that it employs “an elite group of high-ranking former officers from some of the world’s most renowned intelligence units.”

/4 Furthermore, the Bloomberg stated that the FBI had recently interviewed employees from PSY-Group’s Tel Aviv office, “FBI agents working with Mueller’s team interviewed people associated with PSY Group’s U.S. operations in February, …”

/5 “ … and Mueller subpoenaed bank records for payments made to the firm’s Cyprus bank accounts ... Though PSY Group is based in Israel, it’s technically headquartered in Cyprus, the small Mediterranean island famous for its banking secrecy.”

/6 “Shortly after those interviews ... PSY Group Chief Executive Officer Royi Burstien informed employees in Tel Aviv that the company was closing down. Burstien is a former commander of an Israeli psychological warfare unit,
according to two people familiar with the company.”

7/ Searching Linkedin for Royi Burstien, we find one entry under the name. Someone who graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in business/managerial economics from Tel Aviv University in 1997 and a MBA from the same institution in 2006.

/8 Furthermore, Burstien is listed as employed by the Government of Israel from 2003 to 2007 (4 years) as Head of Intelligence and R&D Branches

/9 Furthermore, Burstien is listed as being employed by the Government of Israel from May, 2009 to October, 2010 as Head of Planning and Analysis Branch, and then from October 2010 to December 2013 as Head of Intelligence Team.

10 According to Politico Influence, on or about March 1, 2017, Burstien was spotted at Old Ebbitt Grill, a Washington D.C. bar, celebrating the launch of the D.C. offices of PSY-Group with several other people.

politico.com/tipsheets/poli…

/11 According to Politico Influence, “At a cocktail hour celebrating the launch of the Washington office of the PSY-Group, a business and political intelligence firm with offices in London, Hong Kong and Cyprus, last night at the Old Ebbitt Grill, according to a PI tipster ..."

/12 “ … Mark Irion of Hogan Lovells, Kirsten Fontenrose of SCL Group, Kevin Cowl of the Middle East Institute, Demetrios Karoutsos of the Herald Group, Matt McMillan of BuzzMaker, Megan Wilson of The Hill, Dan Wagner of BuzzFeed News and PSY’s Royi Burstien and Scott Mortman."

/13 Kirsten Fontenrose, who was appointed in March, 2018 as Director of Gulf Affairs in President Trump’s National Security Council, previously worked in the Washington D.C. office of SCL Group, Cambridge Analytica’s parent company.

politico.com/story/2018/04/…

/14 Furthermore, according to BuzzFeed, at around the same time as the celebration noted above occurred, Fontenrose and Nigel Oakes, founder and CEO of SCL Group, met with DOD officials in the Pentagon, supposedly “just dropping in to say hello.”

buzzfeed.com/kendalltaggart…

/15 Searching Linkedin for PSY-Group’s Scott Mortman brings up one entry under that name, someone who graduated in 1988 from Harvard with a Bachelor’s Degree in Government, and then a law degree from Fordham.

/16 According to the Linkedin page, Mortman was employed as Advisor, Office of the Prime Minister of Israel from 2005 through to 2009 (4 years).

17/ As Advisor, Mortman “Advised and represented PMO on matters relating to international trade relations, foreign commerce and the promotion abroad of investment and industry within the State of Israel.”

18/ Furthermore, Mortman is listed as a shareholder from July 2012 to June 2015 in Greenberg Traurig LLP, Tel Aviv, a large global law firm founded in Miami FL with offices in the United States, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

gtlaw.com/en

19/ According to Mortman’s Linkedin page, he “Implemented and managed launch of first Israeli branch office for a foreign global law firm (Greenberg Traurig LLP). Developed new revenue streams and oversaw internal and external stakeholder relationship.”

20/ It's interesting to note that Rudy Giuliani left Bracewell to join Greenberg Traurig LLP in January, 2016, but recently exited the law firm to devote himself full-time to President Trump’s legal team.

nydailynews.com/news/politics/…

21/ Marc L. Mukasey, a high profile attorney who is now representing Joel Zamel, founder of PSY-Group, WikiStrat, and WhiteKnight, joined Greenberg Traurig LLP with Rudy Giuliani in 2016, but is still with the law firm.

gtlaw.com/en/professiona…

22/ Nevertheless, Giuliani and Mukasey are close professionally, and a recent CNN report indicate that Rudy is attempting to recruit his former colleague, now representing PSY-Group's Joel Zamel, from Greenberg Traurig to the Trump legal team.

cnn.com/2018/05/02/pol…