Ex-Trump advisers help to grow pro-Russia website that spreads misinformation

George Papadopoulos, his wife Simona Mangiante and others are editorial board directors of Intelligencer, a growing source of news in rightwing circles, by @MattBernardini7

theguardian.com/us-news/2024/s… Fascinating article


Adding related item

Four Intelligencer editorial board members - George Papadopoulos, Simona Mangiante, Olga Ravasi and Igor Lopatonok - launched Christian Orthodox Coalition Inc nonprofit with Onisim Dorneanu
theguardian.com/us-news/2024/s…
opencorporates.com/companies/us_f…

Behind the Trump Crypto Project Is a Self-Described ‘Dirtbag of the Internet’

‘If you do this right, who f---ing cares if it goes to zero,’ Chase Herro once said of crypto.

Herro is the dealmaker behind World Liberty Financial, crypto project promoted by Donald Trump & his sons

https://twitter.com/ZekeFaux/status/1834580206557749311

“You can literally sell s--- in a can, wrapped in piss, covered in human skin, for a billion dollars if the story's right, because people will buy it,” Herro said about crypto in a 2018

Herro was introduced to the Trumps by Steve Witkoff and his son Zach
bloomberg.com/news/features/…

Trump's latest shady deal is a crypto project linked to a $2 million DeFi hack and former pick-up artist

A white paper on World Liberty Financial lists 4 people who had worked on Dough Finance which was hacked in July, via @CoinDesk

coindesk.com/business/2024/… The World Liberty Financial team includes "Chief Crypto Advocate" Donald Trump, Eric, Don Jr, and Barron is the project's "DeFi visionary"

Trump friend and property developer Steve Witkoff, his son Zach Witkoff and lawyer Alex Golubitsky are also involved
coindesk.com/business/2024/…

Dimitri and Anastasia Simes charged - for allegedly conspiring to provide services to and launder over $1 million from sanctioned Russian broadcaster Channel One Russia; Anastasi allegedly provided art and antiques to sanctioned oligarch Aleksandr Udodov

justice.gov/opa/pr/tv-pres… 2020 story by @toddprincetv on Udodov

The Armani-Designed NY Condo Where Connected Russians Have Bought Apartments: Aleksandr Udodov, brother-in-law of Russia’s new PM, bought 6 condos at 20 Pine St from Valentin Laskov, casino biz parter of Michael Cohen

https://x.com/WendySiegelman/status/1235331803256324102

Two RT Employees Indicted for Covertly Funding and Directing US Company that Published Thousands of Videos in Furtherance of Russian Interests

Kostiantyn Kalashnikov & Elena Afanasyeva deployed nearly $10mil to publish RT-curated content thru TN company

justice.gov/opa/pr/two-rt-… Treasury Takes Action as Part of US Government Response to Russia’s Foreign Malign Influence Operations

https://x.com/WendySiegelman/status/1831425671962489107

Elon Musk’s Twitter investors have lost billions in value

This recent @faizsays story estimates the $33.5 billion equity stake at the time of the sale would be worth around $9.4 billion today based on an analysis of valuations from X shareholder Fidelity. HT @NFTethics

https://twitter.com/faizsays/status/1830195539364786384

This story estimates that Prince Alwaleed bin Talal (and Kingdom Holding Co.) had an investment of $1.89 billion at time of sale to Musk, and 2024 value is $529.2 million, a loss of -$1.36 billion

My recent story shows loss was likely larger

washingtonpost.com/technology/202…

Interesting update on Christopher Condon CEO of Economic Transformation Technologies/ETT which paid indicted Alexander Smirnov $600,000

@twistopherrobin found Condon/ETT announced several deals w/Kenneth Ekow Andam who fled UT securities violation in 2018
theguardian.com/us-news/2024/m…

https://twitter.com/twistopherrobin/status/1829207265641169390

Story by @JSweetLI on Smirnov, Condon and Trump links

US firm that paid indicted FBI informant tied to Trump associates

Alexander Smirnov was paid $600,000 in 2020 by ETT – the year he allegedly began lying to FBI about Bidens’ role in Ukraine business
theguardian.com/us-news/2024/m…

Trump Media & Technology Group/TMTG announced:
- share repurchase for some execs
- remittance of $2,908,708 plus penalties & interest to IRS & state tax authorities
- board director Don Jr appointed dir/honorary co-chair of Trump Vance 2025 transition team
sec.gov/Archives/edgar…


TMTG announcement also included:
- director Linda McMahon was also appointed as a director and co-chair of Trump Vance 2025 Transition
sec.gov/Archives/edgar…

NEW: public filings show Saudi Prince Alwaleed’s company Kingdom Holdings' $1.9 billion investment in Elon Musk’s X may have fallen to a valuation of $262 million - filings also show Kingdom Holding recently invested $400 million in Musk’s xAI, my latest

newstracs.com/new-details-on… In May 2024 Elon Musk’s xAI announced $6 billion funding round with Prince Alwaleed and Kingdom Holding among the investors, but the amounts invested were not previously reported.

I found the June 2024 Kingdom Holding filing that shows $400 mil invested.
newstracs.com/new-details-on…

The recent unsealing of list of X owners includes Joe Lonsdale's 8VC

Some are now saying that since the sons of 2 Russian oligarchs work at 8VC that means their fathers Petr Aven and Vadim Moshkovich are X owners. There's no evidence that fathers (or sons) have ownership in X.

https://twitter.com/WendySiegelman/status/1825963618271379773

Here's the latest reporting from @SilvermanJacob who successfully filed a motion in civil case called Anoke v. Twitter to unseal a list of X’s shareholders with help from lawyers at @rcfp

jacobsilverman.com/p/we-got-a-jud…

Gery Shalon was arrested in 2015 for hacking JPMorgan. He flipped and became a star cooperator for the FBI. New evidence suggests while helping FBI he ran Tradologic and a massive fraud empire in Europe, by @SimonaWeinglass @MichaelRileyDC @JasonLeopold

bloomberg.com/news/features/… After Gery Shalon was arrested in 2015 for a an infamous hack of JPMorgan and then flipped - he informed on Russian hacker Peter Levashov who ran the Kelihos botnet used by cyber criminals

https://x.com/WendySiegelman/status/969077497571762176

This is a wild story unfolding

Martin Shkreli - who was convicted of securities fraud, spent 6 years in jail, and fined $70 million - claims that he and Barron Trump are responsible for a mysterious Trump-branded meme cryptocurrency called Trump Coin

newrepublic.com/post/182900/ma… Trump Coin was registered on the Solana blockchain platform this past week with the DJT symbol

Data analytics firm Arkham Intelligence offered $150,000 to whoever discovered who was behind the asset

@ZachXBT posted this thread identifying Mrtin Shkreli

https://x.com/zachxbt/status/1803240784436797871

Former Trump associate Felix Sater tells NY jury he wasn’t bothered by ‘dirty’ money

Sater is accused of helping a Kazakh man Ilyas Khrapunov launder money through US real estate including Trump SoHo condos. Sater allegedly made millions in the process.

gazettextra.com/news/nation_wo… Felix Sater on Tuesday told a federal jury in Manhattan that he knowingly lied when he helped the wealthy Kazakh, Ilyas Khrapunov, conceal his role in the lucrative deals to dodge a worldwide freezing order that tied up his family’s assets.

gazettextra.com/news/nation_wo…

How large Trump PACs are spending money

Red Curve Solutions run by PAC treasurer Bradley Crate and Campaign Inbox co-founded by an ex-Cambridge Analytica exec each received $17+ million from Trump PACs

My analysis of Trump PAC spending 2023 to Apr 2024

newstracs.com/how-the-larges… How large Trump PACs are spending

I analyzed thousands of payments made by 6 large PACs supporting Trump and identified recipients paid over $1 million from 2023 to April 2024

More than half the payments went to other PACs, to the RNC, or for legal work

newstracs.com/how-the-larges…

Omeed Malik fundraises for Trump and invests in ‘patriotic’ ‘anti-woke’ businesses including one with Cambridge Analytica funder Rebekah Mercer that funded Tucker Carlson

My latest on Malik, who was once known as a democrat, and his right wing businesses:
newstracs.com/trump-donor-om… In April Omeed Malik dined with Trump, Rebekah & Robert Mercer and co-chaired a Trump fundraiser

Malik, Rebekah Mercer and Christopher Buskirk launched 1789 Capital and lead a $15 million seed round for Tucker Carlson and Neil Patel’s new media company
newstracs.com/trump-donor-om…

US exposes attempted sanctions evasion scheme involving Oleg Deripaska's frozen shares in Austrian co Strabag worth $1.5 bil

Treasury sanctions Russian national Dmitrii Beloglazov, his 2 companies Iliadis & Titul and Deripaska company Rasperia Trading Ltd
home.treasury.gov/news/press-rel… In 2023 Deripaska coordinated with Dmitrii Beloglazov owner of Russian financial firm Titul which created subsidiary Iliadis. Iliadis acquired Derpiaska's Rasperia Trading Ltd which holds frozen Strabag shares worth $1.5 bill, in scheme to evade sanctions.
home.treasury.gov/news/press-rel…

Trial began Tues for Bruce Garelick - charged with enabling his boss Michael Shvartsman at Rocket One and others to make millions illegally on inside info that acquisition firm DWAC was taking Trump Media public

Shvartsman and his brother pleaded guilty
cnbc.com/2024/05/01/tru…
Trial started for Bruce Garelick, former director of DWAC, accused of sharing non-public info on plans for DWAC to merge w/Trump Media

Garelick made about $50,000 from DWAC trades, Michael Schvartsman made $18 million, Gerald Shvartsman made $5 million

cnbc.com/2024/05/01/tru…

Who invested in Trump Media?

An April SEC filing for Trump Media reveals new details on early investors in Trump’s company - including ex FL AG Pam Bondi who owns 100,000+ shares worth several million dollars and her brother advised on the deal. My latest
newstracs.com/april-sec-fili… A new name in the Trump Media Apr S-1 Registration Statement is lawyer Michael Milkersen with 300,000+ shares (and several hundred thousand founder and ARC shares) making him one of the largest investors. It's not clear how he became involved in the deal.
newstracs.com/april-sec-fili…

As @MountainsStars notes two of the people indicted as AZ fake electors are closely tied to Charlie Kirk and Turning Point

Tyler Bowyer is Chief Operating Officer at Turning Point

Jake Hoffman had worked at TPUSA and runs 2 companies paid over $2.5 mil by TPUSA since 2020

https://twitter.com/MountainsStars/status/1783289547423359166

Jake Hoffman AZ senator/fake elector founded Rally Forge & 1Ten LLC

TPUSA paid Rally Forge $531,198 (2020)
TP Action paid RF $102,704 (2020), $1,816,755 (2021)
TP Action paid 1Ten $128,000 (2022)

My piece on Charklie Kirk w/research by @MountainsStars
newstracs.com/charlie-kirks-…

An April 9 filing listed Steve Bannon as a “Co-Conspirator” in a $1 billion fraud case

Prosecutors identified Bannon as part of a criminal conspiracy allegedly run by Chinese tycoon Guo Wengui

Bannon has not been charged in this case

by @dfriedman33

motherjones.com/politics/2024/… Here's Apr 9 filing USA v Guo Wengui and Yanping Wang

"Distributions from the ACA Bank Account also demonstrate $10 million in transfers to William Je and his wife, and a $1 million transfer to a company associated with Steve Bannon, a co-conspirator."

s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2460…

Charlie Kirk's Turning Point nonprofits are growing quickly

At the age of 30 Kirk has spent 12 years expanding U.S. youth-led right-wing activism

Turning Point USA had $40 million in revenue in 2020 which doubled to $80 mil in 2022

🧵with highlights

newstracs.com/charlie-kirks-… Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point website says it has 350 part and full-time staff, 800+ chapters on 3,500 US campuses where they run events, recruit activists and register voters

Kirk meanwhile hosts shows espousing conspiracy theories and far-right views

newstracs.com/charlie-kirks-…