The FBI has released a file I requested years ago on Tamir Sapir, (center), a Georgian developer who financed the construction of Trump Soho in 2008.

The file shows Sapir was under FBI investigation for links to organized crime . #FOIA vault.fbi.gov/tamir-sapir/ta… A memo in the file from 1998 states that the FBI's Russian Organized Crime squad in New York was investigating Sapir for money laundering and extortion.

This is big news. Charles McGonigal, former FBI agent in charge of the NY FBI's counterintelligence division, was indicted for working for the sanctioned Kremlin-connected oligarch, Oleg Deripaska. justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/f… Also indicted was Sergey Shestakov, a former Soviet and Russian diplomat, who worked as an interpreter for the federal courts and US attorney's offices in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Those two offices have handled cases involving Russian spies and organized crime figures.

The US follows the UK and Canada in sanctioning Vladimir Potanin, Russia’s richest man. Vladimir Potanin has invested heavily in US companies through Altpoint Capital Partners LLC, a venture capital fund based in Greenwich, Connecticut.

US investments included ByteGrid, which hosted the computer servers used to register Maryland voters. sethhettena.com/2019/06/05/a-r…

Donald Trump controls a mob of thugs and trolls who attack his enemy of the moment. The FBI, Liz Cheney, Fauci, Adam Schiff, Pence, election officials, on and on, now the archivists at NARA. Truth Social is the bat signal. He's a sick, dangerous man.
washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/… I mean...

This is big: A derivatives panel has formally ruled that Russia defaulted on its sovereign debt.

https://twitter.com/bondhack/status/1532017451621404674

The ruling means holders of debt insurance (credit default swaps) on two sovereign Russian bonds are now entitled to billions of dollars in payments.

The United Arab Emirates remains a safe harbor for sanctioned Russian wealth.

Exhibit A: Andrey Melnichenko’s Motor Yacht A.

(Photo: Christoffer Rudquist) The @FT reports the futuristic $300 million yacht has been anchored for weeks in Ras al Khaimah in the UAE. ft.com/content/0b4d71…

On this #MemorialDay, please join me in remembering my uncle, Seymour Levine, who was killed in action during #WorldWarII. 2nd Lt. Levine was a platoon commander in Company F of the 182nd Regiment of the Americal Division. In March 1945, the division was assigned to take Cebu, an island in the Philippines held by the Japanese. #MemorialDay

Alina Kabaeva, the rhythmic gymnast who is believed to be Vladimir Putin’s longtime mistress, has been sanctioned by the United Kingdom. Also placed under UK sanctions today were Putin’s ex-wife, Lyudmilla, and three members of the Putin family: Igor, Mikhaïl, and Roman.

Another Russian-owned castle has been seized by authorities in France. "Le Château du Clos-Renard," a 27-acre property with its own hunting forest, is worth an estimated €22 million. leparisien.fr/immobilier/gue… The chateau's owner was listed as the 28-year-old son of Aleksandr Babakov, a deputy chairman in Russia's parliament.

What foreign bank has the greatest exposure to Russia?

Readers of my book won't be surprised to learn that it's Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank with 4.2 million customers and 9,400 staff in Russia, and €22.9bn of assets at risk.
ft.com/content/0b5006… There's a long history of dirty Russian money flowing through Raiffeisen.

Let's start in 2006 when a State Department cable released by Wikileaks stated that that Raiffeisen served as a front for the Russian gangster Semion Mogilevich.

A judge in Manhattan has refused to strike allegations that billionaire Leon Black flew an ex-model to Palm Beach to "satisfy the sex needs" of Jeffrey Epstein.

"The facts show that Epstein was significant to plaintiff’s claims in this case," the judge ruled. Supreme Court Judge David Cohen found that Epstein was no mere "associate" of Black's. Black admitted that Epstein was one of the only people with whom he discussed intimate details of his relationship with the former Russian model, Guzel Ganieva.

The US government releases the name of 28 of the 50 Russian oligarchs and political figures who are US “priorities” for asset seizure and enforcement. Treasury is also launching the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Rewards Program, offering up to $5 million for information leading to seizure, restraint, or forfeiture of assets linked to foreign government corruption in Russia and elsewhere.

VEB, one of the Russian banks sanctioned today by the Biden administration, will have to say goodbye to one of its US lobbyists, Grace Fenstermaker, a Qorvis vice president. Fenstermaker signed a $62,500 a month contract with VEB in 2019 through an LLC, Geopols. Previous VEB lobbyists include former Rep. John Sweeney (R-NY) who was paid $62,500 a month by the VEB-funded Institute for Legal Protection to avoid sanctions. (The contract was terminated in 2020.)

Breaking: Fugitive Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui, who joined forces with Steve Bannon and financed the social media site Gettr, has filed for bankruptcy. In a bankruptcy petition filed today in Connecticut, Guo stated that he has between $50,000-$100,000 in assets and owes between $100 million-$500 million in "litigation expenses, claims, and judgments."

New: A Mexican businessman pleaded guilty in San Diego today to selling and using hacking tools manufactured by private companies in Italy, Israel and elsewhere to Mexican government clients. Carlos Guerrero, owner of Grupo Armor, admitted he knew that some of his Mexican government clients intended to use the equipment for political purposes, rather than for law enforcement.

Fugitive Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui, who joined forces with Steve Bannon and financed the social media site Gettr, is threatening to leave the US after a New York judge issued a scathing opinion ordering Wengui to pay $134 million within five days or face arrest. The judge found that Guo showed "utter contempt for this Court and the judicial process" by defying the court's orders and moving his his superyacht to the Bahamas. Bannon was on the the yacht when he was arrested in 2020 for defrauding donors of the We Build a Wall charity.

This is the first piece of hard evidence I’ve seen that backs up something I’ve long suspected: people in the @MeidasTouch ecosystem may be involved in buying and selling Twitter accounts.

https://twitter.com/conspirator0/status/1490544100663246853

If you followed @NightlyPolitics, which was "leading The Resistance against Donald Trump" and selling Moscow Mitch stickers on Etsy back in 2018, you might be surprised to see that you are one of 139k followers of @MeidasTouchPod. (1006096223596511244)

Hundreds of sealed exhibits have been filed on the docket today in NY Supreme Court in People v. The Trump Organization. Statements of financial condition, loan documents, emails, transcripts. Docket number: 451685/2020 @TimInHonolulu has uploaded the court filing listing all the documents filed today. Most of the documents are sealed.

https://twitter.com/TimInHonolulu/status/1483839919269330948

Lots of interesting stuff in documents filed today by NY Attorney General @TishJames seeking to compel testimony from Donald Trump and his children. ag.ny.gov/press-release/… In 2015 and 2016, Trump boosted his balance sheet by tripling the size of his Trump Tower penthouse and overinflating its value about $200 million. After he was elected president, he reported the correct value.

🧵The indictment charging Igor Danchenko, the main source for what became known as the Steele Dossier is up. I'm going to read through and post some thoughts. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco… First, Danchenko is charged with five counts of lying to the FBI for statements he made to agents more than four years ago. Danchenko was interviewed by the FBI on at least five different occasions in 2017.

US blocklists NSO Group, maker of Pegasus phone spyware saying it was used to “maliciously target” government officials, journalists, activists, and others. washingtonpost.com/technology/202… NSO Group was willing to sell almost anyone. As I showed in The Daily Beast, NSO made its first big sale to Mexico with help from GOP bigwig Elliott Broidy and a shady Mexican businessman nicknamed “Mr Lambo.” thedailybeast.com/scandal-spywar…