House of Trump, House of Putin2

by Craig Unger

  51. Felshtinsky and Pribylovsky, “Putin v Moskve.”

  52. Putin’s Asymmetric Assault on Democracy in Russia and Europe: Implications for U.S. National Security: A Minority Staff Report Prepared for the Use of the Committee on Foreign Relations United States Senate, 115th Congress, 2nd Session, January 10, 2018, https://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/FinalRR.pdf.

  53. Boris Yeltsin, Midnight Diaries (New York: Public Affairs, 2000).

  54. David Satter, testimony before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Hudson Institute, May 17, 2007, https://web.archive.org/web/20110927065706/http://www.hudson.org/files/publications/SatterHouseTestimony2007.pdf.

  55. Myers, New Tsar.

  56. Litvinenko and Felshtinsky, Blowing Up Russia.

  57. Dawisha, Putin’s Kleptocracy.

  58. Telegraph Staff, “Stalin’s Depraved Executioner Still Has Grip on Moscow,” Telegraph, December 23, 2003.

  59. Celestine Bohlen, “Yeltsin Resigns: The Overview; Yeltsin Resigns, Naming Putin as Acting President to Run in March Election,” New York Times, January 1, 2000, https://www.nytimes.com/2000/01/01/world/yeltsin-resigns-overview-yeltsin-resigns-naming-putin-acting-president-run-march.html.

  CHAPTER TEN: THE MONEY PIPELINES

  1. Steve Harvey, “Party to Trump: Don’t Be Cruel,” Los Angeles Times, February 24, 2000, http://articles.latimes.com/2000/feb/24/local/me-2184.

  2. Geoffrey York, “Yeltsin Quits: ‘I did all I could,’” Globe and Mail (Canada), January 1, 2000, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/yeltsin-quits-i-did-all-i-could/article1035877/.

  3. Ibid.

  4. John Diamond, “Yeltsin Shocker: ‘I Am Leaving,’” Chicago Tribune, January 1, 2000, http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2000-01-01/news/0001040001_1_kremlin-russian-people-prime-minister-vladimir-putin.

  5. Christopher Boian, “Eyeing Presidency, Putin Offers a Millennial Vision for Russia,” Agence France Presse, December 30, 1999; see http://www.russialist.org/archives/3715.html##5. The full essay, in Russian, may be found here: http://www.ng.ru/politics/1999-12-30/4_millenium.html.

  6. Garfield Reynolds, “Putin Gives People Paternal Patriotism,” Moscow Times, December 30, 1999.

  7. Author’s interview with anonymous source.

  8. Friedman, Red Mafiya.

  9. Seth Hettena, Trump/Russia: A Definitive History.

  10. Henry, “Curious World.”

  11. CBC News, “YBM Magnex used by mob to bilk investors,” CBC, June 8, 1999.

  12. Karen Howlett, “YBM officers pocketed millions, U.S. says,” Globe and Mail, April 26, 2003.

  13. Peters, “This Obese Mob Boss.”

  14. Robert S. Mueller, III, “Moving Beyond the Walls: Global Partnerships in a Global Age,” Speech given for the 10th Anniversary of ILEA Budapest, Hungary, May 12, 2005.

  15. Taras Kuzio, “A kleptocratic coalition of clans has captured the Ukrainian state,” Kyiv Post, December 29, 2016.

  16. Sandra Rubin, “My Meeting with the Most Dangerous Man in Russia,” National Post, November 20, 1999.

  17. Ibid.

  18. Ibid.

  19. Ibid.

  20. Ibid.

  21. “US Embassy Cables: Gas Supplies Linked to Russian Mafia,” Guardian, December 1, 2010, https://www.theguardian.com/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/182121.

  22. “It’s a Gas: Funny Business in the Turkmen-Ukraine Gas Trade,” Global Witness, July 25, 2006, https://www.globalwitness.org/en/reports/its-gas/.

  23. Sobel Koshiw, “Dmytro Firtash: Exiled Political Power Broker,” Kyiv Post, December 9, 2016, https://www.pressreader.com/ukraine/kyiv-post/20161209/281809988526501.

  24. “US Embassy Cables.”

  25. Stefan Wagstyl and Tom Warner, “Gazprom’s Secretive Ukrainian Partner Tells of Lone Struggle to Build Business,” Financial Times, April 28, 2006.

  26. “US Embassy Cables: Gas Supplies Linked to Russian Mafia,” Guardian, December 1, 2010. https://www.theguardian.com/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/182121.

  27. Wagstyl and Warner, “Gazprom’s Secretive Ukrainian Partner Tells of Lone Struggle to Build Business.”

  28. “US Embassy Cables.”

  29. Wagstyl and Warner, “Gazprom’s Secretive Ukrainian Partner Tells of Lone Struggle to Build Business.”

  30. Ibid.

  31. United States of America v. Mogilevich, Fisherman, Bogatin, and Tsoura, Criminal No. 02-157, indictment, United States District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/ruslobby-mogilevich-04172007.pdf.

  32. Tom Winter, “DOJ: Ex-Manafort Associate Firtash Is Top-Tier Comrade of Russian Mobsters,” NBC News, July 26, 2017. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/doj-ex-manafort-associate-firtash-top-tier-comrade-russian-mobsters-n786806.

  33. “It’s a Gas.”

  34. Koshiw, “Dmytro Firtash.”

  35. Walter Mayr, “Putin’s Cold War: Using Russian Energy as a Political Weapon,” Spiegel Online, January 9, 2006, http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/putin-s-cold-war-using-russian-energy-as-a-political-weapon-a-394345.html.

  36. Reuters Staff, “Special Report: Putin’s Allies Channelled Billions to Ukraine Oligarch,” Reuters, November 26, 2014, https://www.reuters.com/article/russia-capitalism-gas-special-report-pix/special-report-putins-allies-channelled-billions-to-ukraine-oligarch-idUSL3N0TF4QD20141126.

  37. “It’s a Gas.”

  38. Reuters Staff, “Special Report: Putin’s Allies.”

  39. Ibid.

  40. Ibid.

  41. Malcolm Nance, The Plot to Hack America: How Putin’s Cyberspies and WikiLeaks Tried to Steal the 2016 Election (New York: Skyhorse Publishing, 2016).

  42. Dan Morrison, “Battle of the MTA,” Newsday (New York), December 31, 2000.

  43. Simon Bell, “First oligarch claims his due,” The Guardian, June 2, 2007. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2007/jun/03/russia.

  44. Knut Royce, “FBI Tracked Alleged Russian Mob Ties of Giuliani Campaign Supporter (quid pro quo Ivan?)” Public Integrity, December 14, 1999.

  45. Ibid.

  46. Ibid.

  47. Tom Topousis, “Rudy Donor Linked to Russian Mob,” New York Post, December 22, 1999, http://nypost.com/1999/12/22/rudy-donor-linked-to-russian-mob/.

  48. “Solntsevskaya OPG.”

  49. Spitzer, “[CTRL] Ukrainian Newsgroup.”

  50. Ben Schreckinger, “The Happy-Go-Lucky Jewish Group That Connects Trump and Putin,” Politico Magazine, April 9, 2017, https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/04/the-happy-go-lucky-jewish-group-that-connects-trump-and-putin-215007.

  51. Itamar Eichner, “Report: 25% of Wealthiest Russians Are Jewish,” Ynetnews, February 11, 2014, https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4587086,00.html.

  52. Konstanty Gebert, “Putin’s Jews,” Moment, November 5, 2015, http://www.momentmag.com/putins-jews/.

  53. Frontline/World, “Rich in Russia: How to Make a Billion Dollars: Vladimir Gusinsky,” PBS.org, http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/moscow/gusinsky.html.

  54. Yossi Melman, “No Love Lost,” Haaretz, December 8, 2005, https://www.haaretz.com/1.4885476.

  55. Ibid.

  56. Zev Chafets, “The Missionary Mogul,” New York Times Magazine, September 16, 2007.

  57. Judy Maltz, “Kushner Foundation Gives $342K to Chabad—Still Surprised About Jared and Ivanka’s Synagogue?,” Forward, January 9, 2017, https://forward.com/news/359482/kushner-foundation-gives-342k-to-chabad-still-surprised-about-jared-and-iva/.

  58. Melman, “No Love Lost.”

  59. “Berel Lazar, Chief Rabbi of Russia,” Interfax Religion, http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=bio&div=4.

  60. Melman, “No Love Lost.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN: EASY PREY

  1. Susan Schmidt and James V. Grimaldi, “The Fast Rise and Steep Fall of Jack Abramoff,” Washington Post, December 29, 2005, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/28/AR2005122801588.html.

&n
bsp; 2. Ibid.

  3. John Anderson, Follow the Money (New York: Scribner, 2007).

  4. R. Jeffrey Smith, “The DeLay-Abramoff Money Trail,” Washington Post, December 31, 2005, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/30/AR2005123001480_3.html.

  5. Glenn R. Simpson and Mary Jacoby, “How Lobbyists Help Ex-Soviets Woo Washington,” Wall Street Journal, April 17, 2007, https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB117674837248471543.

  6. Paul Kiel, “Justice Dept Probing Russian Influence Buying,” ProPublica, June 10, 2008. https://www.propublica.org/article/justice-dept-probing-russian-influence-buying.

  7. Isobel Koshiw, “Dmytro Firtash: Exiled Political Power Broker,” Kyiv Post, December 9, 2016.

  8. Horrock and Myers, “Extradition Target Says.”

  9. Raymond Bonner, “Russian Gangsters Exploit Capitalism to Increase Profits,” New York Times, July 25, 1999, http://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/25/world/russian-gangsters-exploit-capitalism-to-increase-profits.html.

  10. K&D, LLC t/a Cork v. Trump Old Post Office LLC, and Donald J. Trump, Civil Action No. 17-731 (RJL), Defendant Donald J. Trump’s Motion to Dismiss, May 10, 2017, https://www.politico.com/f/?id=0000015b-f33f-de0a-a15f-ffbf45ad0001.

  11. Simpson and Jacoby, “How Lobbyists Help Ex-Soviets.”

  12. Ibid.

  13. Friedman, Red Mafiya.

  14. Author’s interview with Moody.

  15. Ibid.

  16. US Department of the Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, “FinCEN Fines Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort $10 Million for Significant and Long Standing Anti-Money Laundering Violations,” press release, March 06, 2015, https://www.fincen.gov/news/news-releases/fincen-fines-trump-taj-mahal-casino-resort-10-million-significant-and-long.

  17. Maxine Waters, Daniel Kildee, Gwen Moore, Al Green, Ed Perlmutter, House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services letter to Steven Mnuchin, May 23, 2017, https://democrats-financialservices.house.gov/uploadedfiles/ltr_fsc_members_to_mnuchin_re_fincen_request_russia_trump_5.23.17.pdf.

  18. Department of the Treasury, “FinCEN Fines Trump Taj Mahal.”

  19. Melby and Geiger, “Behind Trump’s Russia Romance.”

  20. Ibid.

  21. Ben Terris, “George Conway Is at the Center of Everything,” Washington Post, May 14, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/george-conway-is-the-man-at-the-center-of-everything/2017/05/13/e0720ad6-366b-11e7-b412-62beef8121f7_story.html?utm_term=.ef31d18bd89f; Elizabeth Elizalde, “Kellyanne Conway’s New Jersey Roots Involve Grandfather’s Alleged Mob Ties,” Daily News (New York), March 22, 2017, http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/kellyanne-conway-n-roots-involve-grandpa-alleged-mob-ties-article-1.3005919.

  22. Brad Hamilton, “Diamond District’s Very Own ‘Godfather’ Exposed,” New York Post, November 25, 2017, https://nypost.com/2017/11/25/diamond-districts-very-own-godfather-exposed/.

  23. Craig Horowitz, “Iced,” New York, November, 29, 2004, http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/features/10490/.

  24. Ibid.

  25. Author’s interview with Åslund.

  26. Oren Dorell, “Why Does Donald Trump Like Russians? Maybe Because They Love His Condos,” USA Today, December 15, 2016, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/12/15/donald-trump-russia-wealthy-condo-buyers/95464922/.

  27. Bowden, “The Art of the Donald.”

  28. Ibid.

  29. Melby and Geiger, “Behind Trump’s Russia Romance.”

  30. Nathan Layne, Ned Parker, Svetlana Reiter, Stephen Grey, and Ryan McNeill, “Russian Elite Invested Nearly $100 Million in Trump Buildings,” Reuters, March 17, 2017, https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-trump-property/.

  31. Frank, “Secret Money.”

  32. McCallion & Associates, “The FBI Confirm That It Already Has an Ongoing Investigation of Trump and His Russian Connections,” blog post, October 31, 2016, http://blog.mccallionlaw.com/the-fbi-confirm-that-it-already-has-an-ongoing-investigation-of-trump-and-his-russian-connections/.

  33. Catherine Belton, “The Shadowy Russian Émigré Touting Trump,” Financial Times, November 1, 2016, https://www.ft.com/content/ea52a678-9cfb-11e6-8324-be63473ce146.

  34. Ibid.

  35. Andrew and Gordievsky, Comrade Kryuchkov’s Instructions.

  36. Ibid.

  37. Ibid.

  38. Tom Burgis, “Dirty Money: Trump and the Kazakh Connection,” Financial Times, October 19, 2016, https://www.ft.com/content/33285dfa-9231-11e6-8df8-d3778b55a923.

  CHAPTER TWELVE: INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY

  1. Clip of The Apprentice, NBC, 2004, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZXgzxGyxWM.

  2. Tom Gerencer, “How Much Money Does Trump Make in a Year?,” Money Nation, November 12, 2016, http://moneynation.com/how-much-money-does-trump-make-in-a-year/.

  3. Michael Kranish and Marc Fisher, Trump Revealed: An American Journey of Ambition, Ego, Money, and Power (New York: Scribner, 2016).

  4. Charles V. Bagli, “Due Diligence on the Donald,” New York Times, January 25, 2004.

  5. Alessandra Stanley, “Contestants, Meet the King of the Jungle,” New York Times, January 8, 2004.

  6. Aaron Elstein, “Yet Another Reason Why Trump Doesn’t Want to Release His Tax Returns,” Crain’s New York Business, May 26, 2016, http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20160526/BLOGS02/160529884/yet-another-reason-why-donald-trump-doesnt-want-to-release-his-tax-returns.

  7. Timothy L. O’Brien, “Trump, Russia and a Shadowy Business Partnership,” Bloomberg, June 21, 2017, https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-06-21/trump-russia-and-those-shadowy-sater-deals-at-bayrock.

  8. Vladimir Kozlovsky, “Feliks Seyter: zhizn’ mezhdu Trampom, FBR i russkoy mafiyey,” BBC News Russian Service, July 17, 2017, https://www.bbc.com/russian/features-40630592.

  9. Author’s interview with Rosenberg.

  10. Email from Robert S. Wolf to the author, August 3, 2017.

  11. Roe v. United States, motion to intervene and unseal judicial records, US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, 10-2905-cr, 11-479-cr, https://law.yale.edu/system/files/documents/pdf/motion_to_intervene.pdf; Palmer and Oberlander v. Doe and USA, “Petition for a Writ of Certiorari.”

  12. Author’s interview with Lerner.

  13. Kozlovsky, “Feliks Seyter.”

  14. Andrew Rice, “The Original Russia Connection,” New York, August 3, 2017, http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/08/felix-sater-donald-trump-russia-investigation.html.

  15. Sam Thielman, “Trump’s Conduits for Capital from the Former Soviet Bloc Are Actually Old Pals,” Talking Points Memo, July 25, 2017, http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/michael-cohen-felix-sater-teenage-acquaintances-trump-organization.

  16. Ibid.

  17. Anthony Cormier and Jason Leopold, “The Asset,” BuzzFeed, March 12, 2018, https://www.buzzfeed.com/anthonycormier/felix-sater-trump-russia-undercover-us-spy?utm_term=.mcxpQkYkY#.pr6V9O8O8.

  18. Salvatore Lauria and David Barry, The Scorpion and the Frog: High Times and High Crimes (New York: New Millenium, 2005).

  19. Felix Sater Case File 26158.

  20. Grant Stern, “BUSTED: Felix Sater Lied to MSNBC’s Chris Hayes About His Felony Conviction,” Stern Facts, March 22, 2018, https://thesternfacts.com/busted-felix-sater-lied-to-msnbcs-chris-hayes-about-his-felony-conviction-ac78dee652e7; State of New York v. Felix Sater, 201 AD2d 323, response to appeal of assault conviction, New York Supreme Court Appellate Division, https://www.scribd.com/document/374613429/People-v-Felix-Sater-201-AD2d-323-1st-of-3-Criminal-Appeal.

  21. Charles V. Bagli, “Real Estate Executive with Hand in Trump Projects Rose from Tangled Past,” New York Times, December 17, 2007.

  22. ABC News, “Trump Associate Felix Sater Reveals Covert Career as US Intel Asset,” video of interview with George Stephanopoulos, March 17, 2018, http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/trump-associate-felix-sater-reveals-covert-career-us-53816264.

  23. Rice, “Original Russia Connection
.”

  24. Bagli, “Real Estate Executive.”

  25. Rice, “Original Russia Connection.”

  26. Alan Feuer, “19 Charged in Stock Scheme Tied to Mob,” New York Times, March 3, 2000, https://www.nytimes.com/2000/03/03/nyregion/19-charged-in-stock-scheme-tied-to-mob.html.

  27. Cormier and Leopold, “Asset.”

  28. “NASA Study Reveals Gene Changes Between Twin Astronauts,” http://abc.go.com/shows/world-news-tonight/episode-guide/2018-03/15-031518-nasa-study-reveals-gene-changes-between-twin-astronauts.

  29. Cormier and Leopold, “Asset.”

  30. ABC World News Tonight, “NASA Study.”

  31. Cormier and Leopold, “Asset.”

  32. ABC World News Tonight, “NASA Study.”

  33. Ibid.

  34. ABC News, “Trump Associate Felix Sater.”

  35. Cormier and Leopold, “Asset.”

  36. Ibid.

  37. Ibid.

  38. Pete Madden and Meghan Keneally, “Soviet-born Donald Trump adviser Felix Sater: ‘Send ‘em to jail’ if Robert Mueller finds collusion,” ABC News, March 16, 2018. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/soviet-born-donald-trump-adviser-felix-sater-send/story?id=53790920.

  39. Cormier and Leopold, “Asset.”

  40. Ibid.

  41. Cheryl Collins and David Corn, “This Top Mueller Aide Once Worked on an Investigation of a Trump Associate Tied to the Russian Mob,” Mother Jones, June 23, 2017.

  42. Craig Unger, “Why Robert Mueller Has Trump SoHo in His Sights,” Vanity Fair, August 13, 2017, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/08/why-robert-mueller-has-trump-soho-in-his-sights.

  43. Lauria and Barry, The Scorpion and the Frog.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN: BAYROCK

  1. Jason Turcotte, “Arif Brings Lap of Luxury to New York City Market,” Real Estate Weekly, September 26, 2007.

  2. Gary Silverman, “Trump’s Russian Riddle,” Financial Times, August 14, 2016, https://www.ft.com/content/549ddfaa-5fa5-11e6-b38c-7b39cbb1138a.

  3. Turcotte, “Arif Brings Lap of Luxury.”

  4. Richard Behar, “Trump and the Oligarch ‘Trio,’” Forbes, October 25, 2016, https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardbehar/2016/10/03/trump-and-the-oligarch-trio/#469ab22c5314.

  5. Unger, “Why Robert Mueller.”

  6. Wayne Barrett, “Inside Donald Trump’s Empire: Why He Didn’t Run for President in 2012,” Daily Beast, May 26, 2011, http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/05/26/inside-donald-trumps-empire-why-he-wont-run-for-president.html.