![]() ![]() State-owned VTB was one of the top financial institutions in Russia for real estate projects at the time, but it was also on the US Treasury Department’s sanctions list. To Sater, the former agent mentioned two banks: GenBank and VTB Bank. ![]() In Russia, where the president himself is a former KGB officer, it isn’t unusual for companies to work with former intelligence officers, who often retain key connections. Sater contacted the former GRU officer in 2015 to help arrange financing. Sater told BuzzFeed News, “I will not comment on anything related to ongoing investigations.” Cohen also did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent through his attorney. He did not immediately respond to requests for comment. That individual is a former colonel with Russia’s military intelligence, the two sources told BuzzFeed News. Sater previously told BuzzFeed News that his emails amounted to salesmanship, and the whole Trump Moscow project ultimately fizzled.īut a later message from Sater to Cohen, sent in early 2016, mentions a contact in Russia who could help facilitate the deal. There is no evidence that Sater delivered on those promises. In November 2015, Sater emailed Trump’s longtime personal attorney, Michael Cohen, famously saying in one message that he would “get all of Putin’s team to buy in” on the Trump tower deal, and boasting that he could get Putin to publicly praise the Republican candidate during the campaign. A key player in the effort was Felix Sater, who had worked with Trump on real estate deals around the world. Plans to build a Trump tower in Moscow were underway in late 2015 and early 2016, while Trump was running for president. BuzzFeed News is not naming the Russian agent because two US intelligence officials said that doing so would endanger his life. The former agent, who had served in Russia’s military intelligence arm known as the GRU and later worked as an arms dealer, negotiated for financing from a Russian state-owned bank that was under US sanctions at the time.īut there is a twist: The former Russian spy also helped pass intelligence to the United States government on key national security matters, including al-Qaeda’s weapons caches and North Korea’s attempts to develop nuclear weapons. This connection between Trump and Russian intelligence - made public here for the first time - is known to special counsel Robert Mueller’s team and raises fresh questions about the president’s connections to the Kremlin. ![]() A former Russian spy helped Donald Trump’s business team seek financing for a Trump-branded tower in the heart of Moscow during the 2016 presidential campaign, according to two sources familiar with the matter. ![]()
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