The Justice Department announced today the unsealing of an indictment charging a U.S. citizen and three citizens of the Russian Federation with violating new U.S. sanctions imposed earlier this year in response to Russia’s unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine.

According to court documents, Oleg Vladimirovich Deripaska, aka Oleg Mukhamedshin, 52; and Natalia Mikhaylovna Bardakova, aka Natalya Mikhaylovna Bardakova, 45, both citizens of the Russian Federation (Russia), and Olga Shriki, 42, a New Jersey resident and naturalized U.S. citizen, are charged with conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions imposed on Deripaska and one of Deripaska’s corporate entities, Basic Element Limited (Basic Element). Shriki is further charged with obstruction of justice based on her alleged deletion of electronic records relating to her participation in Deripaska’s sanctions evasion scheme following receipt of a grand jury subpoena requiring the production of those records. Bardakova is charged with one count with making false statements to agents of the FBI. Additionally, Ekaterina Olegovna Voronina, aka Ekaterina Lobanova, 33, is charged with making false statements to agents of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security at the time of Voronina’s attempted entry into the United States for the purpose of giving birth to Deripaska’s child. Shriki was arrested this morning.

“In the wake of Russia’s unjust and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, I promised the American people that the Justice Department would work to hold accountable those who break our laws and threaten our national security. Today’s charges demonstrate we are keeping that promise,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “The Justice Department will not stop working to identify, find, and bring to justice those who evade U.S. sanctions in order to enable the Russian regime.”

“As today’s charges reveal, while serving the Russian state and energy sector, Oleg Deripaska sought to circumvent U.S. sanctions through lies and deceit to cash in on and benefit from the American way of life,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco. “But shell companies and webs of lies will not shield Deripaska and his cronies from American law enforcement, nor will they protect others who support the Putin regime. The Department of Justice remains dedicated to the global fight against those who aid and abet the Russian war machine.”

According to court documents, Deripaska, the owner and controller of Basic Element, a private investment and management company for Deripaska’s various business interests, was subjected to economic sanctions on April 6, 2018. On that day, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Deripaska as a Specially Designated National (SDN), in connection with its finding that the actions of the Government of the Russian Federation with respect to Ukraine constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States (the OFAC Sanctions). In designating Deripaska, OFAC explained that Deripaska was sanctioned for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, a senior official of the Government of the Russian Federation, as well as for operating in the energy sector of the Russian Federation economy.

“Today’s indictment reflects the FBI’s commitment to use all of the tools at our disposal to aggressively pursue those who attempt to evade the United States’ economic countermeasures against the Russian government,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray. “We will continue to aggressively prosecute those who violate measures imposed to protect the national security and foreign policy of the United States, especially in this time of Russia’s unprovoked aggression toward Ukraine.”

“The indictment unsealed today signals the United States’ ongoing support for the people of Ukraine in the face of continued Russian belligerence,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York. “The enforcement of sanctions is a vital tool wielded by this Office and our law enforcement partners as we seek to deter Russian aggression, and today’s indictment should be taken as a warning that, try as they might, individuals violating these sanctions will be held accountable.” 

Following his designation by OFAC, Deripaska conspired with others to evade and to violate those sanctions in various ways and over the course of several years. Deripaska, through the corporate entity Gracetown Inc., illegally utilized the U.S. financial system to maintain and retain three luxury properties in the United States (the U.S. Properties), and further employed Olga Shriki and Natalia Mikhaylovna Bardakova to utilize U.S. financial institutions to provide hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of services for his benefit in the United States. For example, in or about 2019, Shriki facilitated for Deripaska’s benefit the sale of a music studio in California for over $3 million. Deripaska had owned the studio through a series of corporate shell companies that obscured his actual ownership. Following the sale of the studio, Shriki attempted to expatriate over $3 million in proceeds through one such shell company, Ocean Studios California LLC, to a Russia-based account belonging to another Deripaska company.

Bardakova – largely based in Russia – directed Shriki to engage in particular illegal transactions on Deripaska’s behalf. These instructions included directing Shriki to obtain U.S. goods and technology for Deripaska. Moreover, between in or about May 2018 and in or about 2020, Bardakova instructed Shriki to purchase and send flower and gift deliveries on behalf of Deripaska to Deripaska’s social contacts in the United States and Canada. The deliveries included, among others, Easter gift deliveries to a U.S. television host, two flower deliveries to a then-former Canadian Parliament member, and two flower deliveries in 2020 to Voronina while she was in the United States in 2020 to give birth to Deripaska’s child.      

Then, in or about 2020, Shriki and Bardakova helped Deripaska’s girlfriend, Voronina, travel from Russia to the United States, so she could give birth to Deripaska’s and Voronina’s child in the United States. Despite Deripaska’s ongoing support for the Russian regime, he funded hundreds of thousands of dollars of transactions so that his child would take advantage of the U.S. health care system and U.S. birthright citizenship. Despite Deripaska’s ongoing support for the Russian regime, Deripaska distrusted the safety of the Russian hospital system. As alleged, Shriki orchestrated the payment of approximately $300,000 worth of U.S. medical care, housing, childcare, and other logistics to support Voronina to give birth in the United States, which resulted in the child receiving U.S. citizenship. As part of this scheme, Deripaska counseled Voronina on obtaining a U.S. visa, including by telling her to be “careful” ahead of an interview by U.S. immigration authorities. Voronina thereafter applied for and obtained a U.S. visa for a purported 10-day tourism visit without disclosing her intent to travel and stay in the United States for approximately six months to give birth to Deripaska’s child. Following the birth, Shriki, Bardakova, and Voronina conspired to conceal the name of the child’s true father, Deripaska, going so far as to change, slightly, the spelling of the child’s last name.

Later, in or about 2022, Shriki and Bardakova attempted to facilitate Voronina’s return to the United States to give birth to Deripaska’s and Voronina’s second child. This second attempt included Bardakova and Voronina’s attempt to use false statements to conceal Deripaska’s funding and secure Voronina’s entry into the United States – an attempt that was thwarted, and Voronina was denied entry and returned immediately to Istanbul, through which she had flown from Russia to the United States.

Deripaska, Bardakova and Shriki, are charged with one count of conspiring to violate and evade U.S. sanctions, in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Shriki is further charged in one count of destruction of records, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Bardakova and Voronina are each further charged with one count of making false statements to federal agents, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. The indictment also provides notice of the United States’ intention to forfeit from Deripaska the proceeds of his offense, including the U.S. Properties and the proceeds from the sale of the music studio. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The FBI New York Field Office and Counterintelligence Division are investigating the case, with valuable assistance provided by the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department’s National Security Division, Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Anden Chow and Vladislav Vainberg are prosecuting the case.

On March 2, 2022, the Attorney General announced the launch of Task Force KleptoCapture, an interagency law enforcement task force dedicated to enforcing the sweeping sanctions, export restrictions, and economic countermeasures that the United States has imposed, along with allies and partners, in response to Russia’s unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine. The task force will leverage all the Department’s tools and authorities against efforts to evade or undermine the economic actions taken by the U.S. government in response to Russian military aggression.

An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Published: 17:32 BST, 15 September 2022 | Updated: 18:03 BST, 15 September 2022

McGonigal joined the FBI in 1996. His first assignment was New York City, where he worked Russian foreign counterintelligence and organized crime matters. During his tenure in New York, McGonigal worked on the TWA Flight 800 investigation, was assigned to the task force investigating Wen Ho Lee, investigated the 1998 terrorist bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, and investigated the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. Interesting/controversial list of investigations.

He was also assigned to Cleveland, Washington field office, HQs, and Baltimore. He was moved to FBI HQ to stand up a Cyber-Counterintelligence Coordination Section working in Bill Priesap’s area who headed the Counterintelligence area at HQ. McGonigal worked Counterintelligence and Cyber threats, specifically working and managing Espionage, Economic Espionage and Insider Threat investigations. In other words, McGonigal would have understood exactly what happened to the DNC server. When DNC claimed Russia had hacked the email system of the Democratic National Committee, McGonigal was serving as chief of the cybercrimes section at FBI headquarters in Washington. As a cyber expert he would have known a hack could not have extracted the data at the rate at which it was downloaded.

Interestingly, in 2010, McGonigal was in charge of the WikiLeaks Task Force at HQ FBI, the task force  identified Pfc. Bradley Manning as the leaker. Manning was later convicted for espionage related violations and pardoned by Obama. If you’re following along, McGonigal can find Manning but not the breach in the DNC? Or the foreign interference in the 2020 election?

By Jun 2016 he was transferred to the NYC field office and appears in a video forum: Foreign Influence Ops and Counterintelligence.

McGonigal, along with William Evanina (who is a career FBI and CIA guy (ODNI worked for Coates, NCSC)). McGonigal leads off the forum with the announcement that Director Comey had just been fired by Trump. He refers to Comey as “most loved leader” of FBI. He goes on to discuss how he works with foreign governments all over the globe. He says there are 150 agents focused on counter intelligence. One interesting comment was him saying resources are allocated based on threat. While that may sound benign to non government folks, inside the government it is well known that the threat is often embellished to increase the amount of resources available. The threat of white supremacy is a good example. He defines espionage as access to classified and sharing it w/o authority. He goes on to say that the FBI has sole jurisdiction in these matters.

William Evanina describes his duties as driving policy and interfacing with the White House and Congress; chairs NATO panel; 5 I’s panel chair once a month. He briefly talks about how often, early in his career, he heard about Russian propaganda; but that it had been driven home for him when they interfered in the 2016 election. “We know for a fact they did.” When someone asked if because Russia was involved in the 2016 election should we go back to paper voting, his response: there was quite a bit of spin in the media. He said emphatically that it was a fact “no voting machine was hacked during 2016 election.”

Evanina said there was an assessment of voting machines and that no voting machine hacked. He went further, stating even if someone wanted to hack a machine, the precincts were not connected to each other or the internet. He then makes the point that someone couldn’t get to all the machines; which we know makes little difference if you know what precincts makes the most impact. Then he falsely claims each state has different systems so no one could effectively hack them all.

McGonigal tells the audience “We don’t just run out and open investigations into someone without the appropriate predication.”  “We have all kinds of legal review processes” While this is technically correct, the real question is do they use the legal review processes? We know they do not use them every time; when they do use them they are not always truthful; and, in general, the fact that they have them means nothing.

With all of this as background material, we recently found out McGonigal was the subject of a grand jury. US attorneys secretly convened a grand jury that examined his conduct while assigned to the FBI field office in New York City (his last assignment). Specifically “McGonigal’s business dealings with a top aide to Oleg Deripaska, the billionaire Russian oligarch who was at the center of allegations that Russia colluded with the Trump campaign to interfere in the 2016 election.”

According to Business Insider “The subpoena, issued in November, requests records relating to McGonigal and a shadowy consulting firm called Spectrum Risk Solutions. A week after the subpoena was issued, a Soviet-born immigrant named Sergey Shestakov said in a separate filing that McGonigal had helped him “facilitate” an introduction between Spectrum and Deripaska’s aide. The filing also states that McGonigal helped introduce the aide to Kobre & Kim, a New York law firm that specializes in representing clients who are being investigated on suspicion of “fraud and misconduct.” Shestakov, who has been identified on TV panels as a former Soviet foreign ministry official and former chief of staff to the Soviet ambassador to the United Nations, reported receiving $33,000 for the referrals.”

McGonigal is not registered as a foreign agent. Therefore any work done on behalf of foreigners is a crime and punishable by the Foreign Agents Registration Act and carries a $250,000 fine and up to five years in prison. It just so happens Deripaska was found guilty by the Treasury Department in 2018 for acting as an agent for the Kremlin. The leaked grand jury document covers Apr 1, 2017 to present.

Business Insider states “According to the witness subpoena, prosecutors are also looking into whether McGonigal has ties to the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as any “payments or gifts” he was provided by the governments of Kosovo, Montenegro, and Albania.”

McGonigal has appeared at several forums, panels, and interviews to discuss counterintelligence. In 2020, after his alleged assistance to Deripaska’s aide, he appeared on a panel at the Atlantic Council, where he discussed the corruption of Russia’s security services. “You are seeing an erosion in any rule of law as it relates to the FSB,” he said. “It would be akin to having in the United States the FBI as a rogue element, operating at the behest of the highest bidder.” (You just can’t make this up)

“McGonigal’s profile on LinkedIn says he is the senior vice president of “global security and life safety” at Brookfield Properties, a multibillion-dollar real-estate company in New York. But that information, apparently, is inaccurate. “Charlie McGonigal is no longer with Brookfield,” Andrew Brent, Brookfield’s head of communications, told Insider. McGonigal left the company, he added, in early January — just as witnesses were scheduled to appear before the grand jury.”

During an interview with a Brazilian reporter in Jun 2018, Charles McGonigal tells the Brazilian reporter “Anything on line has inherent risk” when discussing electronic voting systems.” He goes on to say the “FBI doesn’t want to infringe on anyone’s rights”. He tells the reporter there are so many levels of scrutiny internal to the FBI, referring to individuals rights during investigations, that there is no way anyone’s rights are violated. He said the FBI is always mindful of the legal process.

(https://potomacofficersclub.com/speakers/charles-mcgonigal/)

https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/press-releases/charles-mcgonigal-named-special-agent-in-charge-of-the-counterintelligence-division-for-the-new-york-field-office

https://www.businessinsider.com/exclusive-fbi-charles-mcgonigal-trump-russia-grand-jury-oleg-deripaska-2022-9

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In late 2013, Oleg Deripaska’s Basel Aero (part of his network of entities under the Basic Element parent company) was looking for ways to ensure that the Sochi airport would be kept safe during President Putin’s prized Olympic Games. In a previously unreported episode, the joint Deripaska-Sberbank LLC that controls the Sochi International Airport turned not to Russian security experts, but rather to a UK-Israeli man with ties to the Netanyahu government and who has recently come under scrutiny by the Senate Intelligence Committee – Walter Soriano.

A small-claims court dispute in Krasnador, Russia revealed the details about Soriano’s work for the Sochi Olympics. If it were not for this dispute – over 800,000 rubles or approximately $12,500 for an Israeli operating without a work permit – these details about Soriano’s work for Russia may have never seen the light of day.

Buried within details about the companies involved and Russian case law were four paragraphs about the work that Soriano’s USG Security Limited did for the Deripaska-Sberbank LLC. “The first stage: from 12/23/2013 to 02/02/2014,” the court wrote, citing a contract signed by the Russian LLC and Soriano’s USG Security, “a study of the existing situation, training of personnel of the aviation security service and airport security technology. Stage two from 02/03/2014 to 03/18/2014 direct control at the facility and consulting assistance during the preparation and holding of the Olympic Games.”

Thus it appears, based on the contract cited in official Russian court filings, that Soriano’s USG Security had “direct control” of the Sochi International Airport during Putin’s crown jewel – the Olympic Games. The entire relevant section of the court filing is translated below:

[P]ersonnel training services were carried out under a consulting services agreement dated December 26, 2013, concluded by the company [Sochi International Airport] and USG Security Ltd (hereinafter referred to as the company).

From the content of the contract dated December 26, 2013 it follows that in accordance with clause 3.4 of the contract services will be provided in two stages. The first stage: from 12/23/2013 to 02/02/2014 – a study of the existing situation, training of personnel of the aviation security service and airport security technology. Stage two from 02/03/2014 to 03/18/2014 direct control at the facility and consulting assistance during the preparation and holding of the Olympic Games.

In clause 3.9 of the contract, the airport is required to provide the company with all the necessary data in written, oral and other form, to provide employees of the company with access to the premises and equipment, to receive for the company, its employees and representatives all necessary permits and other documentation (including visas, permits to work), provide them with housing and transportation.

Clause 12 of Appendix No. 2 to the contract dated December 26, 2013 stipulates that the airport should ensure the receipt of work permits and / or equivalent permits in order to create safe and legally stipulated work conditions for the USG work group.

Forensic News spoke with a number of Russia experts who expressed surprise that Soriano and USG Security were put in charge of such an important task for Russia.

“This is a quite an unusual situation with a foreigner like Soriano in Sochi,” Ilya Zaslavskiy, head of Underminers.info, a research project on post-Soviet kleptocracy in the West, told Forensic News. “It suggests that Soriano and his firm possessed some knowledge and/or technology to survey other foreigners and/or Russians that the Russian state could not get otherwise.”

“It also suggests very close links of Soriano with the Russian state and Deripaska as they don’t let random people in such sensitive spheres,” Zaslavskiy said.

Anders Aslund, a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council and author of Russia’s Crony Capitalism: The Path from Market Economy to Kleptocracy, told Forensic News that there was a massive payoff to those close to Putin surrounding the Sochi Olympics. He also suggested that Soriano may have had the Kremlin’s blessing, given the importance of the Olympics.

“Opposition analysts Boris Nemtsov and Leonid Martyniuk found that $25 billion was overpaid to friends or cronies of President Vladimir Putin. Deripaska belongs to this circle. That someone is entitled to be a major security contractor in this circle suggests very close contacts to the Kremlin and Russian security services.”

Nemtsov was assassinated in 2015, with Western leaders largely blaming Putin’s government. His body was found riddled with bullets just steps from the Kremlin. Five Chechens were convicted of his murder.

Mitchell Orenstein, Professor of Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, saw a potentially legitimate reason for Soriano’s USG Security being hired for Sochi: “On the one hand, it looks pretty straightforward.  Soriano has a security company.  He is hired to provide aviation security for the Sochi Olympics. Perhaps they wanted to hire a Western firm because they were likely to achieve the security goal without angering all the international clientele.”

However Orenstein concluded with the same overarching opinion as Zaslavskiy and Aslund: Soriano must have a close relationship with Deripaska and the Russian state: “Of course, it is well known that the Sochi contracts all went to friends, who often asked for kickbacks. So, at the very least, it does show a business relationship of some closeness to Deripaska and Sberbank.”

A friend of Professor Orenstein’s who has worked in Russia and who spoke to Forensic News on the condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the topic, raised serious concerns about Soriano’s involvement in Sochi.

“Generally speaking, airport security during the Olympics is an extremely sensitive issue, in particular, since Russia is always under the threat of terrorist attacks that grew exponentially before the games. So, it sounds like the Kremlin very much trusted USG Security.”

The person also expressed concerns about possible kickbacks, similar to the concerns of Aslund and Orenstein, to consultants during the Olympics, saying, “‘consulting’ is a standard way to hide kickbacks and other corrupt payments.”

Senate interest

In April 2019, as previously reported by Politico, the Senate Intelligence Committee sent a letter to Soriano’s USG Security office in London, requesting an interview and documents relating to any communications with various figures associated with their investigation. Now, for the first time, the entire list of persons/entities can be revealed. They are:

• Oleg Deripaska
• Victor Boyarkin
• Georgy Oganov
• Konstantin Kilimnik
• Paul Manafort
• Erik Prince
• Darren Blanton
• Michael Flynn
• Steve Bannon
• David Bossie
• Psy Group aka Invop Ltd aka IOCO ltd (Joel Zamel + Royi Burstein)
• Wikistrat
• Black Cube
• George Birnbaum
• Aron Shaviv
• Orbis Business Intelligence (Christoper Steele + Christopher Burrows)

A source familiar with the Senate Intelligence probe wouldn’t comment on most of those involved and/or how they might relate to Soriano, with the obvious exception of Oleg Deripaska. The Committee also did not comment when asked if Soriano had complied with the request.

With regards to George Birnbaum, the source said, the Committee is interested in a pair of Washington, DC companies incorporated in January 2016, weeks before Birnbaum pitched the Trump campaign on Psy Group.

The two companies, JRP LLC and Questia Opinions LLC, were dissolved in April 2017. Records show that the address listed for both entities, 228 S Washington St Ste 115, is shared with numerous PACs, including some headed by David Bossie, who was on the list sent by the Senate Intelligence Committee.

In an email to Forensic News, Birnbaum expressed surprise that he would be included in the Soriano inquiry: “to my recollection I have never met, corresponded or had any contact with anyone by that name in my life. I have no idea why my name would be included in the request.”

Rachel Cohen, a spokesman for the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that the Committee does not comment on witness engagements.

Other Russian clients

Soriano’s USG Security had other high-profile Russian clients apart from Deripaska. According to a sworn affidavit in Israeli court by journalist Raviv Drucker (whom Soriano is suing for libel), USG Security has also worked for Roman Abramovich and Dmitry Rybolovlev. This was first reported in English by Seth Hettena.

Drucker has a storied history of investigative journalism that has resulted in police investigations and awards, including a 2008 OMETZ award (Citizens for Good Governance and Social Justice) and a 2012 Transparency International award. Recently, Drucker’s reporting led to Israeli police opening an investigation into potential bribery of the Netanyahu family by an Australian billionaire.

Abramovich and his ex-wife Dasha Zhukova were once very close to Jared and Ivanka Kushner. Rybolovlev purchased a Florida mansion from Donald Trump in 2008 for $95,000,000, a sharp increase from the $40,000,000 Trump had spent on the property just three years prior. Rybolovlev never lived in the house.

From the Israeli journalist Drucker’s affidavit (translated):

USG’s clients were many and varied, including well-known capitalists, such as Mr. Roman Abramovich in his legal dispute against Mr. Boris Berezovsky…Dmitry Rybolovlev in the course of the legal dispute he waged against the art collector Yves Bouvier.

The Rybolovlev connection is further affirmed by a French journalist Marc LePlongeon who obtained correspondences between Soriano and Rybolovlev’s attorney Tetiana Bersheda (both were charged in 2018 in Monaco in a corruption probe).

According to documents obtained by LePlongeon, Rybolovlev hired Soriano in mid 2016 to investigate a former coach and player of his soccer club, AS Monaco. Soriano had a company called Football Universe Limited from 2008-2011, alongside footballer Claudio Canniga, who was one of the two other directors in the company. In 2010, Walter Soriano spoke on behalf of soccer star Diego Maradona. Maradona’s lawyer, Timothy Drukker, was the third director of the company.

As Drucker stated in court,

Some of the services offered by the USG were sometimes carried out using sub-contractors and through operations such as sophisticated tracking, data collection and data acquisition through various technological means, such as hacking, eavesdropping, and more.

The newly revealed Russian contacts and Senate Intelligence list for Soriano adds to a growing mystery about his connections with power brokers all around the world.

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Ties to Netanyahu

Soriano’s ties to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu run deep and appear to only have been severed after Soriano was publicly named in 2017.

Israeli investigative journalist Ravi Drucker, in the course of his investigation, was able to obtain email correspondences between Soriano and Ari Harow, then Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Bureau Chief. In the messages, Harow and Soriano discuss the scheduling of an upcoming Soriano-Netanyahu meeting.

In 2017, Israeli authorities, who are investigating Netanyahu for various crimes, recommended indicting Harow for bribery, breach of trust, fraud and money laundering. Months later, Harow signed a plea deal with the authorities and turned on Netanyahu. Harow was subsequently convicted of only fraud and breach of trust.

After the police commissioner in Israel stated that private investigators collected information on the police forces investigating Netanyahu, Israeli media named Soriano as the culprit.

The reporting about Soriano in 2018 led to Netanyahu himself posting a Facebook status saying in part, “I haven’t met or talked to Soriano in eight years.”

Soriano’s connections to Netanyahu don’t end with Harow. Isaac Molho, a close confidant of Netanyahu’s, had a share in Soriano’s aforementioned Universe Security Group, according to business documents.

Another document, first published by Drucker, shows that Molho received almost $200,000 in finder’s fees for a contract Molho facilitated with the Mexican company Altos Hornos de Mexico (AHMSA). AHMSA is the largest integrated steel plant in Mexico. It is unclear what kind of work Universe Security Group did for the company.

Molho himself was wrapped up in the Netanyahu corruption scandal and was interviewed by police five times, but has thus far escaped charges. Molho has represented Netanyahu since 1996 in various political, legal, and personal matters.

Molho is married to Netanyahu’s cousin, and according to a Haaretz profile his “tendency to be discreet and avoid the press is said to be one of the qualities the prime minister appreciates most in him.”

In explosive testimony in July 2019, a former subcontractor of Soriano’s who was hired to provide security at the AHMSA testified that Soriano claimed that Netanyahu was a “partner” in Universe Security Group. “Because of this relationship with Netanyahu,” Soriano allegedly told the subcontractor in 2006, “his door is open to me.”

I remember that I expressed surprise that a senior elected public official is allegedly his partner in a financial project (Univsere Security Group). But Soriano reiterated, perhaps to impress me – Mr. Netanyahu is a partner in the venture.

The testimony continued, “Mr Soriano said – in the clearest terms- that he orchestrated a meeting between AA [Alonso Ancira, the Chairman/controlling owner of AHMSA] and Netanyahu when Netanyahu was still the Finance Minister (about a year before).”

Both Soriano and Netanyahu, who was the opposition leader of the Likud party at the time of the AHMSA project, vigorously deny the claims that they were ever business partners.

Ehud Barak, the former Prime Minister of Israel, tweeted about the claim that Soriano and Netanyahu were business partners, but Soriano’s attorney immediately threatened a lawsuit. Barak later deleted the tweet but did not apologize.

What cannot be denied, however, is that Netanyahu’s longtime confidant Isaac Molho received at least hundreds of thousands of dollars from Soriano’s business.

In a groundbreaking 2010 report in Israeli media and picked up by US outlets such as the New York Times and Politico, a partially handwritten list of potential Netanyahu donors was leaked. From Politico, the document was “a list, marked up with now-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handwriting, of prospective donors to his 2007 campaign — a remarkable leak…”

“The 1s indicate those whom Bibi thought likeliest to give, 2s a bit less likely, and so on. The top of the list includes big Republican donors Sheldon Adelson and Ron Lauder; Rupert Murdoch is marked a 2.”

As Forensic News pored over the list in preparation for this article, one name jumped out: Walter Soriano.

With a “1” by his name, Soriano was deemed very likely to be a big donor to the Netanyahu campaign. Charles Kushner, Jared’s father, was also listed as a “1” along with Trump business partner Tamir Sapir and former RNC finance chair Steve Wynn. Donald Trump was listed as a “3.”

In 2018, the Trump administration paid Molho’s law firm $150,000 the same month that the US Embassy was moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The law firm stated that it advised the US Consulate on “matters concerning mostly planning and building of the diplomatic compounds in Jerusalem and Israeli labor law for some 20 years.”

Both the Trump administration and the Netanyahu administration deny that the payment had anything to do with the move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

(Hover over the chart, or click if on a mobile device, to see an explanation for each location)

UK business ventures

In the UK, Soriano has been active in the real estate market for years. Currently, Soriano is the director of seven active companies in the UK, four of which are devoted to real estate. Three of those real estate companies have combined assets of around $12 million, but also have debts just under that amount (the fourth company is yet to file public accounting records). Records also indicate that a dissolved company controlled by Soriano took out mortgages on two properties from OneSavings Bank totaling around $1.2 million.

Soriano’s largest active real estate company, WS London Management, appears to have once been active in leasing and selling real estate. The company’s website, which is no longer active, listed seven properties as part of its portfolio as recently as 2014, according to an Internet archive. One of those properties was sold in 2015 to a Panama shell company, for £1.55 million. There seems to be no active website for WS London Management, and the company could not be reached for comment.

Overall, Soriano has been involved in 12 British companies since 1981. The long list displays some bizarre patterns. For example, Soriano registered companies under the names Tov 7, Tov 77, and Tov 777 (“tov” is Hebrew for “good”). Soriano also registered Cross Roads Properties and Cross Roads Properties 2. Nearly all of Soriano’s registered companies list the same London address.

Two of Soriano’s active British companies list Orly Weinberger as a current or former co-director. Weinberger, a former lawyer, is also the director of a London-based property investment firm. In two other ventures, Soriano partnered with Simon Bird, a 76 year-old English historian. Bird and his partner, Winston Churchill’s great-granddaughter in-law, sold their Dorset mansion in 2014 to the Lord Mayor of London for £3 million. Soriano also partnered with the lawyer Shlomo Rechtschaffen, the Executive Director of British Friends of Bar-Ilan University (BFBIU), a non-profit devoted to promoting the Israeli university in the UK. He once appeared with Haim Tomer, an ex-Mossad official, at a 2017 event hosted by BFBIU.