Leaked Documents: Manafort Worked To Advance Putin Agenda

There has been a slew of Manafort-related material coming out in the media recently. I'm trying to catch ATS up on it even as I try to get a handle on it all myself. The first of my Manafort-related threads was posted earlier here: Manafort's Daughter's Hacked Texts: "You know he has killed people in Ukraine? Knowingly?"

In addition to new allegations of his involvement with corruption in Ukraine, leaked documents obtained by the Associated Press outline work done Trump's former campaign chief to advance the agenda of Vladimir Putin, a contract for which he was paid millions of dollars. This information is in stark contrast to efforts to downplay Manafort's close relationship with Russia, a relationship which should have been easily inferred by anyone given his nearly decade of employment for the Putin lapdog, Yanukovych and his Party of Regions.

Manafort Worked for Billionaire to Aid Putin

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, secretly worked for a Russian billionaire to advance the interests of Russian President Vladimir Putin a decade ago and proposed an ambitious political strategy to undermine anti-Russian opposition across former Soviet republics, The Associated Press has learned. The work appears to contradict assertions by the Trump administration and Manafort himself that he never worked for Russian interests.

Manafort proposed in a confidential strategy plan as early as June 2005 that he would influence politics, business dealings and news coverage inside the United States, Europe and the former Soviet republics to benefit the Putin government, even as U.S.-Russia relations under Republican President George W. Bush grew worse. Manafort pitched the plans to Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, a close Putin ally with whom Manafort eventually signed a $10 million annual contract beginning in 2006, according to interviews with several people familiar with payments to Manafort and business records obtained by the AP. Manafort and Deripaska maintained a business relationship until at least 2009, according to one person familiar with the work.

"We are now of the belief that this model can greatly benefit the Putin Government if employed at the correct levels with the appropriate commitment to success," Manafort wrote in the 2005 memo to Deripaska. The effort, Manafort wrote, "will be offering a great service that can re-focus, both internally and externally, the policies of the Putin government."

In strategy memos, Manafort proposed that Deripaska and Putin would benefit from lobbying Western governments, especially the U.S., to allow oligarchs to keep possession of formerly state-owned assets in Ukraine. He proposed building "long term relationships" with Western journalists and a variety of measures to improve recruitment, communications and financial planning by pro-Russian parties in the region.

Manafort proposed extending his existing work in eastern Europe to Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Georgia, where he pledged to bolster the legitimacy of governments friendly to Putin and undercut anti-Russian figures through political campaigns, nonprofit front groups and media operations.

For the $10 million contract, Manafort did not use his public-facing consulting firm, Davis Manafort. Instead, he used a company, LOAV Ltd., that he had registered in Delaware in 1992. He listed LOAV as having the same address of his lobbying and consulting firms in Alexandria, Virginia. In other records, LOAV's address was listed as Manafort's home, also in Alexandria. Manafort sold the home in July 2015 for $1.4 million. He now owns an apartment in Trump Tower in New York, as well as other properties in Florida and New York.

One strategy memo to Deripaska was written by Manafort and Rick Davis, his business partner at the time. In written responses to the AP, Davis said he did not know that his firm had proposed a plan to covertly promote the interests of the Russian government.

It's a longish article and pretty densely packed with information but I suggest reading it in its entirety.

Despite what appears to be damning evidence to the contrary, Manafort mantains that he was not working for the interests of Putin and claims that his work is being unfairly portrayed as something nefarious:

"I worked with Oleg Deripaska almost a decade ago representing him on business and personal matters in countries where he had investments," Manafort said. "My work for Mr. Deripaska did not involve representing Russian political interests."

At the time Manafort was in his employ, Deripaska was banned from entering the United States due to his connections to organized crime:

Guardian UK - US refused oligarch visa over alleged criminal associations (2008-10-31)

Oleg Deripaska, the Russian oligarch who entertained the business secretary, Lord Mandelson, and the shadow chancellor, George Osborne, on his yacht in Corfu this summer, was denied a visa to the US due to his alleged "criminal associations and relationships", the Guardian has learned. A senior former state department official said US officials who considered Deripaska's case in 1998 believed he was associated with several Russians involved in organised crime, including Anton Malevsky, head of the notorious Ismailovskaya Brotherhood. Others believed by the US authorities to be his associates were involved in the so-called Aluminium Wars during the mid-1990s which resulted in dozens of killings. Deripaska has always strenuously denied any links to organised crime.

In 2014, Deripaska filed a lawsuit in the Cayman Islands against Manafort and his partner, alleging fraud.

Manafort is gone, but his business associate remains a key part of Trump’s operation

That year, the firm wooed Deripaska as a client, telling him that their goal was to set up a $200 million fund to make a series of private equity investments and acquisitions, primarily in Russia and Ukraine, according to documents in the lawsuit. The partnership making the investments was created in the Cayman Islands in 2007.

By 2014, relations between Manafort and Gates and Derispaska had soured considerably.

That year, Gates and Manafort were sued by Deripaska, who accused them in a Cayman Islands court of taking nearly $19 million intended for investments, then failing to account for the funds, return them or respond to numerous inquiries about exactly how the money was used.

As late as this year, Deripaska continued to accuse Manafort of fraud. The AP story notes that since the election of Donald Trump, Deripaska's spokespeople refuse to comment on Manafort or the case.

The volume of material on Manafort is daunting but if your goal is to understand what's going on, you're gonna have to bite the bullet. Casual readers might want to wait until the dust has settled and everything can be sifted and properly compiled.

We keep seeing posts about Putin's intents and agenda, however how many people here speak to Russian diplomats to actually assess or understand Putin's intents?

This sh#t's getting old as hell.

Any actual firsthand reports of what's going on in russia?

No.

Just Google stories and reports , all paid for for by whom?




P.s. I respect your intelligence greatly, and no personal slight is intended to you, I'm just tired of 3rd hand paid for reports.

More probable fabricated inside info !!

a reply to: theantediluvian

I think Manafort is dirty and guilty as hell. Unfortunately I don't think that he will face any charges in the US and will probably walk in the Ukraine.

"Leaked Documents: Manafort Worked To Advance Putin Agenda"

...and then supposedly p*ssed all over Putins agenda by handing Ukraine over to the West?

If this guy is as guilty as everyone says, then Trump should make a point to have him arrested as tried as a criminal, or even worse...traitor to the US of A. If all the supposed "evidence" points to him directly involving any foreign country in our internal affairs then punishment should be swift and severe.

Other than that, it's all a bunch of garbage.
I see it as absolute corruption.

No one will get prosecuted because they are ALL criminals.

a reply to: theantediluvian

We understand your objective in this is to sway ats users to an illogical story pushed by the dems in an attempt to demean and undermine the current presidency. Your objective is clear to anyone with eyes anti.

Honestly i make it a point to try and observe the other sides arguments and how they reached their logical conclusion to push a narrative. Honestly do you not see this for what it is? The dnc hacking by russian story was bs and funny thing is a couple of muslim brothers actual stole documents from the dnc. The podesta leaks are not russian hackers
The hillary server hacking was not russian hackers.
Now they are still trying the same old bs with trumps team when hillary and podesta had businesses deals with russia.

I understand you do not like trump and dont want him to be president! honestly we all have that understanding from you but you have to wrong dead wrong about almost everything you have posted in your belief in the left and how factual their side of the story has been. I know you believe when you get backlash from trump supporters you feel like they are dismissive because they think there might actually be collusion with trump and the russian and as trump supporters they want to attack you or the story. That isnt the case with most people or trump supporters I'm sure others do look into these russian collusion storys put out by the dems just to see if their is any truth! But to be honest with you its been a total sh!t show 4chan fan fiction in an intellegence doc, ignoring that some muslim brothers stole documents from the dnc, linking putin to wikileaks, having crowdstrike a anti russian pro clinton company do the investigation into the dnc insread of fbi, catching podestas brother collecting money to advicate the us to remove sactions on russia. I mean honestly!

You have to take off your rose colored glasses and look at your own party anti your threads are old and tired and in a week will be used agaisnt you!

The election was completed on November 4, 2016.
Yet some, if not most Clinton surrogates are still
in the bargaining stage.

Thankfully, a few of them who really knew what was going
on are willing to speak up at this point and clear the air.

News Mar 16 2017, 8:00 am ET Clinton Ally Ex CIA Director Says Smoke, But No Fire: No Russia-Trump Collusion

Morell, who was in line to become CIA director if Clinton won, said he had seen no evidence that Trump associates cooperated with Russians. He also raised questions about the dossier written by a former British intelligence officer, which alleged a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia.

The only ones out there left seeing Russians everywhere are the
Clinton loyalists, Obama loyalists, and paid Soros minions.

An aside, how many threads in one day are necessary to
address an old, outdated, tired and disproved conspiracy theory?

a reply to: digital01anarchy

We understand your objective in this is to sway ats users to an illogical story pushed by the dems in an attempt to demean and undermine the current presidency. Your objective is clear to anyone with eyes anti.

Oh, the "illogical story" pushed out of Eastern Europe by the Democrats? Please, tell me more. There's much better ways of undermining and demeaning the current President.

If you knew anything at all about Manafort, you knew this was a long time coming.

Honestly i make it a point to try and observe the other sides arguments and how they reached their logical conclusion to push a narrative. Honestly do you not see this for what it is? The dnc hacking by russian story was bs and funny thing is a couple of muslim brothers actual stole documents from the dnc. The podesta leaks are not russian hackers The hillary server hacking was not russian hackers. Now they are still trying the same old bs with trumps team when hillary and podesta had businesses deals with russia.

I guarantee that I have done more research into the DNC hack than you have just as I'm equally sure that you read a statement somewhere from somebody that was all you needed to come to the conclusion that it wasn't the Russians.

The Podesta "leaks" weren't leaks, unless of course you are accusing Podesta of leaking his own email or you're alleging that a Google employee leaked his emails. You do understand that right? The emails were on his Gmail account.

What "Hillary server hacking" are you talking about? Not to be rude here but I don't think you have a clue what you're talking about. The only person who alleged anything about the Hillary server being hacked was Bret Baier (he was however echoed by other Fox News talking heads for about 24 hours) and that report, based on "sources with knowledge of the FBI investigation" was walked back immediately and notice, nothing else was said about it. Why? Because it was election week BS.

As for Podesta's brother lobbying and Podesta himself having his business dealings in Russia starting with the "Russian reset," unlike the average Trump supporter — and well, you — I don't pretend that they never happened.

If you have something to add about the topic, I'd love to hear it. If there is something I overlooked, please let me know. If there is something you know to be inaccurate, share with us all.

Otherwise, you're wasting your time. I don't need a hypocritical lecture delivered through the sand in which your head is planted! Thanks!

originally posted by: Kali74
a reply to: theantediluvian

I think Manafort is dirty and guilty as hell. Unfortunately I don't think that he will face any charges in the US and will probably walk in the Ukraine.

Well according to th elaw this information was obtained without a warrant and as such can be labeled hearsay in all honesty since it was publicly released. I have a thought. SInce leaking material is a crime all leaked material should be in admissable as evidence in court.

originally posted by: havok
If this guy is as guilty as everyone says, then Trump should make a point to have him arrested as tried as a criminal, or even worse...traitor to the US of A. If all the supposed "evidence" points to him directly involving any foreign country in our internal affairs then punishment should be swift and severe.

Other than that, it's all a bunch of garbage.
I see it as absolute corruption.

No one will get prosecuted because they are ALL criminals.

How could Trump do that without declaring his own guilt?

originally posted by: theantediluvian
a reply to: digital01anarchy

We understand your objective in this is to sway ats users to an illogical story pushed by the dems in an attempt to demean and undermine the current presidency. Your objective is clear to anyone with eyes anti.

Oh, the "illogical story" pushed out of Eastern Europe by the Democrats? Please, tell me more. There's much better ways of undermining and demeaning the current President.

If you knew anything at all about Manafort, you knew this was a long time coming.

Honestly i make it a point to try and observe the other sides arguments and how they reached their logical conclusion to push a narrative. Honestly do you not see this for what it is? The dnc hacking by russian story was bs and funny thing is a couple of muslim brothers actual stole documents from the dnc. The podesta leaks are not russian hackers The hillary server hacking was not russian hackers. Now they are still trying the same old bs with trumps team when hillary and podesta had businesses deals with russia.

I guarantee that I have done more research into the DNC hack than you have just as I'm equally sure that you read a statement somewhere from somebody that was all you needed to come to the conclusion that it wasn't the Russians.

The Podesta "leaks" weren't leaks, unless of course you are accusing Podesta of leaking his own email or you're alleging that a Google employee leaked his emails. You do understand that right? The emails were on his Gmail account.

What "Hillary server hacking" are you talking about? Not to be rude here but I don't think you have a clue what you're talking about. The only person who alleged anything about the Hillary server being hacked was Bret Baier (he was however echoed by other Fox News talking heads for about 24 hours) and that report, based on "sources with knowledge of the FBI investigation" was walked back immediately and notice, nothing else was said about it. Why? Because it was election week BS.

As for Podesta's brother lobbying and Podesta himself having his business dealings in Russia starting with the "Russian reset," unlike the average Trump supporter — and well, you — I don't pretend that they never happened.

If you have something to add about the topic, I'd love to hear it. If there is something I overlooked, please let me know. If there is something you know to be inaccurate, share with us all.

Otherwise, you're wasting your time. I don't need a hypocritical lecture delivered through the sand in which your head is planted! Thanks!

Yeah but how will they remove the stick firmly planted in your smug arse if your head is in the way

originally posted by: xuenchen
More probable fabricated inside info !!

Why do we care about a guy who worked for Donald Trump for 5 months? Has the desperation to link Trump to Russia come down to this?

a reply to: digital01anarchy

a reply to: carewemust

Why do we care about a guy who worked for Donald Trump for 5 months? Has the desperation to link Trump to Russia come down to this?

Steve Bannon worked for Trump for 3 months in the same position and became his chief advisor once elected. What does it matter if he worked for him for 5 months of 5 decades, this ain't retirement package we're discussing here.

What's with the desperation to deny the role of Paul Manafort as head of Donald Trump's campaign until the Mercer-takeover?

originally posted by: theantediluvian
a reply to: carewemust

Why do we care about a guy who worked for Donald Trump for 5 months? Has the desperation to link Trump to Russia come down to this?

Steve Bannon worked for Trump for 3 months in the same position and became his chief advisor once elected. What does it matter if he worked for him for 5 months of 5 decades, this ain't retirement package we're discussing here.

What's with the desperation to deny the role of Paul Manafort as head of Donald Trump's campaign until the Mercer-takeover?

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Hey programmer whats does this say

a reply to: digital01anarchy

01000001 01110010 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01110011 01110101 01110010 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 00100000 01010100 01110010 01110101 01101101 01110000 00100111 01110011 00111111

originally posted by: Mictain
a reply to: digital01anarchy

01000001 01110010 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01110011 01110101 01110010 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 00100000 01010100 01110010 01110101 01101101 01110000 00100111 01110011 00111111

Lol what afraid ante isnt actually a programmer lol talking crap. Go ahead and tell him how to turn the binary into ascii. And no I'm not a liberal the day after the election.

Manafort is in deep. Good old money laundering.

Richard Engel of NBC posted the following tweets, moments ago.

Banking sources tell @nbcnews Trump’s ex-campaign chair Manafort was linked to at least 15 accounts and more than 10 companies in Cyprus.— Richard Engel (@RichardEngel) March 28, 2017

Cyprus AG tells @nbcnews that his money-laundering squad passed info on Paul #Manafort's banking in Cyprus to US Treasury Dept— Richard Engel (@RichardEngel) March 28, 2017

Banking sources tell @nbcews Trump’s ex-campaign chair Manafort’s multiple accounts in Cyprus were flagged for suspicious activities.— Richard Engel (@RichardEngel) March 28, 2017

According to this strange series of threads it is somehow within Russia's interests to install a Fascist Dictatorship in Ukraine that is very pro-EU and pro-NATO.

Not sure how that works, but whatever.