With Friends Like These...
Happy Friday, everyone! A quick housekeeping note: Class 2 of the Foreign Influence Operations course will be posted on Monday. If you missed Class 1, no worries! It is posted here for all to see. Class 2, an introduction to Vladimir Putin, his oligarchs, and Russian intelligence (including a lovely anecdote about Joseph Stalin), will be for paid subscribers only. I’ve also launched the course chat, where I hope we’ll have some lively discussions. Don’t miss out!
ALEX’S WEEKLY RANT
It’s not a great time to be an associate of Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg.
Last week, I wrote about Richard Masters, owner of a yacht management company that helped manage Vekselberg’s yacht, Tango, and who, as a consequence, was indicted by the Department of Justice for money laundering and sanctions evasion. This week, another member of Vekselberg’s cohort has found himself in a pickle.
Vladimir Voronchenko, a legal permanent resident of the US, is now a wanted man. According to an indictment from the Southern District of New York, Voronchenko also laundered money and evaded sanctions to help out his good friend Viktor Vekselberg. And they were good friends, indeed. In a past deposition, Voronchenko referred to Vekselberg as “my very, very close friend.” He may feel differently now.
Here's what went down (allegedly): Vekselberg owns several luxury properties in the United States, including two apartments on Park Avenue in New York (because is one Park Avenue apartment ever really enough?); an estate in Southampton, New York (I mean, sometimes you just need an escape from your apartment in the city, and also from your other apartment in the city); an apartment on Fisher Island, Florida; and a penthouse on Fisher Island, Florida (wow, everyone from New York really does retire to Florida).
Together, the real estate is worth an estimated $75 million. Police raided the properties last year.
All those cribs were purchased using shell companies in Panama and the Bahamas. Those companies managed all the necessary payments on the properties up until Vekselberg was sanctioned. At that point, Voronchenko set up a different shell company in the Bahamas to receive money from Russia and to make the onward payments for the properties, thus evading sanctions and laundering the money (allegedly).
Voronchenko also tried to sell some of the property, which certainly looks like an attempt by Vekselberg to recoup his assets that have been frozen due to those pesky sanctions. Voronchenko tried to sell the Southampton estate in August 2020. (I can only imagine they were trying to catch the wave of everyone trying to leave the city for more space and air in the wake of the Covid lockdown). The estate was originally listed for sale at $15.995 million (it did not sell and was delisted in mid-2021). In December 2021, both Park Avenue apartments were listed at $14.6 million. Those didn’t sell and the brokerage removed the listing in June 2022 when it received a Grand Jury subpoena. Oops.
Sometimes, Voronchenko was allowed to live in the properties. In fact, he was residing in one of the Fisher Island properties (I hope the penthouse!) in May last year when he was served with his own Grand Jury subpoena. Nine days later, Voronchenko fled to Russia via Dubai.
It’s not a great time to be an associate of Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, either.
In my first ever Weekly Rant, I wrote about Charles McGonigal, the former head of counterintelligence at the FBI’s New York office who somehow decided to do business with sanctioned oligarch Deripaska, a man he had once investigated. McGonigal had his first appearance in court yesterday (or at least his lawyers did, on his behalf).
Since his indictment was unsealed, some new details have been reported in the press. To begin, he was having an extra-marital affair. I pass no judgment here, but this is an issue for someone with a high-level clearance if the revelation of the relationship can be used against the person (that is, if it can be used as kompromat). (We discuss such vulnerabilities at length in Class 1 of the Foreign Influence Operations course, so go sign up!).
Here's a more in-depth story about the quandaries this knucklehead has caused for the FBI. Is McGonigal simply corrupt? Or are his ties to Deripaska deeper than what we already know? We’ll have to wait until trial to learn more, unless some other charges come down the pipeline before then.
A lot of naysayers out there have been saying that sanctions aren’t working. But I’d argue that the amount of energy these guys and their associates are putting into evading them indicates otherwise. And the fact that DOJ is indicting more and more helpers is a good sign.
THE WEEK’S LINKS
A roundup of stories you should be reading
(Note: I reserve the right to rant in depth about any of these at a future date)
RUSSIA
Stealing Russia (Project Syndicate)
In a Wary Arctic, Norway starts to see Russian Spies Everywhere (New York Times)
FIGHTING DISINFORMATION
EU to launch platform to fight Russian, Chinese disinformation (Politico)
CHINESE INFLUENCE IN AFRICA
Ethiopia’s Chinese-built railway creates a $60 million headache (Semafor)
YOUR FEEL-GOOD STORY OF THE WEEK
Aussie island infested with mutant, bird-eating tiger snakes (news.com.au)
Alex Finley is a former officer of the CIA’s Directorate of Operations, where she served in West Africa and Europe. She writes and teaches about terrorism, disinformation / covert influence, and oligarch yachts. Her writing has appeared in Slate, Reductress, Funny or Die, POLITICO, The Center for Public Integrity, and other publications. She has spoken to the BBC, MSNBC, CNN, C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, France24, and numerous other media outlets. She was also invited once to speak at Harvard, which she now tells everyone within the first ten seconds of meeting them. She is the author of the Victor Caro series, satirical novels about the CIA. Before joining the CIA, Alex was a journalist, covering Capitol Hill, the Pentagon, and the Department of Energy. She reported on issues related to national security, intelligence, and homeland security. Did she mention she was invited to speak at Harvard?
