He has been an advisor to corporations such as The Trump Organization,[8] and the Mirax Group. The Case Against Privatizing Social Security, How Minor League Baseball Scored Itself a Union. + qs; And believe me, it aint anything as small as whether or not theyre gonna call me to the Senate committee.. inline_cta_url_258356 = 'https://www.thenation.com/donate-website?utm_medium=website&utm_source=Website&utm_campaign=june-appeal&sourceid=1066666&ms=post-inline&utm_content=post-inline'; At . A trove of document released today by federal authorities revealed how convicted stock fraudster Felix Sater provided a wealth of information on everything from the Mafia to al Qaeda to. inline_cta_2_text_258356 = '

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'; His information, it seems didnt pan outbut after 9/11, Sater did cooperate in some fashion with the US government. [61] On June 21, 2019, the U.S. House Intelligence Committee issued a subpoena to Sater after he skipped a testimony which he agreed to voluntarily. Felix Sater provided information crucial to National Security and the conviction of over 20 individuals - including those responsible for committing massive financial fraud and members of La Cosa . [33], Felix Sater was a managing director of Bayrock Group LLC, as well as a senior advisor to Donald Trump and The Trump Organization when construction of the Trump SoHo began in 2006. During the next several years, Mr. Ray met with federal agents on numerous occasions and provided much information about their activities, including matters relating to this case, his attorney later wrote in 2004. (Manafort, of course, is under intense scrutiny in the Russiagate investigation from Mueller and two committees of Congress over his possible role as a go-between in collusion between Russias spy network and the Trump campaign. Russia-born dealmaker linked to Trump assists laundering probe [27][disputed discuss]. Thank you Adam Davidson for inviting me to participate on your panel at New Yorker Festival, with great guests Ruth Marcus, David Barstow, and Michael Avenatti. Felix Sater | Committee to Investigate Russia Were Donald Trump & Felix Sater Linked to the Mob? magazine_text_258356 = '

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'; [50][51], The Trump Organization pursued a luxury hotel and condominium project in Moscowdubbed the Trump Tower Moscowduring the Trump presidential campaign. cta_2_check_258356 = true; slotId: "thenation_right_rail_258356", He stabbed the man's cheek and neck with the stem of a cocktail glass, breaking his jaw, lacerating his face, and severing nerves, creating a wound that would require 110 stitches to treat. cta_1_check_258356 = true; Felix Sater - the Trump Organization contact who pushed for a Moscow development project and Mueller investigation witness - was a decade ago a federal government informant to "a depth and. In her confirmation hearing to serve as US Attorney General under President Obama, Lynch confirmed that Sater did in fact work with the FBI and other agenciespresumably the CIAin providing information crucial to national security. Where and how Sater gathered the information that he provided, whether or not it involved contacts with the Russian FSB (the successor to the KGB) and GRU, and whether those agencies themselves established a covert connection with Sater is something that both Mueller and the US intelligence community ought to be looking at today, of course. Privacy Notice var p = 'https:' == document.location.protocol ? VT has, for the last year, tied Trump and his closest associates, Jeffrey Epstein and Felix Sater to criminal organizations so powerful they supply ISIS with Stinger missiles and, according to FBI reports, materials to make nuclear weapons as well. Sater has denied the allegations and has attempted to settle the suit but was not successful. [17][18], Sater was born in Moscow into a Russian Jewish family, the son of Mikhail Sheferovsky and Rachel Sheferovskaya. Their most important collaboration was the development in 2005 of the Trump SoHo project, which, according to the Timess 2007 expos of Sater, was a sleek, 46-story glass tower condominium hotel [then] under construction on a newly fashionable section of Spring Street. New York magazine adds that, oddly enough, the Trump SoHo tower happened to be directly across the street from the storage facility that had been Saters previous undoing., When told by the Times about Saters criminal past, Alex Sapir, president of the Sapir Organization, which was involved in the SoHo project, said, This is all news to me. At the time, though, Trump didnt separate himself from Sater, mingling with him at the SoHo opening, hanging out in Colorado while working on another project, andaccording to Sater, at leastregularly interacting. Who Is Felix Sater? | Judicial Watch } jQuery("#inline_cta_btn_258356 a input").css("color",inline_cta_font_color_258356); Corruption Case Begins Against Kazakh Couple That Allegedly Laundered During his time in Moscow eastern Europe, Sater cultivated ties to arms dealers, officials in US law enforcement and national security agencies, and even meeting with the Russian military intelligence agency. He has not yet revealed other source of incomes, cars, properties. Sater developed real estate deals with Trump in New York most notably the former Trump Soho Phoenix, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and planned deals in Europe. tips@lawandcrime.com Filed Under: Yet in 1993, Sater and several partners took over a securities firm called White Rock Partners, later called State Street Capital Markets, which portrayed itself as a legitimate brokerage firm but, in fact, ran a criminal enterprise involving stock fraud, money laundering, and a so-called pump and dump scheme that involved conspiring to inflate the apparent value of near-worthless stocks, sell them off to unsuspecting investors, and cash in. Sater is described as a charismatic character with a wild back story, as a confidential source and undercover operative for the Feds, which, he says, included him giving information to the FBI and CIA that toppled the Mafia on Wall Street, thwarted an assassination attempt on George Bush, helped track Osama bin Laden and provided intelligence on al-Qaeda before and after 9/11. [36], In late January 2017, Sater met with Ukrainian politician Andrey Artemenko and Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, at the Loews Regency in Manhattan to discuss a plan to lift sanctions against Russia. inline_cta_text_258356 = '

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'; } Felix Sater, an American entrepreneurial financier and real estate developer, was employed as managing director of Bayrock Group from 2003 to 2008. You can read our Privacy Policy here. This story has been shared 75,075 times. She has hired power divorce attorney Bernard Clair, whose clients include Judith Giuliani, currently in a difficult divorce with Trumps attorney Rudy. Also Read:Brooke Blurton Bio, Age, Height, Weight, Net Worth, Boyfriend & Dating. Trump Seeks Distance From 'Advisor' With Past Ties to Mafia", "The Donald Trump Story You're Not Hearing About", "Felix Sater: The Crook Behind the Trump-Russia 'Peace' Plan", "In Moscow Luxury-Tower Plan, Donald Trump Paired With Developer for Russia's Working Class", "Trump's Would-Be Moscow Partner Faces Homebuyers' Ire", "Felix Sater: The Trump SoHo and Other Projects", "A Back-Channel Plan for Ukraine and Russia, Courtesy of Trump Associates", "Russia can't rent Crimea from Russia, FM Lavrov says", "Felix Sater Is a Lean, Mean Trump-Russia Machine", "Who is Felix Sater? Inside controversial ex-Trump associate Felix Sater's life in espionage In this piece, I draw on all of these sources and more. Russiagate } View our current issue Last January The New York Times reported, During a trip in 2006, Mr. Sater and two of Mr. Trumps children, Donald Jr. and Ivanka, stayed at the historic Hotel National Moscow opposite the Kremlin, connecting with potential partners over the course of several days., After the financial crisis of 2008, Bayrock ran into difficulty, and Sater went out on his own. 3. Well, Felix started his career in the field of real estate serving as the senior advisor to Chairman Fettah Tamince of Rixos Otelleri, a hotel, and resort company. [15][16] Boland also stated that Sater will remain under subpoena until he cooperates with this request. In so doing, for protection Sater drew on the assistance of his fathers friends in the Genovese crime family. This eventually led to 'Uranium One' and the handover of U.S. nuclear secrets to Russian Federal President Vladimir Putin. inline_cta_button_text_258356 = ''; cta_2_check_258356 = true; Larry mentioned many times that he was related to Al Capone, Rays alleged victim Felicia Rosario testified on Tuesday. 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Felix Sater: the enigmatic businessman at the heart of the Trump-Russia inquiry The Moscow-born former Trump associate's name emerged in leaked emails - and he tells the Guardian to expect. He pleaded guilty in 1998 to one count of. Michael Cohen's Ties to Russia, Crime and Trump - Rolling Stone } magazine_button_bg_color_258356 = '#ffcf0d'; However, his actual height and weight are yet to be revealed. if( magazine_button_bg_color_258356 !='' ){ Sater was born in Russia and grew up in the Russian enclave of Brighton Beach as a Mobster's son. inline_cta_2_button_text_258356 = ''; His past record includes a conviction for lacerating a mans face with a broken margarita glass in a bar brawl and his involvement in a multimillion-dollar stock fraud and money-laundering scheme. But Sater and Cohen would cooperate on another venture. Multiple witnesses have testified that Ray and his daughter Talia compulsively talked about how they believed Kerik trying to exact elaborate payback for his cooperation. tn_ptype: 'article', jQuery("#magazine_text_258356").html(magazine_text_258356); Despite the fact that Sater worked on and off for a decade with the Trump Organization, and despite his recent headline-making appearance as an exuberant negotiator on behalf of Trumps hardnosed attorney, Michael Cohen, in seeking to build a massive Trump Tower in Moscow last year, Trump ducks. Former President Trump associate Felix Sater must pay $14,000 a month in temporary alimony to his estranged wife, a judge ruled Thursday after finding he had been splashing cash on restaurants and Ubers. }, Sorting out Saters checkered past leads into a convoluted labyrinth of crime, legal entanglements, shady deals, alleged ties to US and foreign intelligence agencies and, of course, intimate connections to Donald Trump and the Trump Organization. Seth Rich, Conspiracy Theorists, and Russiagate Truthers (Screenshot from CBS New York) Have a tip we should know? . Felix Sater is a Russian-born dealmaker who served as managing director for Bayrock Group, a real estate development firm with an office two floors down from The Trump Organization in Trump Tower. [39][40][41][42][43] In 1991, Sater got into an argument with a commodities broker at the El Rio Grande restaurant and bar in Midtown Manhattan. var qs = Object.keys(params).reduce(function(a, k){ a.push(k + '=' + encodeURIComponent(params[k])); return a},[]).join(String.fromCharCode(38)); Rays accused accomplice Isabella Pollok, the only charged co-defendant in the case, allegedly taped the encounter. He has kept his family far from the media and limelight. Felix Sater: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know | Heavy.com My Movie Script on Felix Sater | Washington Monthly It does seem to me that the defendant has resources and is bringing in income and his spending habits, which Drager said may be less than they used to be, are still quite significant.. placementName: "thenation_right_rail", I met him like 4 times in my life and the relationship went to shit pretty quickly.. 24,229, 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved A monthly newsletter on the global fight for reproductive freedom. S o who, exactly, is Felix Sater? Trump's Conduits For Capital From The Former Soviet Bloc Are - TPM The ex-NYPD chief was convicted in part because of $165,000 in free renovations that he received from contractor Frank DiTommaso, a construction executive whose company Interstate allegedly had mob connections, according to the New York Times. He allegedly washed enormous sums of that money through GoDaddy.com, where he reportedly bought thousands of domain names. Heres Why. Felix Henry Sater (born Felix Mikhailovich Sheferovsky; 1 2 ru: ; } if( inline_cta_2_button_text_258356 !='' ){ Also, he spent 15 months in prison. Overseeing the Sater case back then was none other than Loretta Lynch, then US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn). The project was a collaboration between The Trump Organization, Bayrock Group LLC and Tamir Sapir. if( inline_cta_font_color_258356 !='' ){ The firm later set up its headquarters on the 24th floor of Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, just below Trumps own suite of offices. 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The top charge of Rays 17-count indictment itself evokes images of organized crime: racketeering, a statute enacted by Congress in an effort to clamp down on the mafia. His birth sign is Pisces. He stands at a good height. Sater a Russian-born American and convicted felon for his role in a 1998 Mafia-linked stock fraud scheme turned FBI and CIA informant met Donald Trump in 2000, when his company took office space in Trump Tower. Compiled research and history of Felix Sater's life before and during his work as an intelligence asset for the U.S. government . Felix Sater, a real estate developer who has worked with the Trump Organization, discussed the Fusion GPS founder, Glenn Simpson, while . Trump, Felix Sater, and the FBI | Washington Monthly wid: "428986", cta_1_check_258356 = true; BLOG. inline_cta_2_text_258356 = '

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'; Sitemap, Your California Privacy Rights jQuery("#magazine_button_258356").html(magazine_button_text_258356); Mr. Prosecutors say that Ray subjected Drury to a long night of torture, allegedly stripping her naked, handcuffing her to a chair, suffocating her with a plastic bag, and choking her with a leash. }); I mean, Ive seen him a couple of times; I have met him, Trump said, in a deposition in a court case involving Sater in 2013. inline_cta_2_font_color_258356 = '#ffffff'; if( is_user_logged_in != null ){ An FBI forensic accountant tracked the byzantine ways money trickled in from her clients to Ray, largely through GoDaddy, the witness said. He was born into a Russian Jewish family as the son of Mikhail Sheferovsky and Rachel Sheferovskaya. Peskov, a spokesman for Vladimir Putin, confirmed the contact. I'm not that familiar with him. Well, Felix also finished a project for The Trump Organization of a building construction with a full cost of around $450 Million in a 46-story and 391-unit hotel condominium located at the Spring Street in SoHo. I will get Putin on this program and we will get Donald elected . . I certainly know that the husband has been experiencing some investigation related issues. Terms of Use He grew up along with his sister Regina Sater. Previously a reporter for Courthouse News, he has appeared as a guest on NewsNation, NBC, MSNBC, CBS's "Inside Edition," BBC, NPR, PBS, Sky News, and other networks. Trump Associate Felix Sater's "Suspicious" $100 Million In Bank Transfers if( inline_cta_url_258356 !='' ){ Bob Dreyfuss, Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it, wrote Sater. According to Rices New York piece, Sater laundered fraud proceeds through a labyrinthine network of Caribbean shell companies, Israeli and Swiss bank accounts, and contacts in New Yorks Diamond District. In the mid-1990s, New York reports, Sater spent a great deal of time in Moscow, where, according to a friend and business partner, Sal Lauriawho later wrote a book about all of thisWe were dealing with ex-KGB generals and with the elite of Russian society.. } inline_cta_2_bg_color_258356 = '#cc0e0e'; Throughout his trial, Ray can be heard obsessing about former New York City Police Chief Bernie Kerik, his former friend turned archnemesis. cta_1_check_258356 = true; var inline_cta_2_button_text_258356 = ''; tn_pos: 'rectangle_1', inline_cta_text_258356 = '

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'; Mr. Sater and Mr. Klotsman were at El Rio Grande, a Midtown watering hole, celebrating with a friend and eventual co-conspirator . [11], During Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, Sater worked with Michael Cohen, former attorney for The Trump Organization, to broker a deal to build a Trump Tower Moscow, asserting to Cohen that he could boost Trump's election prospects through his Russian contacts. In a statement to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence last week, Cohen did admit writing to Dmitry Peskov in connection with Saters work. Felix Mikhailovich Sheferovsky or Haim Felix Sater, Criminal convictions and federal cooperation, Involvement with Trump Organization during presidential campaign, Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, National Association of Securities Dealers, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Business projects of Donald Trump in Russia, Links between Trump associates and Russian officials, Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, "Secret Money: How Trump Made Millions Selling Condos To Unknown Buyers", "How A Player In The Trump-Russia Scandal Led A Double Life As An American Spy", " : , ", "Real Estate Executive With Hand in Trump Projects Rose From Tangled Past", "Meet the ex-con who ties himself to Trump", " : ", "Trump lawyer 'paid by Ukraine' to arrange White House talks", "Who Is Felix Sater? [44] In 2009, he was sentenced to pay a $25,000 fine; he served no prison time and paid no restitution to his stock-fraud victims. tn_loc:'atf' Trump has long gotten heat for his association with Felix Sater, a managing director at a firm called Bayrock Group, which worked with the eventual president on potential projects in . As a parent and an immigrant difficult and emotional to watch, but great journalism. Every time someone asks Donald Trump if he knows Felix Sater, his Russian-born, Brooklyn-bred former business associate, Trump draws a blank.