On this exciting episode of Cocktails & Popcorn, we have Laura Loomer, a stand up comedian, filing a suit of law against Rashida Tlaib, my favorite "#MeToo Girl" through her attorney Larry Klayman. who may not be her attorney if he is suspended from practicing law.
It would be such a shame for it to be found that Laura Loomer
was using this lawsuit as a form of electioneering and to solicit campaign contributions, having sworn an oath of office to uphold the U.S.
Constitution as a U.S. Congressional Candidate, or even just
for personal inurement, like Ilhan Omar has been accused.
That would be awkward.
Rashida snatched Laura's phone at a campaign event.
Laura solicits Larry Klayman, the man who set up Judicial Watch, a foreign corporation, in Michigan, to file pro hac vice a case in Minnesota against Rashida, alleging violations of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which just so happens to be about parental rights, child welfare, where I was one of the original writers of the Michigan Resolution, that was bastardized by people like Larry Klayman in this action.
But, I digress because this is the part that made me giggle the most:
At that time on August 11, 2018, Rashida Tlaib was essentially unopposed in her election for Michigan's 13th congressional district for the U.S. House of Representatives.
Rashida Tlaib ultirnately won the general election on Novernber 6, 2018, with 84.2% of the vote. Minor candidates Sam Johnson received 11.4% of the vote and D. Etta Wilcoxon won 4.1 % of the vote. However, after winning the primary, Tlaib was assured of election to Congress.
Larry Klayman has just voluntarily injected himself, and his newest client, Laura Loomer, into the 2016 & 2018 Election Fraud Investigation of Detroit, where I will be doing colored commentary as the Celestial Goddess of the Woodshed. You can tell Larry is a "Legal Genius", (trademark pending) because he did not name the U.S. House of Representatives, which means he has to amend the complaint, but that may be an issue if Rashida was there in her personal capacity. Better be safe, Larry, and subpoena the previous office holder of the Michigan 13th Congressional District, just to make sure you got all your "religious discrimination" and election information correct.
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Conservative activist Laura Loomer is suing Rep. Rashida Tlaib over an incident that happened at a campaign event last year in Minneapolis, seeking $2 million in damages for alleged assault and battery.
Loomer, who is currently running for Congress in Florida’s 21st District, claims that the Michigan congresswoman assaulted her when she grabbed her phone at a campaign event for Ilhan Omar at Holy Land deli last August.
Tlaib was campaigning at the northeast Minneapolis restaurant for Omar, who was then running for Minnesota’s 5th District. Both Tlaib and Omar were elected to the U.S. House that November, becoming the first Muslim women in Congress. The two are half of the progressive group of lawmakers known as “the squad.”
Video of the campaign event at Holy Land shows Tlaib grabbing Loomer’s phone as she records her, asking if Tlaib considers Hamas a terrorist organization.
According to the lawsuit, Tlaib “violently grabbed” the phone as Loomer was working as a journalist, seeking to understand Tlaib’s positions on Israel and Palestine. (Tlaib is the daughter of Palestinian immigrants; Loomer is Jewish).
Freedom Watch, the conservative group that filed the lawsuit, says that Loomer is suing Tlaib not for political purposes, but to hold the congresswoman accountable for her “unhinged hatred for Jews and Israel.”
Larry Klayman, the founder of Freedom Watch, also filed a complaint against Omar earlier this year, seeking a Justice Department investigation into the Minnesota congresswoman.
It is said that Dershowitz got the sweetheart plea deal for the criminal case of Jeffrey Epstein because he was going to subpoena Child Protective Service files on the Foster Care girls to demonstrate they were, for lack of a better descriptive, "abused and neglected" with mental health issues to challenge the credibility of their accusations.
Then, it seems Dershowitz groomed Cernovich to FOIA the sealed information in the civil case, claiming credit for the arrest, where I am just going to speculate that there were some CPS information that could be used as exculpatory evidence for him, considering one of the defendants had accused of being one of The Nasty Ones on Epstein's Island.
I would be remiss to not include Barb's question to Acosta:
Will someone please ask #Acosta about immunizing co-conspirators?
Mike Dice, Alan Dershowitz (that face you make right after they show you the video) & Mike Cernovich
Lawyer says it’s his moral obligation to help suspected criminals; but his ties to accused sex trafficker go deeper
JTA — Alan Dershowitz represented convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein when he was sentenced more than a decade ago to what was generally considered an extremely light term.
Epstein had abused dozens of underage girls, but was given only 13 months in a private wing of a county jail. He was allowed to leave for work six days a week as long as he returned to the facility at night. He and his associates were given immunity from federal prosecution.
That agreement has come under scrutiny following Epstein’s arrest this week and indictment for sex trafficking.
In February, a judge ruled the 2008 deal illegal because the Jewish billionaire’s victims were not notified before it was approved. The case was reopened after a Miami Herald reporter identified some 80 alleged victims who said they were recruited into a sex ring run by Epstein and made to recruit others.
But Dershowitz said he would do it all over again. In fact, he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that he would try to get Epstein even less prison time if he had the chance.
“I have no misgivings and I will continue to represent controversial people,” the emeritus professor at Harvard Law School said. “That’s what I do. If I’m in a case, my job is to get the best possible result.”
Was that settlement fair to Epstein’s victims?
Dershowitz says that’s not his responsibility.
“That’s the job of prosecutors and the job of the judge,” he said. “My job is to get the best possible result for my client.”
Dershowitz, who has made a career of unabashedly defending unpopular stances, was happy to point out that he has represented a range of unseemly clients: far-right Jewish Defense League activists (accused of murder), O.J. Simpson (accused of murder), British socialite Claus von Bulow (accused of attempted murder) and, most recently, Harvey Weinstein.
Dershowitz sees it as an obligation, in a society governed by the rule of law, to defend even the most distasteful criminals. It’s not just for the money, he says, pointing out his pro bono work pro for the Aleph Institute, a Jewish group that helps prisoners.
“It’s as moral as a doctor administering to somebody in the emergency ward,” he said. “It’s in the highest tradition of Jewish law and American constitutional law. If you don’t want to live in a system like that, move to Iran.
“The most moral thing you can do is represent the most unpopular defendant.”
Dershowitz’s relationship with Epstein, however, extended beyond legal representation. He used to send Epstein drafts of his books before publication, and would participate in seminars convened by Epstein with other Harvard personalities, like the one-time president Larry Summers. He also attended social gatherings at Epstein’s Upper East Side townhouse.
Dershowitz says that aside from his role as a member of Epstein’s legal team, he has not been in contact with Epstein since the plea deal was finalized.
“My relationship with him was academic and he was a very smart guy,” he said in reference to the book drafts. “He read them and he critiqued them, and he made marginal notes and he was very good at it.”
According to one Epstein accuser, the friendship went deeper.
Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who alleges that Epstein kept her as a “sex slave,” also says she was forced to have sex with Dershowitz at the New York townhouse. Another alleged Epstein victim, Sarah Ransome, also says she was coerced into having sex with Dershowitz.
Dershowitz vehemently denies the allegations and says he was shocked to learn of Epstein’s crimes. He says he has emails proving that Giuffre is lying and that he has never met her or Ransome. Giuffre is suing Dershowitz for defamation.
“I never met any of these people,” he said. “Of course I’m categorically denying it. It’s just a falsehood.”
Dershowitz is one of a string of prominent Jewish men who have become entangled with Epstein over the years, when Epstein was better known as an investor than a sex offender. Epstein once financed a magazine, for example, with New York media mogul Mort Zuckerman.
The most involved by far is Leslie Wexner, the founder of Victoria’s Secret and The Limited, as well as a major philanthropist to Jewish causes. Wexner was the sole known client of Epstein’s secretive money management business, and Epstein was often described as his protege.
Nationwide Children’s Hospital will dedicate the hospital’s Research Institute as the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. This renaming recognizes Ms. Wexner, whose ongoing, passionate advocacy has ushered in a period of unprecedented transformation at the hospital. During her more than 25 years on the board of directors, Nationwide Children’s has become one of the leading pediatric health care systems in the United States, and the Abigail Wexner Research Institute has become one of the most preeminent centers of its kind. https://pdf.guidestar.org/PDF_Images/2016/311/036/2016-311036372-0e91679f-9.pdf
Although Wexner has said that the two have not been in touch for over a decade, they once were quite close. Epstein was a trustee of Wexner’s foundation, replacing Wexner’s sick mother on the board, and Wexner told Vanity Fair in 2003 that Epstein is “very smart with a combination of excellent judgment and unusually high standards. Also, he is always a most loyal friend.”
The most intimate and perhaps inexplicable connection between the two men, however, is a piece of shared property. Wexner bought Epstein’s New York City townhouse in 1989 for $13 million, but Epstein was using it as a residence by the mid-1990s. The townhouse would formally change hands between the men, apparently for free. After Epstein was released from prison, according to The New York Times, he graced the house with a photorealistic mural of himself in a jail.
When federal agents busted into that house this week, they found a trove of hundreds of sexually suggestive photos of underage girls — along with CDs bearing labels like “misc nudes 1.”
The house is the same one where Dershowitz is accused of having sex with Giuffre and Ransome. But there’s another link between Dershowitz and the house. Its designer, the architect Horace Trumbauer, also designed Clarendon Court in Rhode Island — the home of Claus von Bulow.
I attempted to find the 990s of the Abigail Wexner Research Institute and its instrument of authority, but was unsuccessful, but I did find the Wexners in Detroit. Perhaps, this is why Acosta immunized the co-conspirators, but hey, what do I know?
Reuben Maxbauer and Ethan Davidson (facing camera) listen intently during a seminar session.
Israel facing the “Who is a Jew” issue, one of several religious dilemmas to confront the state. Clergy “challenged” by intermarriage, assimilation and Hebrew school inattention. American Jewry confronting a nightmare of anti-Semitism and hate. A Supreme Court justice hearing rocked with intense scrutiny. An administration facing scandal dealing with a foreign nation and a country glued to news reports of it and the Congressional testimony around it, day after day. After day.
This was more than three decades ago. It seems like everything — from the flavors of Faygo to the challenges of our demographics to the soup stains on the Maxwell House Haggadah — has stayed the same, with the history and the headlines repeating themselves.
Thirty-one years ago, the initial Detroit cohort of the Wexner Heritage Fellowship, a North American leadership development program designed to provide a toolkit of Jewish knowledge for emerging community leaders, was assembled. Detroit participants were recruited for that initial group when the three youngest members of the current Detroit cohort (including this author) were not yet born. This was the era of Sinai Hospital, still 10 years away from being sold off to DMC.
This was the late 1980s. Boblo and Tally Hall were thriving, so I was told; Google and Uber were not yet envisioned, nor were JSwipe or Twitter or Amazon.
Over the last three decades, it seems like everything except the Amidah has changed. Yet, truth-be-told, that may now depend on your prayer book, which may be digital, colorful, more matriarchal or, for some, non-existent.
One thing is certain: Making sense of a confused, complicated, certainly uncertain world is assisted by education rooted in Torah, by community-building done in real time and with peers who easily become friends. This is Wexner 2017-19 — and Wexner 1986-88.
The program still allows participants the dedicated time with the highest-caliber scholars to discuss and deliberate around the core of who we are as a people, all rooted in the famous Pirkei Avot phrase that inspired the Wexner Heritage Program: “The world stands upon three things: upon Torah, upon Divine service and upon acts of kindness.
The 20 current fellows have discussed pressing issues with noted scholar Deborah Lipstadt just as earlier ones did with Leon Uris, the famous author of bestsellers including Exodus.
Matthew Shiffman of Birmingham, already a passionate philanthropist and dedicated booster of the city and community, has found immediate value in the program.
“Having the opportunity to be part of an incredible group (chavruta), Wexner has provided me a lasting platform to further my Jewish education and prepare me to be an even better lay leader within our community. It’s been many, many years since this program has been in Metro Detroit, and I feel blessed to be part of it.”
The Program’s Roots
When Les Wexner decided to make a significant philanthropic investment in leadership in the North American Jewish community, he approached it entrepreneurially, said Rabbi Jay Henry Moses, vice president at the Wexner Foundation.
“He and his co-founder, the late Rabbi Herb Friedman, piloted the Wexner Heritage Program in Les’ hometown of Columbus, Ohio, in 1985. It was immediately clear they had hit on a winning formula. So, they reached out to neighboring communities, and Detroit, where Les’ dear friends and mentors Max Fisher and Al Taubman were pillars of Jewish life, was one of the first cities to respond to the call and embrace the leadership development opportunity that the Wexner Foundation was offering.
Reuben Maxbauer and Ethan Davidson (facing camera) listen intently during a seminar session.
“So, the Detroit group of 1986-88 were pioneers, helping the foundation test and hone the approach to adult Jewish learning in the service of strengthening leadership.”
“As a native Detroiter myself,” Moses said, “I was especially delighted the trustees of the D. Dan and Betty Kahn Foundation, in partnership with the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, had the vision to realize a generation had passed, and it was time to invest in developing volunteer leaders in the Wexner model again.“Since the 1980s, we have watched with great interest as Detroit weathered economic and social challenges and began an inspirational renaissance in the last decade. In the Wexner program, we teach that leaders need to guide their communities to respond to changing circumstances with an adaptive mindset — as Jewish communities have done for three millenia.
“We work with communities all over North America; nowhere are we seeing more vision and energy than in the current Detroit cohort, which represents nearly every corner of Detroit Jewish life, from city to suburbs, secular to Orthodox, schools, community centers, synagogues, startups and more. As Detroit continues to ride the wave of creativity and renewed energy, these leaders will be at the forefront of exciting new initiatives that will strengthen the community and put Jewish values into action.”
To bring the Wexner program back to Detroit, Larry Wolfe, immediate past Federation president, offered local philanthropic support of $350,000 through the D. Dan and Betty Kahn Foundation. The Wexner Foundation matches that amount to fund the two-year program cost of $700,000. No expenses are incurred by the participants.
“Educated leadership is a catalyst for progressive ideas, programs and communal participation,” Wolfe said. “The Wexner program is in the forefront of establishing new leaders and giving them the tools to enhance our communal outreach.”
The Wexner Foundation has expanded to additional fellowships that span leadership development for Jewish communal professionals in graduate programs (Wexner Graduate Fellowship/Davidson Scholars Program) and leadership development for Jewish professionals (Wexner Field Fellowship), to service learning programs for high school students (Wexner Service Corps) and programs to advance the civic sector in Israel (Wexner Israel Fellowship, Wexner Senior Leaders).
2017-19 Detroit Cohort: Adam Blanck, Alicia Chandler, Ethan Davidson and Matthew Shiffman, all of Birmingham; Darren Findling, Gayle Gold, Joshua Levine, Rachel Opperer and Wendy Pittman, all of Huntington Woods; Adam Finkel, Carolyn Bellinson and David Kramer, all of Bloomfield Hills; Kristen Gross, Franklin; Reuben Maxbauer and Sheri Shapiro, both of Farmington Hills; Ruby Robinson, Detroit; Sherrie Singer and Ilana Stern, both of West Bloomfield; Julie Tepperman, Windsor, Ontario; and Yoni Torgow, Oak Park.
Current Cohort
The fellows graduate this July in Jerusalem after having two years of local courses and week-long seminars in Aspen and Utah to learn with participants in other selected cities throughout North America; three new cities begin each year.
During the local courses, a scholar travels to Detroit for a four-hour seminar, usually held every other Wednesday evening. The curriculum span is from liturgy and the Bible and contemporary Israel society to European Jewish history, God and synagogue, and modern leadership topics in 21st-century American Jewry.
“During our first Wexner Heritage retreat in Aspen in the summer of 2017, Les Wexner addressed the group in his beautiful mountainside home,” participant David Kramer of Bloomfield Hills recalled. “He told us he created the program because he came to realize many of the most prominent lay leaders in the Jewish communal world had little to no education in Jewish history, Jewish ritual or Jewishly informed leadership skills.
“I quickly came to realize the principal benefit of the program is not only learning from amazing scholars about all things Jewish, but also understanding how to take that knowledge and apply it to Jewish communal leadership.”
The current participants are already active in a diverse array of leadership endeavors in the community.
For example, Yoni Torgow of Oak Park contributes his time and energy to advance Yeshiva Beth Yehudah; Rachel Opperer of Huntington Woods does the same with Farber Hebrew Day School; Reuben Maxbauer of Farmington Hills has been an active, engaged board member of the Frankel Jewish Academy, as Josh Levine of Huntington Woods has been with the Hillel Day School. Gayle Gold, also of Huntington Woods, has worked to support the Jewish Federation’s endeavors focused on young adult mental health needs. Others of the 20 fellows give of their time by working on Federation, Jewish agency, day school and synagogue boards and committees.
Alicia Chandler of Birmingham, current president of Detroit’s JCRC/AJC, says being a Wexner Fellow has been the most powerful experience of her Jewish communal life.
“It has taught me how to connect my Judaism to my Jewish leadership,” she said. “The experience has helped root my leadership in Torah and tradition and helped me understand the ever-changing entity that is the Jewish community. It has also given me 19 amazing, smart, thoughtful friends. While our community, like all communities, faces challenges, this experience helps empower leaders to embrace the challenges and help our community thrive.”
Levine said, “It also speaks to the resurgence in all areas of the community experienced over the past few years. Wexner recognized all of the wonderful initiatives taking place in Detroit with its Jewish leadership and wanted to cultivate and be part of the great resurgence seen over the past 10 years.”
Gold said, “The Wexner Heritage Program is an incredibly rich resource for the Detroit Jewish community. We are so fortunate that Wexner chose to come back to Detroit. The opportunity to study in a way that develops critical thinking has been truly inspirational for me. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to stretch my brain in this way. It feels amazing.
“The end result will be a group of leaders with deepened relationships and heightened commitment to our community,” she said. “We will be armed with an enhanced skill set to effectively listen, problem solve and effect change — and, most importantly, the courage to do so.”
Kristen Gross of Franklin said, “Experts have assisted me in honing my personal narrative; succinctly defining why I devote my time to Jewish philanthropic work. Wexner has given me the confidence to be bold and disruptive in certain areas and a thoughtful listener in others.”
Wendy Pittman of Huntington Woods said, “One of my favorite learnings is that pluralism is fundamental in Jewish history and this provides us with a foundation to nurture, support and grow our community from a place of acceptance and unity.”
Rachel Opperer of Huntington Woods summed it up well: “From the community’s standpoint, Wexner has been a successful investment because we have taught a diverse group of Jews to talk with each other, to listen to each other, to respect each other, differences notwithstanding. The more opportunities we have for a community to act like a community, the stronger and more inviting our community will be.”
Scott Kaufman, Federation CEO, hopes to keep the program going in Detroit.
“In Jewish Detroit, we are blessed with a great pipeline of dedicated and talented emerging leaders,” he said. “Among them are a cadre of leaders experiencing the Wexner program, a veritable masterclass in Jewish leadership. Wexner participants are developing expertise in the type of adaptive leadership that is essential in our rapidly changing world. Yet they are also gaining a deeper understanding of the Jewish texts and ethics that inform our enduring mission. Sort of a perfect balance of innovation and tradition that I see as an essential element of the Jewish experience throughout our history.
“Hopefully, our community will be able to bring the Wexner program back on a regular basis as I believe the impact on our community will be profound.”
Wexner Inspired Initial Detroit Alumni
The track record of Wexner Heritage Fellows from 1986-88 is easy to see. Many of the graduates have given decades of leadership and service to the Jewish community, which has included some of the most significant positions of philanthropy, policy-making and community-building within Jewish Detroit, and within the national and international communities.
Peter Alter, as an example, has served as local Federation and Anti-Defamation League president as well as on national Jewish boards. He also studied for more than 15 years with Rabbi Avi Cohen of Partners Detroit, which Alter says has been a very special, worthwhile and privileged experience for him.
Dr. Richard Krugel has chaired the Jewish Fund and been president of the Jewish Community Relations Council; Judge Susan Moiseev has chaired committees at the Jewish Historical Society of Michigan and at Jewish Senior Life; Marcy Feldman co-chaired the Federation’s Family Mission to Israel and was vice president of Federation’s Women’s Division; Phillip Fisher served as chair of the Investment Committees of the Jewish Foundation of North America and the boards of the Jewish Foundation and United Way of Southeast Michigan — and this list is just a tip of the iceberg for their involvement and that of other members of their cohort.
Looking back to their time in Wexner, Cheryl and Dan Guyer, who attended together, said, “We were exposed to different models of leadership, developed a more critical way of problem-solving, and had the opportunity to study with nationally and internationally known Jewish thought leaders — Adin Steinsaltz, Joseph Telushkin, Deborah Lipstadt, Yitz Geenberg, Irwin Kula and others.
“We connected with peers in other Jewish communities across the country,” Dan Guyer said. “We studied with them and learned from them and developed a global picture of leadership through Jewish values that prepared me to take on leadership roles in local agencies and nationally. The return of the Wexner program to Detroit is an opportunity to create a group of educated, thoughtful, dynamic and Jewishly sensitive leaders to take on the challenges of our community.”
Cheryl Guyer is director of development at the Holocaust Memorial Center.
Krugel says his experience in Wexner was one of the most significant events of his early Jewish leadership development and was life-altering. “Those years studying with some of the greatest Jewish scholars in the world, including Rabbis Adin Steinsaltz, David Hartman and Shlomo Riskin, among others, made me realize the importance of Jewish education for the future of the Jewish people and the need for adult Jewish education.”
Alter says it’s impossible to overstate the success and impact of the Wexner programs nationally and in Israel.
“For Detroit, it was a privilege 30 years ago, for each of us participate in the program. It is a fantastic boost for Detroit to have Wexner back here. It, of course, enriches the community and creates a buzz, but, even more importantly, it helps to provide Detroit with a new generation of more informed, more educated, more enthusiastic and, therefore, better Jewish leaders. It allows many of the participants who have leadership potential to be/become much better Jewish leaders. The entire community benefits.”
Yes, she even worked for the U.S. State Department in USAID and the CIA, or so they say.
According to Wikipedia:
She later worked in the White House in the Office of Public Liaison during the administration of Ronald Reagan. Subsequently, she worked at the U.S. Treasury in the executive secretary's office during the administration of George H. W. Bush. After leaving that position, she was on the staff of the Joint Economic Committee of the United States Congress. After Ukraine declared its freedom, she was a co-founder and the vice-president of Ukraine-USA Foundation. She was also the director of Pylyp Orlyk Institute. In 1993, she joined KPMG Peat Marwick/Barents Group as a consultant in its Bank Training Program and Country Manager, where she met Viktor Yushchenko, whom she subsequently married. She left her job in August 2000, when she was expecting her second child. Yushchenko is now involved in numerous charitable projects with the Ukraine 3000 International Foundation that she chairs.[1] The key priority of the Foundation is better health for Ukraine’s children. On the Supervisory Board of Ukraine 3000 Foundation, established in 2001, are some of Ukraine’s most prominent educational, humanitarian, cultural, literary and sports figures. President Victor Yushchenko served as Chairman of the Supervisory Council until his inauguration in 2005. Since then, its Chairman is Kateryna Yushchenko. All programs and projects of the Foundation are implemented within three major areas: "Ukraine Yesterday", "Ukraine Today" and "Ukraine Tomorrow". The biggest projects of the Foundation are the "Hospital to Hospital" program, the construction and support of the "Children's Hospital of the Future" and "The Joy of Childhood – Free Movements" program.
It seems her background in the implementation of H.W. Bush's Privatization Infrastructure Executive Order immediately led her to KMPG, where there is an office in Detroit with its accounting footprints all over the Emergency Managers of the City of Detroit, Hamtramck, Highland Park.
It is called pareto optimalilzation, meaning only the top entrepreneurs can benefit as one of those greater good as opposed to that deontological stuff like trafficking tiny humans, because ethics impedes in the maximization of billing Medicaid for fraudulent child welfare programs that do absolutely nothing but to provide these foreign, privatized, contracted human services corporations a stronger foundation with fancy, shiny white papers with colorful pictures to prove they are fit to be granted corporate parental rights, to pirate the children's trusts.
The lawyer's client, Prevezon Holdings, was accused of laundering millions into luxury Manhattan properties
Natalia Veselnitskaya and 20 Pine Street
A Russian attorney who met with Donald Trump Jr. during the 2016 presidential campaign has been indicted for obstructing a federal investigation into a New York money laundering scheme, according to a complaint unsealed Tuesday in Manhattan court.
Natalie Veselnitskaya had been the defense attorney for real estate company Prevezon Holdings, which in 2013 was accused by U.S. prosecutors of laundering millions in stolen Russian money into Manhattan luxury properties, including condominiums at 20 Pine Street in the Financial District.
Before the case went to trial, Veselnitskaya’s clients settled, and in February of last year were ordered to pay $6 million. But in today’s unveiled complaint, prosecutors allege the Russian attorney provided the American court with falsified reports presented as authentic Russian government findings that denied the United States’ claims against Prevezon.
The New York Times first reported on the unsealed complaint.
In the Prevezon case, prosecutors alleged that laundered money came from a more than $200 million Russian tax fraud scheme, in which American hedge fund manager Bill Browder, and his firm Hermitage Capital, were said to be framed by Russian officials, who issued phony tax rebates and pocketed the sums for themselves. The fracas culminated in the mysterious death of Hermitage’s accountant, Sergei Magnitsky, in a Russian prison in 2009. Those events led the US Congress to pass the Magnitsky Act, which sanctioned high-ranking Russian officials believed to be responsible.
Veselnitskaya, Prevezon’s now indicted attorney, is better known as a subject of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into President Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and potential collusion with Russian individuals. In 2016, Veselnitskaya met with Donald Trump Jr, campaign manager Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner at Trump Tower. The meeting was ostensibly held to discuss potential opposition research on Hillary Clinton, but ultimately to lobby them on the Magnitsky Act, Donald Trump, Jr. later said. Trump, Jr. had first been pitched the meeting by an English publicist, who described Veselnitskaya as connected to “the Crown prosecutor of Russia” in an email.
The Russian government was largely uncooperative in the U.S. Prevezon investigation, according to previous reporting, but Veselnitskaya provided to U.S. attorneys documents she said were the result of the Russian government’s own investigation into the allegations, claiming that the tax fraud scheme had been carried out not by corrupt Russian bureaucrats, but by Browder and Hermitage Capital. U.S. Attorneys, however, allege in their indictment that Veselnitskaya herself participated in the drafting and careful wording of these documents, without disclosing to the court that she had done so.
In a statement Tuesday Morning, Geoffrey Berman, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said, “Fabricating evidence – submitting false and deceptive declarations to a federal judge – in an attempt to affect the outcome of pending litigation not only undermines the integrity of the judicial process, but it threatens the ability of our courts and our Government to ensure that justice is done.”
Prevezon, which admitted no wrongdoing in its 2017 settlement, was a partner of Lev Leviev’s Africa Israel Investment, including in investments alleged to be vehicles for money laundering, such as the sale of the 20 Pine condos.
A FORMER Goldman Sachs lobbyist who now works as the top lawyer for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., declined to name 19 of his 20 former clients in his financial disclosure last year.
Mark Patterson, who also served as former Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s chief of staff during the Obama administration, joined Schumer’s office last year. He had been a co-chair of the Perkins Coie law firm’s public and strategic affairs practice since 2014.
An archived version of Perkins Coie’s website, directly below, says that Patterson provided “policy analysis and strategic counsel to clients such as major corporations, financial institutions and nonprofit organizations.” He gave few specifics in his 2018 financial disclosure, asserting that he had to withhold the identities of nearly all of his clients based on rules of professional conduct for lawyers.
Mark Patterson
#perkinscoiesucks
Mark A. Patterson was Chief of Staff at the U.S. Department of the Treasury under Secretaries Timothy F. Geithner and Jacob J. Lew. He is the longest-serving Chief of Staff in Treasury Department history, and is a recipient of the Alexander Hamilton Award, the Department’s highest honor. As co-leader – with Pete Rouse – of the firm's Public and Strategic Affairs Group, he provides policy analysis and strategic counsel to clients such as major corporations, financial institutions and nonprofit organizations. Mark advises business leaders and other clients on federal and state policy issues, crisis management and related public communications challenges. A lawyer with extensive leadership experience in government and the private sector, Mark served for many years as a senior staff member in the U. S. Senate, where he worked as Policy Director for Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. Prior to that, he was an aide to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan for more than a decade. He held several positions on Senator Moynihan’s staff, including Democratic Staff Director and Chief Counsel at the Senate Committee on Finance, where Moynihan was the Ranking Democrat. Mark was Senator Moynihan’s longest-serving chief aide on the Finance Committee. MOREProfessional Leadership
A Schumer spokesperson did not respond to questions.
At Schumer’s office, Patterson is now at the center of a fight over corporate governance. Since President Donald Trump took office, organizations like Demand Progress and the Revolving Door Project have pressured Schumer to use the limited powers at his disposal to encourage stricter oversight by recommending progressive watchdogs to regulatory agency boards. (Schumer, as minority leader, selects appointees for Democratic seats on regulatory bodies, who then need to be formally nominated by the White House).
The effort has produced mixed results: Although Schumer last year proposed nominees that progressives support, the White House didn’t nominate two of them, and Republicans didn’t hold votes on the other two nominees.
A coalition of 20 organizations recently wroteto Schumer demanding that he work to fill Democratic vacancies at the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Merit Systems Protection Board. The letter faulted Schumer for allowing Trump’s judicial nominees to win confirmation by unanimous consent. Schumer could have used those vacancies as leverage to force votes on his party’s regulatory nominees, the progressives argued.
HuffPost this week called the fight over the regulatory bodies a “moment of truth” for Schumer and Senate Democrats. Jeff Hauser, who leads the Revolving Door Project in Washington, D.C., believes that Patterson deserves some blame for the botched vacancies. After Patterson was hired, Schumer’s office told The Nation that the former Goldman lobbyist — unlike his predecessor — wouldn’t be involved in vetting appointments to federal commissions. That’s a problem, said Hauser.
“I think we should in general try to not hire people for senior jobs where they’re going to be recused from certain matters,” Hauser said. “It would make sense that your chief counsel would be involved in the SEC and FDIC hiring process. It’s something you want your chief counsel to be involved in. If he is complying with his recusal, that might explain the relative indifference, because the senior person on leadership staff who should be raising alarms that these nominations are languishing with Trump is disempowered.”
Hauser said Patterson’s financial disclosure “illustrates a lot of the weakness in our ethics rules, because there is insufficient skepticism about self-reported matters.”
“We only have his word that those 19 clients required that level of confidentiality,” Hauser said. “If he’s hiding his clients, it’s hard to even know what we don’t want him involved in, by definition, because he’s preventing us the ability to know what is a conflict of interest.”
Do you know why I am just going to go wild and sip on a bit of shiraz for this one?
Every single one of these cities were under the authority of the Michigan Emergency Manager Law.
See, I am going to put it like this, just because I know the characters in this particular tale, they are feasting upon their own flesh because these municipal law enforcement jurisdictions have no clue of what is going on because no one told them anything for the simple fact that everyone was under an Emergency Manager, appointed by the Governor, advised by the Michigan Department of Treasury who was doing Andy.
Anyway, I was really waiting for something to come up about their public auctions or funding political campaigns.
I remember COBRA used to be busy, busy, busy doing lots of community outreach in Hamtramck.
I also know there is much more to the story because the article below, is true, trust me, I know.
The same thing that they were doing with Property Deeds is what they were doing to Vehicle Titles because it all started in child welfare.
Meanwhile, Detroit assistant chief James White sent a memo last year to Highland Park's police chief, claiming an officer also was improperly logging stolen cars into the LEIN system. Highland Park officials have not commented on the allegation.
The three police departments worked together, along with Hamtramck, as part of the COBRA stolen car task force until the unit disbanded last year, following complaints by Detroit officials about how cops in Ecorse and Highland Park processed stolen vehicles.
Similar issues are raised in a Wayne County Circuit Court lawsuit filed by Ecorse officer Cornelius Herring, who alleges he was subjected to a hostile work environment for exposing the alleged wrongdoing by fellow Ecorse officers.
Herring says the officers did not alert citizens that their vehicles had been stolen, which allowed the vehicles to become Ecorse's property, to be auctioned off and then purchased by Ecorse officials. The city's police chief and mayor acknowledge they bought two of those vehicles for private use, although the chief and the city's attorney insist there was nothing improper about the transactions.
Ecorse Sgt. Geoffrey Howard also told his superior officers about the alleged LEIN improprieties, according to correspondence between attorneys and city officials. Although Howard also has filed a lawsuit claiming he was mistreated by department officials, the LEIN charges aren't included in his complaint, which alleges racial discrimination over how a coworker's social media post was handled.
Moore told The Detroit News he looked into the claims by Herring and Howard and found nothing wrong.
Moore also said Craig told him and other Ecorse police officials during a meeting in Ecorse police headquarters last year that they were improperly processing stolen vehicles.
"At that meeting, (Craig) started telling everyone they were doing things illegally," Moore said. "Someone tapped him on the shoulder and said, 'let's go out for a minute.' Then, when he came back, he backpedaled on everything he said. I don't know what was said outside the room, but he clearly realized he was out of bounds by saying we were doing illegal things."
Craig called Moore's account "nonsense."
"I would have never came out and told him that — especially if I thought they were involved in criminality," Craig said. "If I thought they were doing something illegal, I would've taken that to the FBI.
"Did I possibly say I had some concerns? I may have, but I don't even remember that," he said. "I dispute these allegations. I don't know what (Moore) is talking about."
Moore also claimed Parish last year asked Ecorse officers to give more work to Fiore's tow firms.
"There were tow companies that were getting kickbacks, and they were upset that our officers weren't using those companies enough," Moore said. "(Parish) was here on behalf of (former Detroit police civilian deputy chief and department attorney) Celia Washington.
He wanted us to use (Fiore's) tow companies more often."
Washington was sentenced in April to a year in prison for taking bribes from Fiore, who also was convicted by federal authorities last year in a widespread corruption case.
Parish insisted his discussion with Ecorse police was about his investigation into how Ecorse officers weren't properly entering stolen vehicles into the LEIN system.
"There were several issues with how information was being put into LEIN by Ecorse officers," Parish said. "So I went there trying to get more information about their practices."
Parish said the notion that he would advocate for Fiore is "ridiculous," and pointed out that he testified against Fiore before the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners and in federal court, advocating for Fiore's companies to be banned from the Detroit police towing rotation.
Moore said he was concerned about Parish's visit. "We brought this to the feds and Michigan State Police," he said.
FBI spokesman Mara Schneider declined to comment. Michigan State Police spokeswoman Shanon Banner said Ecorse officials asked about LEIN procedures, but that no specific allegations of wrongdoing were made.
"We checked with our detectives in Metro Detroit and no one has awareness of this matter," Banner said.
Ecorse police officers Herring and Howard in July brought separate lawsuits against the city of Ecorse, Mayor Lamar Tidwell and Moore. Herring's lawsuit says he was demoted from sergeant to officer in part because he “exposed Moore and a coworker for violation of LEIN procedures, possibly being a criminal offense."
Moore and city attorney Charles Wycoff insist the lawsuits are baseless, saying there were legitimate reasons for punishing both officers.
"These are two employees who are disgruntled because they were being disciplined," Moore said. "That's all this is. They both have a long record of disciplinary issues."
Barry Keller, attorney for Herring and Howard, said: "This isn't disgruntled employees. According to my client (Herring), stolen cars weren't being properly entered into the LEIN system."
According to Herring, the alleged scheme involved officers manipulating the LEIN system to hide recovered stolen vehicles from their owners until they became Ecorse property. The vehicles were listed in the system as abandoned, not stolen, and the owners were never notified, Herring said.
Under Michigan law, if the owner of an abandoned vehicle doesn't respond within 20 days after it's towed, the vehicles become property of the police department that oversaw their recovery. The vehicles are then scrapped, retained by the police department or auctioned off.
Herring said Ecorse's police chief and mayor ended up driving stolen vehicles that were towed from other jurisdictions and not properly entered into LEIN. Moore and Wycoff insisted the vehicles — the chief's 2010 Nissan Armada and the mayor's 2006 Chevrolet Trailblazer — were legitimately purchased.
Oakland University criminal justice professor Daniel Kennedy said officials purchasing vehicles that were confiscated in their own jurisdiction opens up questions of impropriety.
"My opinion is that (police and city officials) should try to avoid even the appearance of impropriety," Kennedy said. "The most important thing would be to make sure the (officials) had no advantage over other citizens in being able to bid for those vehicles, and that it was an open process."
Moore said a 2008 Cadillac Escalade, which was stolen in Detroit in 2016, kicked off the allegations about LEIN misuse.
"The issue which created this whole thing was one of our officers, (Cpl.) Kevin Barkman, recovered a vehicle in Detroit and put it in LEIN through the city of Ecorse," Moore said. "(Herring and Howard) are trying to say it was illegal for Barkman to put that car into LEIN using the Ecorse ORI (Originating Agency Identifier) number, because the vehicle was recovered in Detroit."
Moore acknowledged the stolen Escalade was initially logged into the LEIN system as an abandoned vehicle.
"Cpl. Barkman didn't have a report that the vehicle had been stolen," Moore said. "He found it on cement blocks with the window knocked out, so he listed it as abandoned. The Detroit ORI wasn't used because Barkman is deputized as a Wayne County sheriff, so he has countywide jurisdiction."
The SUV eventually was returned to the Detroit woman who owned it — "but the tow company (B&G Towing in Detroit, which has ties to Fiore, according to Detroit police) never told us the owner had picked it up," Moore said. "If they had, we'd have taken it out of LEIN immediately."
Six months later, the SUV was stolen a second time from in front of the woman's house on Detroit's east side, Moore said.
"The woman went to the Detroit precinct to report her vehicle was stolen, but the Detroit sergeant was unable to put it into LEIN as a stolen vehicle because it was still in our system as a recovered vehicle," Moore said. "The Detroit police sergeant called us and said the vehicle was still listed in the LEIN system as an abandoned vehicle."
Moore said Herring refused the Detroit sergeant's request to remove the vehicle from LEIN, for which he was charged with neglect of duty and insubordination, and demoted. His case is pending. Howard was reprimanded for smoking in the police station.
Flat Rock attorney David Grunow was retained by Ecorse to look into the allegations made by Herring and Howard. In a Feb. 23, 2018, letter to Wycoff, Grunow wrote that he'd interviewed the two officers about their claims.
Grunow's letter says Moore investigated the allegations of LEIN abuse "and found no justification for the complaint ... and found that there was insufficient evidence to discipline Cpl. Barkman."
Detroit police officials also have had problems with how Highland Park Cpl. James McMahon used the LEIN system. In a June 28, 2017, memo to Highland Park Police Chief Chester Logan, White, Detroit's assistant chief, wrote: "McMahon was not using the ... stolen vehicle recovery notification as required by ... LEIN.
"Several vehicle recovery notifications were being sent by Administrative Message, missing pertinent recovery information," White wrote, adding: "Corporal McMahon failed to reply or follow up when request for required missing information was sent to him.
"These failures raised some concerns within the Detroit Police Department, due to the fact that the ultimate outcome led to substantial tow fees to be paid by the citizens," White wrote.
A federal lawsuit filed in August accuses McMahon and Hamtramck Officer Michael Stout of conspiring with Fiore to illegally seize vehicles to collect towing and impound fees.
Highland Park spokeswoman Marli Blackman did not respond to a request for comment.
20 Pine Street
