Len Blavatnik

Len Blavatnik

1.8 million

A Russian-born American citizen who is the richest man in Britain, according to Forbes.

...Here are some of the businessmen with Soviet Jewish roots who have been named in stories about the Trump-Russia investigation.

Access Industries chairman Leonard Blavatnik.Credit: Bloomberg

Leonard Blavatnik, 60

Oligarch factor: U.S.-British citizen. Forbes lists him as the 48th richest man in the world. Access Industries, which he founded in 1986 while he was at Harvard Business school, exploded in its earlier years through investments in uranium and oil in the collapsing Soviet Union. It has since expanded into massive media holdings.

Trump factor: Gave more than $6 million in the 2016 election cycle, virtually all to Republicans, after a pattern of relatively modest donations to both political parties. Longstanding business ties to Viktor Vekselberg, the oligarch allegedly linked to secret payments to Trump lawyer Michael Cohen. Blavatnik donated $12,700 last year to a Republican party legal fund that has helped to pay Trump’s lawyers in the Russia inquiry.

Jewish ties: He has served on the board of Tel Aviv University, the Center for Jewish History and the 92nd Street Y. His family foundation funds a Colel Chabad-run food bank and warehouse in Kiryat Malachi in Israel, which sends monthly shipments of food to 5,000 poor families in 25 Israeli cities. He is friends with Netanyahu, and has been questioned by police in connection with the investigation into gifts the prime minister allegedly has received from wealthy benefactors. He funds scholarships for Israeli army soldiers.

In 2017, Israeli police investigatedwhether Prime Minister Netanyahu was involved behind the scenes in the sale of Channel 10 to Leonard Blavatnik (a partner in RGE Communications, which owns 51 percent of Channel 10).

NRA blackburn?

https://www.alternet.org/2019/10/gop-sens-ron-johnson-and-marsha-blackburn-are-tied-to-russian-money-and-trump-conspiracy-theories-theyre-not-alone/

https://www.eurotrib.com/story/2018/12/28/23822/480

Music's Mystery Mogul: Len Blavatnik, Trump and Their Russian Friends | Hollywood Reporter - Oct. 2018 |

In May 2013, Martin Scorsese went to the Cannes Film Festival -- not to be feted but to pitch a project: Silence, his not-exactly-commercial saga of two priests in 17th century Japan. The director had dinner aboard billionaire Len Blavatnik's 164-foot yacht, Odessa, named for his birthplace in Ukraine. Scorsese and Blavatnik then headed to a lavish party hosted by Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, owner of the English Premier League's Chelsea F.C., who, like Blavatnik, had made his fortune following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Abramovich was hosting director Baz Luhrmann, whose The Great Gatsby was having its premiere at the festival. One observer was struck by the scene: "Len got to arrive with his prestigious guest and Abramovich was there with his, so it was oligarchs showing their connections." Now, sources say, Blavatnik is negotiating a major multiplatform deal with Luhrmann, and Warner Bros. plans to make a long-gestating Elvis Presley film with the Australian director, presumably with Blavatnik's backing.

The use of the O-word would annoy Blavatnik, 61. The press-shy billionaire has long maintained that he's not an oligarch but a naturalized American citizen who emigrated from the Soviet Union [Ukraine] as a young man of 21 in 1978. Nonetheless, he has found himself on the radar of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, according to ABC News. Amid the drumbeat of the probe of Russian interference with the 2016 U.S. election, Blavatnik is on a quest to achieve his stated goal of building a "media platform for the 21st century."

Continued below the fold ...

Ignoring the Blavatnik origin story may become a little tougher, however, as he is one of several U.S. citizens with deep foreign ties who have attracted Mueller's attention by donating millions to GOP causes in the past few years. Foreigners are not permitted to make such donations, but as American citizens, billionaires like Blavatnik can.

Starting in the 2015-16 election season, Blavatnik's political contributions "soared and made a hard right turn," according to an analysis by business professor Ruth May in The Dallas Morning News. In that cycle, he contributed $6.35 million to Republican candidates and incumbent senators. The biggest beneficiary was Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, whose Senate Leadership Fund received a $2.5 million donation followed by another $1 million in 2017. Blavatnik or Access gave generously to PACs associated with Sen. Lindsey Graham ($800,000) and to Sen. Marco Rubio ($1.5 million).

[...]

At a glance, Blavatnik not only is a wildly successful businessman but a philanthropist who has made huge donations to uni­versities, including $117 million to Oxford (the university's School of Government building, completed in 2015, bears his name). Oxford's press release announcing the gift obligingly described Blavatnik as an "American industrialist and philanthropist." That gift drew protests from a group of more than 20 critics, including academics and activists, who argued that Oxford should "stop selling its reputation and prestige to Putin's associates."

○ Leonard Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford University

[...]

Perhaps it was through Blavatnik's visits to the Cannes Film Festival that he met other regulars, including Brett Ratner and future Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin (who now wields considerable influence in determining which oligarchs will be subject to sanctions). Both Ratner and Mnuchin frequented Blavatnik's yacht. In 2013, Ratner founded RatPac Entertainment with Australian billionaire James Packer. (A source says Blavatnik was an investor from the beginning.)

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dmn no lnx chart

GOP campaigns took $7.35 million from oligarch linked to Russia

FILED UNDERCOMMENTARY  AT AUG 2017 SHARE

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Ruth May, Contributor

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Editor's note: Ruth May wrote this column in August 2017. Click here for an extensive update.

Party loyalty is often cited as the reason that GOP leaders have not been more outspoken in their criticism of President Donald Trump and his refusal to condemn Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election. Yet there may be another reason that top Republicans have not been more vocal in their condemnation. Perhaps it's because they have their own links to the Russian oligarchy that they would prefer go unnoticed.

Donald Trump and the political action committees for Mitch McConnell, Marco Rubio, Scott Walker, Lindsey Graham, John Kasich and John McCain accepted $7.35 million in contributions from a Ukrainian-born oligarch who is the business partner of two of Russian president Vladimir Putin's favorite oligarchs and a Russian government bank.

During the 2015-2016 election season, Ukrainian-born billionaire Leonard "Len" Blavatnik contributed $6.35 million to leading Republican candidates and incumbent senators. Mitch McConnell was the top recipient of Blavatnik's donations, collecting $2.5 million for his GOP Senate Leadership Fund under the names of two of Blavatnik's holding companies, Access Industries and AI Altep Holdings, according to Federal Election Commission documents and OpenSecrets.org.

How Putin's proxies helped funnel millions into GOP campaigns

Marco Rubio's Conservative Solutions PAC and his Florida First Project received $1.5 million through Blavatnik's two holding companies. Other high dollar recipients of funding from Blavatnik were PACS representing Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker at $1.1 million, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham at $800,000, Ohio Governor John Kasich at $250,000 and Arizona Senator John McCain at $200,000.

In January, Quartz reported that Blavatnik donated another $1 million to Trump's Inaugural Committee. Ironically, the shared address of Blavatnik's companies is directly across the street from Trump Tower on 5th Avenue in New York.

Len Blavatnik, considered to be one of the richest men in Great Britain, holds dual citizenship in the U.S. and the U.K. He is known for his business savvy and generous philanthropy, but not without controversy.

In 2010, Oxford University drew intense criticism for accepting a donation of 75 million pounds from Blavatnik for a new school of government bearing his name. Faculty, alumni and international human rights activists claimed the university was selling its reputation and prestige to Putin's associates.

Blavatnik's relationships with Russian oligarchs close to Putin, particularly Oleg Deripaska, should be worrisome for Trump and the six GOP leaders who took Blavatnik's money during the 2016 presidential campaign. Lucky for them no one has noticed. Yet.

How some evangelical Christians are complicit in the cruelty of politics

Oleg Deripaska is the founder and majority owner of RUSAL, the world's second largest aluminum company, based in Russia. Len Blavatnik owns a significant stake in RUSAL and served on its Board until November 10, 2016, two days after Donald Trump was elected.

Deripaska controls RUSAL with a 48 percent majority stake through his holding company, EN+ Group, and the Russian government owns 4.35 percent stake of EN+ Group through its second-largest state owned bank, VTB. VTB was exposed in the Panama papers in 2016for facilitating the flow of billions of dollars to offshore companies linked to Vladimir Putin and is under sanctions by the U.S. government.

Cyprus is at the center of a circle of corruption surrounding Trump

Deripaska has been closely connected to the Kremlin since he married into Boris Yeltsin's family in 2001, which literally includes him in the Russian clan known as "The Family."According to the Associated Press, starting in 2006, Deripaska made annual payments of $10 million to Paul Manafort through the Bank of Cyprus to advance Putin's global agenda.

Len Blavatnik's co-owner in RUSAL is his long-time business partner, Viktor Vekselberg, another Russian oligarch with close ties to  Putin. Blavatnik and Vekselberg hold their 15.8 percent joint stake in RUSAL in the name of Sual Partners, their offshore company in the Bahamas. Vekselberg also happens to be the largest shareholder in the Bank of Cyprus.

Another oligarch with close ties to Putin, Dmitry Rybolovlev, owns a 3.3 percent stake in the Bank of Cyprus. Rybolovlev is known as "Russia's Fertilizer King" and has been in the spotlight for several months as the purchaser of Trump's 60,000 square-foot mansion in Palm Beach. Rybolovlev bought the estate for $54 million more than Trump paid for the property at the bottom of the crash in the U.S. real estate market.

The convoluted web that links Putin's oligarchs to Trump's political associates and top Republicans is difficult to take in.

Trump and Putin have a common approach to governance. They rely heavily on long-term relationships and family ties. While there have been tensions between Putin and Deripaska over the years, the Kremlin came to Deripaska's rescue in 2009 when he was on the verge of bankruptcy by providing a $4.5 billion emergency loan through state-owned Vnesheconombank (VEB), where Putin is chair of the advisory board.

VEB, known as President Putin's "pet bank," is now in crisis after sanctions applied by Europe and U.S. in 2014 have isolated it from the international banks that were the sources of its nearly $4 billion in hard currency loans that, according to Bloomberg, mature this year and in 2018.

Russia's international currency reserves are near a 10-year low, which has put further pressure on the president of VEB, Sergey Gorkov, to find sources of international rescue capital. Notably, it was Gorkov who met secretly with Jared Kushner in December at Trump Tower. Kushner's failure to report the meeting with Gorkov has drawn the attention of the Senate intelligence committee that now wants to question Kushner about the meeting.

Ruth May is a business professor at the University of Dallas and an expert on the economies of Russia and Ukraine. She wrote this column for The Dallas Morning News. Twitter: @ruthcmay

CORRECTION, 12:11 p.m., August 7: The headline on an earlier version of this column incorrectly said Blavatnik is Russian. He was born in Urkraine during the Soviet era.

An earlier version of this column used the name Leonid "Len" Blavatnik. He changed his first name to Leonard.

The column has also been updated to remove language describing the online presentation of a press release about Blavatnik resigning from the RUSAL board because it lacked context.

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https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000031282&cycle=A 10 mil almost all soft/outside, recent

industries

Senate Totals

House Averages

Senate Averages

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http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2017/jun/21/tweets/pro-putin-ukrainian-gave-scott-walker-1-million/

Gov. Scott Walker announces his run for president on July 13, 2015 at the Expo Center in Waukesha, Wis.] pix

An anti-Donald Trump Democratic strategist and fundraiser has attacked Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker by trying to tie him to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In a May 23, 2017 tweet that has been retweeted more than 6,500 times ties, Scott Dworkin said this:

Docs: Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker took $1 million from a pro-Putin Ukrainian businessman—last election cycle.

It’s a bit of a drive-by attack.

Dworkin and his group

Dworkin, who goes by @funder on Twitter, is a senior advisor for the Democratic Coalition Against Trump, which was founded during the 2016 presidential campaign. He gained attention after the election by saying he was filing treason "complaints" against Trump and three other officials in connection with Russian interference in the election.

PunditFact pointed out that only federal prosecutors, not ordinary citizens, can file criminal complaints alleging treason.

Dworkin has continued hammering on Russia, telling the Washington Post two weeks after his Walker tweet: "Anybody who says we shouldn’t look into Russia at this point is either in it or a traitor."

The Walker attack

Dworkin’s attack pertains to Walker’s brief run for the 2016 Republican nomination and to a super PAC which, unlike a presidential candidate, can accept unlimited donations.

When we asked for information to back up the claim, Dworkin referred us to a Federal Election Commission record showing thatAccess Industries Inc. of New York City made a $1 million contribution to Unintimidated PAC, a super PAC launched by longtime Walker advisers.

(The super PAC, by the way, offered perks to $1 million donors, including: twice-a-year retreats, members-only briefings and conference calls, two private dinners with "VIP special guests" and a special "executive board member" pin.)

Access Industries actually gave a total of $1.5 million to the super PAC, the nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics told us, although $1.2 million of it was returned after Walker dropped out of the race.

So, the $1 million figure in the tweet is accurate, except that the money was given to a super PAC supporting Walker, not to Walker or to his campaign.

The rest of the attack is less on target.

The company owner

Access Industries is a New York-based industrial group whose holdings include Warner Music. It was founded by Leonard Blavatnik. According to Forbes, he’s worth $19 billion, having made $7 billion from the sale of TNK-BP, a Russian oil company, in 2013.

Blavatnik was born in Ukraine and raised in Moscow. But he emigrated to the United States for school in 1978, now lives in London and holds dual citizenship in the United States and the United Kingdom.

So, calling him a Ukrainian businessman is not accurate.

As for whether Blavatnik is "pro-Putin," we didn’t find direct evidence of that, although there are connections.

The Financial Times referred to Blavatnik as one of the "Kremlin-friendly tycoons" who made a fortune on the sale.

In 2015, the London-based Daily Mail reported on controversy over a $75 million donation made by Blavatnik to Oxford University. Academics, human rights activists and Russian dissidents called on the university to "stop selling its reputation and prestige to Putin’s associates."

And in 2016, the Daily Mail reported that British Prime Minister Theresa May believed that Russian and former Soviet bloc oligarchs with links to Putin had become too close to the Tories and should be barred from party fundraising events. The article cited Blavatnikas one of the oligarchs.

However, when we checked with Steven Lee Myers, Karen Dawisha and Anne Garrels, each of whom has written a book on Putin, they told us they didn’t know whether Blavatnik was "pro-Putin."

Blavatnik has pushed back on being tied to Putin.

In May 2017, The Guardian reported that lawyers for Blavatnik have denied he is an associate of Putin, saying he has had no personal contact with the Russian president since 2000. Similarly, the Telegraph has reported that Blavatnik insists he's a strong believer in democracy who hasn't had any contact with Putin since 2000.

Our rating

Tweets made this claim: "Docs: Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker took $1 million from a pro-Putin Ukrainian businessman — last election cycle."

The businessman was born in Ukraine, but has long lived in London and New York. His company gave $1.5 million not directly to Walker, but to a super PAC that supported Walker’s run for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination. He has ties to Putin, based on his past ownership of a Russian oil company, but whether he is "pro-Putin" is unclear.

For a statement that contains an element of truth but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, our rating is Mostly False.

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https://boingboing.net/**2017/09**/22/follow-the-money.html

Who's paying for the attorneys representing President Donald Trump in the federal probe of Russian election interference? His legal defense is in part funded through a Republican Party account with a number of rich donors. Among them are a “billionaire investor, a property developer seeking U.S. government visas and a Ukrainian-born American who has made billions of dollars doing business with Russian oligarchs,” reports the WSJ.

Oh, and there's a Rosneft connection, you Putin conspiracy hounds.

The RNC accountin question has been historically used to pay for the RNC's own legal bills, but justlast month paid over $300,000 to help cover Trump’s personal legal expenses, Federal Election Commission filings reveal.

Oh, and that same fund also paid about $200,000 to attorneys representing the President's dumbest son, Don Jr.

From Rebecca Ballhaus at the *Wall Street Journal*,

In April, billionaire Len Blavatnik gave $12,700 to the RNC’s legal fund, on top of donations of about $200,000 to other RNC accounts. He also gave the legal fund $100,000 in 2016, according to FEC filings.

The contribution from Mr. Blavatnik came during the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s probe of U.S. intelligence agencies’ findings of Russian meddling in the U.S. election, a month before the Justice Department appointed a special counsel to oversee its probe of Russian interference—which subsequently prompted Mr. Trump to hire a private legal team.

Moscow has denied interfering in the election. Mr. Trump has denied his campaign colluded with Russia and called the investigations a “witch hunt.”

A spokesman for Mr. Blavatnik didn’t return a request for comment. The White House referred questions to the RNC.

Mr. Blavatnik, who was born in Ukraine when it was part of the Soviet Union, and moved to the U.S. in his early 20s, amassed his fortune in Russia in the years following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

He is a longtime business partner of Viktor Vekselberg, who is one of the richest men in Russia and has close ties to the Kremlin.

In 2013, Mr. Blavatnik earned billions when he, Mr. Vekselberg and two other partners sold their stake in the oil company TNK-BP to Rosneft, a Kremlin-controlled oil company. Rosneft’s chief executive is Igor Sechin, a top ally of Russian President Vladmir Putin.

During the 2016 campaign, Mr. Blavatnik through his company donated to several Republican presidential campaigns, including for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham. He didn’t donate to Mr. Trump’s campaign.

https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/mueller-probing-why-russian-billionaires-were-given-unusual-access-invitation-only

NEWS & POLITICS

Mueller is Probing Why Russian Billionaires Were Given 'Unusual' Access to 'Invitation-Only' Trump Inauguration Parties

One of the individuals was sanctioned by the U.S. government.

By Chris Sosa / AlterNet June 28, 2018, 7:36 AM GMT

no lnx

ABC News has obtained a guest list that shows several "billionaires with deep ties to Russia attended exclusive, invitation-only receptions during Donald Trump’s inauguration festivities."

The billionaires reportedly had access to events usually "reserved for top donors and close political allies" and included at least one individual now sanctioned by the U.S. government.

“This reflects a Russian strategy of gaining access to our political leaders at a time when they are just forming a government,” Matthew Olsen, a former senior national security official who now serves as an ABC News consultant, said. “They don’t need to be spies in the James Bond sense. They are powerful people with significant wealth who are in a position to exert influence on U.S. policy makers. And they’re in a position to report back to Russian intelligence services on what they’re able to learn.”

Inauguration guests included Victor Vekselberg, billionaire leader of the global conglomerate Renova Group, who was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury “for operating in the energy sector of the Russian Federation economy.”

Special counsel Robert Mueller's team is now looking into the suspicious inauguration activity. The Washington Post had originally reported that individuals with Kremlin ties were at Trump's inauguration, but the obtained guest list demonstrates a new level of public detail about the connections

ref

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/special-counsel-eyeing-russians-granted-unusual-access-trump/story?id=56232847

Watch: Special counsel eyeing Russians granted unusual access to Trump inauguration parties

Special counsel eyeing Russians granted unusual access to Trump inauguration parties

By MATTHEW MOSK JOHN SANTUCCI Jun 28, 2018, 11:41 AM ET

PHOTO: President Elect Donald Trump arrives on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol, Jan. 20, 2017, in Washington.Scott Olson/Getty Images, FILE

WATCHSpecial counsel eyeing Russians granted unusual access to Trump inauguration parties

Email

Several billionaires with deep ties to Russia attended exclusive, invitation-only receptions during Donald Trump’s inauguration festivities, guest lists obtained by ABC News show.

These powerful businessmen, who amassed their fortunes following the collapse of the Soviet Union -- including one who has since been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department -- were ushered into events typically reserved for top donors and close political allies and were given unprecedented access to Trump’s inner circle.

Their presence has attracted the interest of federal investigators probing Russian efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election, three sources with knowledge of the matter said.

Matthew Olsen, a former senior national security official who now serves as an ABC News consultant, said their presence at inaugural events is “very concerning.”

“This reflects a Russian strategy of gaining access to our political leaders at a time when they are just forming a government,” Olsen said. “They don’t need to be spies in the James Bond sense. They are powerful people with significant wealth who are in a position to exert influence on U.S. policy makers. And they’re in a position to report back to Russian intelligence services on what they’re able to learn.”

Former FBI Director Robert Mueller at an installation ceremony at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C., October 28, 2013.

The presence of people with Kremlin ties in Washington for Trump’s inaugural celebration was first reported by The Washington Post. But the guest lists obtained by ABC News offer a new glimpse at the level of access granted to several well-connected oligarchs.

Several donated enough to the Presidential Inaugural Committee to qualify for tickets to a “Candlelight Dinner” in Washington’s Union Station on the eve of the inauguration, a perk for $1 million contributors, the list of attendees show. Guests were treated to a preview performance by singer Jackie Evancho, a one-time runner-up on "America's Got Talent," who would go on to sing at the inauguration the following day.

A handful celebrated Trump’s surprise victory at the black-tie “Chairman’s Global Dinner,” an exclusive 500-guest affair held the same night in the Greek-columned Andrew W. Mellon Auditoriumwhose attendees included close Trump friends, high-ranking campaign aides, and an array of foreign ambassadors and dignitaries. The inaugural committee treated them to a dinner of butter-poached lobster, coffee-crusted beef tenderloin and chocolate raspberry dome. For entertainment, casino mogul and Trump pal Steve Wynn flew in Las Vegas show girls to perform a Broadway-style rendition of Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York.”

According to a source with knowledge of the congressional investigations, at least one oligarch was ushered into Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol for the traditional Inaugural Day luncheon, hosted by the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies – an event typically out of reach to donors and even most rank-and-file members of Congress.

“It’s incredibly unusual,” said Stephen Kerrigan, who planned the 2009 and 2013 Obama inaugural festivities and said every guest was scrutinized for foreign ties. “Particularly if they were going to be within arm’s reach of the President, they went through an intensive vetting process.”

Names on the guest lists of the Candlelight Dinner included Victor Vekselberg, the billionaire head of the global conglomerate Renova Group, who was later sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury “for operating in the energy sector of the Russian Federation economy,” and his American cousin Andrew Intrater. Late last year, Vekselberg was stopped at a New York airport by federal agents working for Special Counsel Robert Mueller and questioned, according to the New York Times. The Times also reported that Intrater was separately interviewed by the special counsel.

Vekselberg and Intrater were seated at the dinner next to Michael Cohen and his family, according to a source familiar with the arrangements. Intrater’s firm, Columbus Nova, later signed Cohen to a $1 million consulting contract. Emails to Renova Group went unanswered. A spokesperson for Intrater declined to comment when reached by ABC News.

PHOTO: Renova Group Chairman Viktor Vekselberg attends a session during the Week of Russian Business, held by the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), in Moscow, Feb. 7, 2018. Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters

Renova Group Chairman Viktor Vekselberg attends a session during the Week of Russian Business, held by the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), in Moscow, Feb. 7, 2018. more +

Investigators for both the Mueller team and the congressional probes have also expressed interest in several of the other Russian guests who had no obvious place in Trump’s diplomatic orbit, three sources told ABC News.

Some had given money to past Republican candidates, including Leonard Blavatnik,a Ukrainian-born billionaire philanthropist who holds American and British citizenship. He appeared on guest lists for both the Candlelight Dinner and the Chairman’s events. His global company, Access Industries, which holds a majority stake in Amedia, Russia’s largest producer of television series, gave $1 million to the inaugural fund.

A spokeswoman at Access Industries directed questions from ABC News to a company official who was not immediately available for comment.

Alexander Shustorovich, a Russian-born American music industry mogul with a background in nuclear energy, also donated $1 million to the Trump inauguration and attended Chairman’s Dinner. Nearly two decades ago, the Republican National Committee returned a six-figure political contribution from Shustorovich because of his past ties to the Russian government, according to the Wall Street Journal, which quoted a GOP official saying it wasn’t “worth the trouble.”

In response to questions from ABC News, John Evans, the chief operating officer of IMG Artists, a company owned by Shustorovich, said the wealthy businessman was maligned by that report and has since made sizable gifts to the Republican Party. He said Shustorovich has actually been under attack in Russia, where he has faced allegations of being an agent of American influence.

“Alex Shustorovich has not been contacted by anyone regarding his attendance at the Trump inauguration, except the press,” Evans said.

A Soviet-born billionaire Alexander Mashkevitch, who built a metals and mining empire in Kazakhstan, appears on the guest list for the Candlelight Dinner. Flight records show his private jet flew into Washington, D.C. on Jan. 19, 2017 and out two days later. European media reports indicate he settled money laundering charges with Belgian authorities in 2011 with no finding of wrongdoing by him. He has held an ownership stake in Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation, one of the world’s largest mining and metals concerns, based in London.

ABC News has attempted to reach Mashkevitch through his companies for comment but they have not responded.

PHOTO: President Elect Donald Trump arrives on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol, Jan. 20, 2017, in Washington.Scott Olson/Getty Images, FILE

President Elect Donald Trump arrives on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol, Jan. 20, 2017, in Washington.

Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak joined numerous other ambassadors on the invite list for the Chairman’s dinner.

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Guests dined alongside some of Trump’s closest friends and advisors, including private equity investor Thomas Barrack Jr., who chaired the inaugural fundraising effort; investment tycoon Carl Ichan, a longtime Trump friend; and Wynn, the casino boss who also became the Republican National Committee’s finance chairman. He stepped down earlier this year amid a swarm of sexual misconduct allegations, which he has denied.

Trump advisors who have faced criminal charges – such as former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who pled guilty to lying to the FBI, and former campaign manager Paul Manafort, who awaits trial on charges related to financial crimes, were at the dinners. Manafort pleaded not guilty and is in jail awaiting trial.

Invited guests also included since-departed White House aide Steve Bannon and campaign advisor and Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix, both of whom have since been questioned in the Special Counsel’s probe.

The Trump inauguration brought in more than $107 million, double the amount of President Obama, to finance a week of festivities that was filled with far fewer events than past inaugurations – only three Presidential balls. In May, ABC News reported that the Special Counsel had questioned several witnesses about millions of dollars in donations from donors with connections to Russia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Andrew Intrater was stopped at a New York airport alongside Victor Vekselberg. Only Vekselberg was stopped. The person who declined to comment on Intrater’s behalf was his spokesperson, not his lawyer.