endeavor waldman
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3315551-5934-Exhibit-AB-20090508-1.html<div>
</div><div>=</div><div>...</div><div><p style="padding: 5px 0px; margin: 5px 0px; color: rgb(33, 43, 74); font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">he release describes a filing in the D.C. case from a Yukos insider, Dmitry Gololobov, who “learned firsthand how the Oligarchs rigged the Russian government’s ‘loans-for-shares’ auctions in 1995 and 1996 to illegally acquire ownership of Yukos.”</p><p style="padding: 5px 0px; margin: 5px 0px; color: rgb(33, 43, 74); font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">“Mr. Gololobov’s testimony represents another step forward,” said Kondakov in the press release. “It confirms the corruption, fraud and bribery perpetrated by the Oligarchs at the expense of the Russian people and it validates the position that the <span class="xn-location">Russian Federation</span> has maintained throughout the <i>Yukos </i>case – that the Oligarchs’ arguments are just lies about lies.”</p><p style="padding: 5px 0px; margin: 5px 0px; color: rgb(33, 43, 74); font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">As for media outreach, Kondakov is quoted in a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/21/business/international/yukos-russia-50-billion-ruling.html?_r=0" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">New York Times</a> piece reporting the overturning of the arbitration fine, but that was published before ICLP hired Edelman in June 2016. Filings and the press release show at least nine people at Edelman were affiliated with the project, and the agreement was <a href="https://www.fara.gov/docs/3634-Supplemental-Statement-20170302-27.pdf" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">terminated on September 30, 2016</a>.</p><p style="padding: 5px 0px; margin: 5px 0px; color: rgb(33, 43, 74); font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">An Edelman representative said that they do not comment on clients, and that they filed all the necessary paperwork with FARA.</p><p style="padding: 5px 0px; margin: 5px 0px; color: rgb(33, 43, 74); font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><a href="https://www.fara.gov/docs/3634-Exhibit-AB-20160615-50.pdf" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">The original filing</a> said “Work for client has begun and the contract is still being negotiated. This filing will be amended to included the contract once a signed copy is executed.” Yet <em>OpenSecrets Blog</em> found no amendment or contract in the filings that followed. And an August filing that lists receipts and disbursements for other clients <a href="https://www.fara.gov/docs/3634-Supplemental-Statement-20160830-26.pdf" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">showed no line items</a> for ICLP from Feb. 1 through July 31, 2016. It’s unclear, without the inclusion of the required contract, how much Edelman was paid.</p><p style="padding: 5px 0px; margin: 5px 0px; color: rgb(33, 43, 74); font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">“If you comply with FARA, the information is very extensive and does tell the public and the press most of what they would want to know,” said Joseph Sandler, Democratic attorney and FARA expert. “But there could be holes with what they actually include, or could include filings from nonprofit front groups and think tanks that are hard to immediately understand who is backing them.”</p><div style="margin: 5px 0px; color: rgb(33, 43, 74); font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 128);">A history of Russian lobbying</span></strong></div><div style="margin: 5px 0px; color: rgb(33, 43, 74); font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" /><p style="padding: 5px 0px; margin: 5px 0px; color: rgb(33, 43, 74); font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">There are plenty of other Russia-related nuggets in the FARA files. For instance, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/oleg-deripaska/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">billionaire</a> Oleg V. Deripaska paid <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3315551-5934-Exhibit-AB-20090508-1.html" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">Endeavor Group</a> a $40,000 monthly retainer in 2009 and 2010 to provide “general legal advice involving his U.S. visa, as well as commercial transactions.” The State Department had revoked Deripaska’s visa in 2006 due to concerns about his possible links to organized crime ties, which Deripaska has denied.</p><p style="padding: 5px 0px; margin: 5px 0px; color: rgb(33, 43, 74); font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">“Endeavor Group expects to engage with the U.S. government regarding the status of the foreign principal’s visa application; interact with the United States Trade Representative office to encourage U.S. participation in the intra-governmental global aluminum discussions; and engage with the Department of Treasury’s Auto Task Force regarding the prospective acquisition of General Motor’s European operations,” <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3315551-5934-Exhibit-AB-20090508-1.html" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">the FARA filing says</a>.</p><p style="padding: 5px 0px; margin: 5px 0px; color: rgb(33, 43, 74); font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, <a href="https://www.fara.gov/docs/5934-Exhibit-AB-20101006-3.pdf" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">also wrote a letter</a> to Adam Waldman, the founder of Endeavor Group, asking for updates on the case and saying he appreciates the work the firm is doing.</p><p style="padding: 5px 0px; margin: 5px 0px; color: rgb(33, 43, 74); font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">“[O]ver the past several years, there has been certain ambiguity upon his visa status in the United States,” Lavrov wrote. “A persistent state of limbo regarding Mr. Deripaska’s ability to travel freely between our two countries has become an impediment to the promotion of mutually advantageous contacts between the business communities of the two countries.”</p><p style="padding: 5px 0px; margin: 5px 0px; color: rgb(33, 43, 74); font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">State-owned banks also hired up in an effort to ease sanctions levied in 2014 after Russia annexed Crimea. One of them, <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3302651-6353-Exhibit-AB-20160511-1.html" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">VTB Group</a>, a financial services firm owned by the Russian government, brought on board Emaunuel Manatos (a lobbyist who <a href="http://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/514/201604159012556514/201604159012556514.pdf" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">bundled almost $40,000</a> for Hillary Clinton this election) in May 2016 for $17,500 a month to “lobby Congress and Executive that affect imposition of US sanctions on Russian-affiliated banks.”</p><p style="padding: 5px 0px; margin: 5px 0px; color: rgb(33, 43, 74); font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">And the name that crops up again and again is that of the PR firm Ketchum Inc., which has earned more than $60 million working for Russia over the past decade or so, <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/01/putins-washington-113894_full.html#.WMA9IW8rKUl" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">according to a POLITICO analysis of FARA filings</a>.</p><p style="padding: 5px 0px; margin: 5px 0px; color: rgb(33, 43, 74); font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The Russians first enlisted Ketchum’s help for “communications support” when it hosted the G8 summit in St. Petersburg in 2006, paying the company $2 million. (The country was in need of a media revamp after Russia’s energy company Gazprom <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/02/world/europe/russia-cuts-off-gas-to-ukraine-in-cost-dispute.html" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">cut off natural gas to Ukraine</a>.)</p><p style="padding: 5px 0px; margin: 5px 0px; color: rgb(33, 43, 74); font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Ketchum also works with subcontractors such as <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3264378-5549-Exhibit-AB-20140108-10.html" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">Alston & Bird to monitor foreign policy legislation</a>, and <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3285220-5914-Exhibit-AB-20120106-7.html" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">Clark & Weinstock</a> and <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3285424-5931-Exhibit-AB-20100621-5.html" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">Venable LLP</a> to lobby on behalf of Gazprom and keep an eye on energy policy.</p><p style="padding: 5px 0px; margin: 5px 0px; color: rgb(33, 43, 74); font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/from-russia-with-pr-ketchum-cnbc" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">ProPublica</a> reported in 2012 that the Huffington Post and CNBC published pro-Russia op-eds linked to Ketchum without noting the connection to the Russian government in the pieces. A year later, Ketchum placed an <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/opinion/putin-plea-for-caution-from-russia-on-syria.html" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">op-ed by Putin</a> in the <em>New York Times</em>.</p></div><div>
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