Бремя Брекзита

[tijd]

В Британии продолжается скандал. Российские связи лидеров Leave.EU оказались намного более глубокими, чем представлялось ранее. Более того, они врали про эти связи не только в публичных заявлениях, но и в своих показаниях в парламенте. Учитывая связи этих деятелей с Трампом, над всей этой историей нависло грозовое облако.

Andy Wigmore, spokesman for the Leave.EU campaign and the business partner of Arron Banks, the biggest funder of Brexit, passed confidential legal documents to high-ranking officials at the Russian embassy and then denied it to parliament.
The documents related to George Cottrell, an aide to Nigel Farage who was with him on the campaign trail for Donald Trump in July 2016. Cottrell was arrested by the FBI and charged with 21 counts of money laundering, bribery and wire fraud.
Damian Collins, chair of the culture, media and sport select committee, said that Banks and Wigmore appeared to have misled parliament and “what we really need to know is why”. He added: “It makes you question whose side they are on.”
https://amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jun/16/leave-eu-russia-arron-banks-andy-wigmore



Упомянутый Джордж Коттрелл (известный по прозвищу “Posh George”) был арестован ФБР в июле 2016 после того, как вместе с Найджелом Фаражем посетил съезд республиканской партии. Ему предъявили 21 обвинение, но в результате скостили обвинение до одного, а срок - с 20 лет до 8 месяцев, предположительно в обмен на сотрудничество со следствием.

Биография персонажа весьма примечательна.

When contacted in 2014 by FBI agents pretending to be drug traffickers, he promised to launder their cash for a fee in 'complete anonymity and security' through his offshore accounts, the documents claim.
His mother was the Penthouse 'pet of the month' in October 1973, under the pseudonym Frances Cannon, describing herself as 'daughter of a landowner'.
The images were reprinted in the magazine in 1977 after she was linked romantically to Prince Charles. <...>
His uncle is Lord Hesketh, a colourful hereditary peer who set up a Formula One team in the 1970s and was a Tory minister under Baroness Thatcher.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4099792/Penthouse-Pet-mother-Ukip-activist-facing-jail-admitting-money-laundering-says-turned-life-meeting-Nigel-Farage.html

Российские связи Коттрелла пытался расследовать Daily Beast нехитрым способом изучения его аккаунта в LinkedIn:

Cottrell is listed as one of just 71 followers of Moldinconbank, a controversial Moldovan bank that was alleged to be at the very center of the “Russian Laundromat” scam that laundered billions in illicit funds from Moscow through fraud, rigged state contracts and tax evasion. Some of those laundered state funds reportedly went to pay foreigners who were acting on behalf of the Kremlin, such as the leader of a small Polish political party who was later arrested on charges of spying for Russia. <...>
Another of the Cottrell account’s “interests” is the bank FBME, an entity which was officially based in Tanzania but had foreign offices in two countries: Cyprus and Russia. According to a U.S. investigation the bank was linked to Bashar al Assad and al Qaeda as well as a $230m fraud against the Russian people uncovered by Sergei Magnitsky, which led to a series of anti-corruption laws being introduced around the world in his name. In 2014, the bank was banned from accessing the American market by the U.S. Treasury after money laundering allegations.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/meet-posh-george-the-shady-money-man-tangled-up-with-brexit-russia-and-trump



В репортаже Guardian обстоятельства вокруг передачи документов о деле Коттрелла в российское посольство увязываются с увольнением Пола Манафорта и назначением связанного с британцами Стива Бэннона.

In October the Russian ambassador, Alexander Yakovenko, was identified by US special counsel Robert Mueller as a high-level intermediary between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. The documents about Cottrell’s arrest appear to have been handed over during a period in which Trump’s campaign manager, Paul Manafort, had his business dealings in Ukraine exposed and was replaced by Steve Bannon.
The New York Times published a story about a secret ledger of payments to Manafort - that were paid via the British Virgin Islands, Belize and the Seychelles - on 14 August 2016. On 19 August, the day that Bannon became campaign manager, Wigmore and Banks were invited to lunch at the embassy with Yakovenko. And on 20 August, documents suggest, Wigmore appears to have sent the papers about Cottrell’s arrest.
A few days later Farage, along with Wigmore and Banks, travelled to meet Trump in Mississippi, where he introduced the crowd to “Mr Brexit” and promised to deliver “Brexit plus”.



Автор репортажа Carole Cadwalladr написала более личную статью про то, как, пытаясь вести расследование, она подвергалась многочисленным координированным нападкам со стороны российского посольства и деятелей Leave.EU.

I have a different relationship to this story, to these revelations, perhaps, than most. Because I have experienced the impact of this relationship with Russia, first-hand. I have felt it and lived it - viscerally, emotionally. But it was always there, out in the open. There was nothing hidden or covert about the hundreds of social media postings and tweets that showed Leave.EU’s and Farage’s support of Russian policies and the Russian political agenda. What I hadn’t contemplated, until now, was that this may have been co-ordinated with the Russian government.
That Banks and Wigmore may have been communicating with the embassy when they were launching these attacks. That they may have sent other “messages of support” to the Russian ambassador when May made that speech, or I wrote my articles, or Bradshaw and Bryant asked their questions.
https://amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jun/16/arron-banks-nigel-farage-leave-brexit-russia-connection

Но проклятый вопрос о “collusion” остаётся открытым.



Между тем другой объект сенсационных расследований Cadwalladr снова в новостях. Компания Cambridge Analytica вышла из бизнеса, но ее бывшие работники втихаря открыли новую компанию и работают над охмурением избирателей на выборах 2018 и 2020.

A company run by former officials at Cambridge Analytica, the political consulting firm brought down by a scandal over how it obtained Facebook users’ private data, has quietly been working for President Donald Trump’s 2020 re-election effort, The Associated Press has learned.
The AP confirmed that at least four former Cambridge Analytica employees are affiliated with Data Propria, a new company specializing in voter and consumer targeting work similar to Cambridge Analytica’s efforts before its collapse. The company’s former head of product, Matt Oczkowski, leads the new firm, which also includes Cambridge Analytica’s former chief data scientist.
https://www.apnews.com/96928216bdc341ada659447973a688e4

President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign manager, Brad Parscale, helped a former Trump data analyst start a new venture that could become a major provider of voter data in the run-up to 2020.
The analyst, Matt Oczkowski, is a former employee of Cambridge Analytica. That firm provided voter-data analytics to the Trump campaign and is at the heart of Facebook Inc.’s data scandal. Mr. Oczkowski’s new firm, Data Propria, is wholly owned by the same holding company, CloudCommerce Inc., that bought out Mr. Parscale’s web-marketing company last year. Mr. Parscale is a director and holder of CloudCommerce shares, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-campaign-aides-team-up-on-voter-data-venture-1527622984