He is married to his beautiful wife Viktoria Sater. tn_subject: ['criminal-j', 'election-2', 'political-', 'world-lead'], inline_cta_2_font_color_258356 = '#ffffff'; I'm not that familiar with him. [31][32], Sater joined Bayrock Group LLC as a senior advisor in 2003 at the behest of the company's owner and founder, Tevfik Arif. inline_cta_bg_color_258356 = '#ffcf0d'; }. In her confirmation hearing to serve as US Attorney General under President Obama, Lynch confirmed that Sater did in fact work with the FBI and other agenciespresumably the CIAin providing information crucial to national security. Where and how Sater gathered the information that he provided, whether or not it involved contacts with the Russian FSB (the successor to the KGB) and GRU, and whether those agencies themselves established a covert connection with Sater is something that both Mueller and the US intelligence community ought to be looking at today, of course. The ex-NYPD chief was convicted in part because of $165,000 in free renovations that he received from contractor Frank DiTommaso, a construction executive whose company Interstate allegedly had mob connections, according to the New York Times. According to the Times, the Artemenko plandelivered to Sater and Cohen, and then to Michael Flynn, the short-lived White House national security adviser who was forced to resign in Februaryinvolved using unflattering or compromising information (kompromat) to help oust Poroshenko and then winning the support of a new Ukrainian government for a 50- to 100-year lease of Crimea to Russiawhich in 2014 occupied and annexed Crimea, which for many decades had been part of Ukraine. inline_cta_2_font_color_258356 = '#ffffff'; var inline_cta_url_258356 = ''; During the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump wanted to reveal years of secret work that his one-time real estate adviser Felix Sater did for the CIA and FBI because he thought it would result in "mildly positive" press stories that would make him look "patriotic," Sater said in a new interview.. Trump had previously sought to distance himself from Sater even insisting in a . Sater has a decades-long record as a larger-than-life, outside-the-law, spy agency-linked wheeler-dealer from the pages of a John le Carr novel. var is_user_logged_in = getCookie('SESSname'); top of page. Click here to log inor subscribe. Felix Henry Sater / setr / (born Felix Mikhailovich Sheferovsky; [4] [5] Russian: ; March 2, 1966) is a Russian-American mobster, convicted felon, [6] real estate developer and former managing director of Bayrock Group LLC, [7] a real estate conglomerate based out of New York City. if( magazine_text_258356 !='' ){ Compiled research and history of Felix Sater's life before and during his work as an intelligence asset for the U.S. government . [11], During Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, Sater worked with Michael Cohen, former attorney for The Trump Organization, to broker a deal to build a Trump Tower Moscow, asserting to Cohen that he could boost Trump's election prospects through his Russian contacts. } [13][14] He later appeared before the House Intelligence Committee on July 9, 2019 during a closed door meeting which lasted for eight hours. Photo: Stephen Voss/Redux Felix Sater, real estate developer, former managing director of Bayrock Group, and one-time informant for the FBI, in Washington D.C., on May 5, 2018. The man suffered nerve damage and required 110 stitches to close the laceration on his face. You can read our Privacy Policy here. Russiagate jQuery("#magazine_text_258356").html(magazine_text_258356); var inline_cta_2_url_258356 = ''; Hes been a major government cooperator and was a witness in the Mueller investigation. But Sater and Cohen would cooperate on another venture. He allegedly washed enormous sums of that money through GoDaddy.com, where he reportedly bought thousands of domain names. His information, it seems didnt pan outbut after 9/11, Sater did cooperate in some fashion with the US government. if( inline_cta_2_url_258356 !='' ){ magazine_button_bg_color_258356 = '#dd3333'; The former mayor and his wife have been accused of a wide array of crimes, including money laundering embezzlement, abuse of office, fraud and the creation of an organized crime group. Though his supposed relation to Capone is unverified at best, Ray has documented ties to organized crime. Mr. [Felix] Sater's first brush with the law came in 1991. Prosecutors say that Ray subjected Drury to a long night of torture, allegedly stripping her naked, handcuffing her to a chair, suffocating her with a plastic bag, and choking her with a leash. Despite the fact that Sater worked on and off for a decade with the Trump Organization, and despite his recent headline-making appearance as an exuberant negotiator on behalf of Trumps hardnosed attorney, Michael Cohen, in seeking to build a massive Trump Tower in Moscow last year, Trump ducks. Drager also ordered Felix to pay $100,000 of Viktorias legal fees and $15,000 for her medical bills. var magazine_button_bg_color_258356 = ''; Trump Administration concerned about law giving illegal im Canadian teacher with size-Z prosthetic breasts placed on paid leave, What's next for Buster Murdaugh after dad's murder conviction, life sentence, Murdaugh son collapsed outside court after sitting stone-faced through dad's 6-week murder trial: source, How a retired detective snared his seventh 'Torso Killer' confession, It's insane that NYers can use but not buy pepper spray for self-defense: Change this now, Harry and Meghan hold the upper hand on King Charles coronation: Source, Hated Tom Sandoval addresses Ariana Madix split amid cheating claims, Kelly Osbourne posts first photo of baby son as he hangs out with uncle Jack, Undertaker transforms coffin into barbecue grill, Kellyanne Conway and George Conway to divorce. Sitemap, Your California Privacy Rights He has not revealed his body measurements. Felix and Viktoria, 51, were married for more than 25 years and have three daughters together. jQuery("#inline_cta_2_258356").html(inline_cta_2_text_258356); He pleaded guilty in 1998 to one count of. Could Paul Manafort Bring Down the Whole Trump Family? Victoria Bechkam pic.twitter.com/UVWkyrHvhA, Felix Sater (@felixsater) July 24, 2018. Former Trump Business Associate Talking To Senate Intelligence Committee", "Felix Sater, Trump Associate, Boasted That Moscow Business Deal 'Will Get Donald Elected', "Former Mafia-linked figure describes association with Trump", "Trump, the Russian Lawyer and the Pop Star: President's Links to Azerbaijan Oligarch Come Under Scrutiny", "Russia-born dealmaker linked to Trump assists laundering probe", "House Intel subpoenas Felix Sater after he fails to appear for testimony", "House Intelligence Committee to subpoena Trump associate Felix Sater", "Felix Sater slammed by House panel as uncooperative", "Trump associate Felix Sater grilled by House Intel", "Trump associate gave US government Osama bin Laden's phone number, judge says", "Judge confirms Trump associate gave feds Osama bin Laden's number", "Active Measures director says Trump's Russian mob ties are his biggest legal vulnerability", "Trump, Russia and a Shadowy Business Partnership", "Joshua Bernstein vs. Bayrock Group LLC: Felix H. Sater", "Memory Lapse? Rays alleged victim Rosario remembered the accused Sarah Lawrence cult leader and his father Poppy boasting about similar barroom brawls. Thanks for contacting us. tn_author: ['bob-d'], This is a screenshot from Lawrence Rays decades-old indictment on a securities fraud scheme. Thank you Lowell Bergman for inviting me to speak and meet your wonderful class and amazing students at University of California Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism @UCBerkeley @UCBerkeleyNews @UCBerkeleyIRP pic.twitter.com/8FRudqMerN, Felix Sater (@felixsater) September 29, 2018. cta_1_check_258356 = true; He also asserted that he had secured financing for the project through the Russian state-owned VTB Bank, which was under sanctions by the United States government. exitPopMobile: true, var inline_cta_2_button_text_258356 = ''; Colorful former Trump business associate Felix Sater who will testify before two congressional panels this week about Trump and Russia is facing more legal woes after his wife of 25. You may unsubscribe or adjust your preferences at any time. He grew up along with his sister Regina Sater. Cohen and Felix Sater have known each other for nearly 30 years. Felix Mikhailovich Sheferovsky or Haim Felix Sater, Criminal convictions and federal cooperation, Involvement with Trump Organization during presidential campaign, Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, National Association of Securities Dealers, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Business projects of Donald Trump in Russia, Links between Trump associates and Russian officials, Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, "Secret Money: How Trump Made Millions Selling Condos To Unknown Buyers", "How A Player In The Trump-Russia Scandal Led A Double Life As An American Spy", " : , ", "Real Estate Executive With Hand in Trump Projects Rose From Tangled Past", "Meet the ex-con who ties himself to Trump", " : ", "Trump lawyer 'paid by Ukraine' to arrange White House talks", "Who Is Felix Sater? Larry mentioned many times that he was related to Al Capone, Rays alleged victim Felicia Rosario testified on Tuesday. Mikhail Sheferovsky (also known as Michael Sheferofsky) states that the family name was Saterov at some point (). Drager said this substantiates to the court that the defendant [Felix] does have financial resources contrary to his claims.. However, Sater has not yet revealed any information about his kids. Seth Rich, Conspiracy Theorists, and Russiagate Truthers An FBI forensic accountant tracked the byzantine ways money trickled in from her clients to Ray, largely through GoDaddy, the witness said. Last January The New York Times reported, During a trip in 2006, Mr. Sater and two of Mr. Trumps children, Donald Jr. and Ivanka, stayed at the historic Hotel National Moscow opposite the Kremlin, connecting with potential partners over the course of several days., After the financial crisis of 2008, Bayrock ran into difficulty, and Sater went out on his own. When you open a soda can or bottle, carbon dioxide will begin to come out of the soda and into the air. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images). [23][25][26] In 1991, he smashed a margarita glass in a bar and used it to stab a commodities broker in the face, causing the man to need 110 stitches. Khrapunov, who now lives in Switzerland, has been accused by the Kazakhstani government of embezzling millions of dollars and is wanted by Interpol. Sater, who served a year in jail in the 1990s for stabbing a man in the face, later served as an FBI informant after pleading guilty to being involved in a $40-million stock-fraud scheme orchestrated by the Russian Mafia; this conviction was sealed. In December 2017, the Trump SoHo was renamed to The Dominick. Well, he tied the knot with his beautiful wife Viktoria Sater. Bob Dreyfuss [30], In 2008, Sater joined the board of the Russian real estate company Mirax Group, owned by Sergei Polonsky. Unfortunately, I cant talk about it now, before it happens. if( magazine_button_text_258356 !='' ){ He attended Pace University and later dropped out to work on Wall Street. Their most important collaboration was the development in 2005 of the Trump SoHo project, which, according to the Timess 2007 expos of Sater, was a sleek, 46-story glass tower condominium hotel [then] under construction on a newly fashionable section of Spring Street. New York magazine adds that, oddly enough, the Trump SoHo tower happened to be directly across the street from the storage facility that had been Saters previous undoing., When told by the Times about Saters criminal past, Alex Sapir, president of the Sapir Organization, which was involved in the SoHo project, said, This is all news to me. At the time, though, Trump didnt separate himself from Sater, mingling with him at the SoHo opening, hanging out in Colorado while working on another project, andaccording to Sater, at leastregularly interacting. inline_cta_2_url_258356 = 'https://subscriptions.thenation.com/loading.do?omedasite=Nation_Gift'; Do Not Sell My Personal Information, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Target's new Fine'ry perfumes have designer dupes you need to know about, You aren't too cool to shop Merrell's Semi Annual Sale, up to 50% off, Boz Scaggs just announced a 2023 tour: Get tickets today, The 50 best Nordstrom gifts for men, women and kids in 2023, Save over $1,100 on this 65'' LG Smart TV today on Amazon, Designer Dennis Basso has $200K fur fitting at midnight in Gstaad, Isabella Rossellini, 70, on aging with beauty and saying no to Botox, Re-create Daisy Jones & The Six outfits with these Amazon fashion finds, Tom Sizemore And The Dangerous Burden of Desperation, 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. 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[12] On June 21, 2019, Sater was issued a subpoena by the House Intelligence Committee after he refused a request to testify voluntarily. Indeed, Sater and the Trump clan grew so close that in February 2006, at the personal request of Donald Trump, the mobster joined his children Ivanka, Donald Jr., and his son's wife Vanessa in . By signing up, you confirm that you are over the age of 16 andagree to receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nations journalism. }; Bob DreyfussBobDreyfuss, a Nation contributing editor, is an independent investigative journalist who specializes in politics and national security. inline_cta_text_258356 = '

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'; And believe me, it aint anything as small as whether or not theyre gonna call me to the Senate committee.. wid: "428986", Felix Henry Sater (born Felix Mikhailovich Sheferovsky; 1 2 ru: ; Broke and with a young wife and child to support, Sater has said he hooked up with a boyhood friend who was operating a Mafia-linked brokerage firm. Stay tuned with us. The central Asian country was once part of the Soviet Union. Sater threatened to have a man electrically shock Menez genitals, cut off his legs, and have him put in the trunk of a car. This story has been shared 75,075 times. jQuery("#inline_cta_258356").html(inline_cta_text_258356); Moreover, the couple has not disclosed any information about conflicts which can lead them to the divorce. Heres Why. And The New York Times reported him as saying, If he were sitting in the room right now, I really wouldnt know what he looked like. As late as 2015, when asked about Sater, Trump hemmed and hawed. tips@lawandcrime.com Filed Under: According to New York, following his separation from Bayrock he went to work for the Trump Organization, even carrying a business card listing his title as Senior Advisor to Donald Trump. Despite that, Trump denies ever employing Sater directly. Later in 2011, he started working as a senior advisor at TxOil in Turkey. var inline_cta_font_color_258356 = ''; })(document); Your email address will not be published. Boy, I have to even think about it.. Also, he spent 15 months in prison. Fisher MB LLC purchased a condo in Miami, Florida for $4.8 million. He is the host of Law&Crime podcast "Objections: with Adam Klasfeld.". Sater, 53, went to Russia to work with Mirax real estate mogul Sergei Polonsky in 2008, and returned to the US in 2010. Born in Russia to a mafia-boss father, Sater moved to Long Island as a boy and grew up surrounded by organized crime. inline_cta_2_button_text_258356 = ''; However, Trump has distanced himself from Sater, stating that he barely knew him. magazine_text_258356 = '

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'; His birth sign is Pisces. [27][disputed discuss]. He played a major role throughout the process of the building's construction, and remained managing director of Bayrock Group when the Trump SoHo project was completed in 2010. var inline_cta_button_text_258356 = ''; As we previously mentioned, Felix Sater is a married man. Donald wanted me to bring deals to him, Sater told New York. [9][44][47], The Financial Times, citing five sources with knowledge of the matter, reported that Sater had agreed to cooperate with investigators looking into an international money laundering scheme involving Viktor Khrapunov, a former government minister in Kazakhstan. [44] In 2009, he was sentenced to pay a $25,000 fine; he served no prison time and paid no restitution to his stock-fraud victims. Trump ultimately pardoned away Keriks convictions. She is expected to stand trial separately in July. However, the couple has not yet disclosed any information about how they met for the first time. } Sater possibly did this because of Menez finding out about his past convictions and links to organized crime. So who, exactly, is Felix Sater? According to Rices New York piece, Sater laundered fraud proceeds through a labyrinthine network of Caribbean shell companies, Israeli and Swiss bank accounts, and contacts in New Yorks Diamond District. In the mid-1990s, New York reports, Sater spent a great deal of time in Moscow, where, according to a friend and business partner, Sal Lauriawho later wrote a book about all of thisWe were dealing with ex-KGB generals and with the elite of Russian society.. if( inline_cta_2_bg_color_258356 !='' ){ Felixs April credit card statement showed that hed made a $50,000 payment for the prior month and had spent $25,000 in the current statement, including at restaurants and a lot of money on Uber rides, Drager said. In language that Cohen himself described to the Times as colorful, Sater seemed nearly beside himself as he reported on his work in Moscow on behalf of Trump: FinCEN Files: Banks Flagged Felix Sater for $100 Million In Suspicious Activity. var is_user_logged_in = getCookie('SESSname'); Sign up for our free daily newsletter, along with occasional offers for programs that support our journalism. "Greed is my go-to weapon." Anthony Cormier BuzzFeed News Reporter Jason Leopold BuzzFeed News Reporter placementName: "thenation_article_indent", Now Saters wife, Viktoria, 51, a striking blonde with whom he lived on Long Island and shares three daughters, has had enough, according to a source, and filed for divorce March 19. Historical Amnesia About Slavery Is a Tool of White Supremacy. A federal judge in Brooklyn ordered on Monday the unsealing of previously secret portions of the court record involving the criminal case of Felix Sater, a former associate of President Donald. var inline_cta_text_258356 = ''; It does seem to me that the defendant has resources and is bringing in income and his spending habits, which Drager said may be less than they used to be, are still quite significant.. Sater has been an advisor, investor, or developer in notable real estate projects including the Trump International Hotel & Residence in Phoenix, Arizona, the Conrad Fort Lauderdale and Midtown Miami in Florida, and Cornwall Terrace and 1 Blackfriars in London. Before in 1998, Sater pleaded guilty to his involvement in a $40 Million stock fraud by the Russian Mafia. freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ The woman who called herself the wife of accused Sarah Lawrence sex cult leader Larry Ray told a federal jury that she was frightened to leave him in part because of a remark he made about his family. As controversy . During his time in Moscow and traveling around eastern Europe, Sater began cultivating ties to arms dealers, officials in US law enforcement and national security agencies, andaccording to his interview in New Yorkeven meeting with the GRU, the Russian military intelligence agency. The lawyer wrote that he believed Ray was a registered and documented informant for the FBI., Felix Sater, former business associate of U.S. President Donald Trump, arrives for testimony before the House Select Intelligence Committee July 9, 2019 in Washington, DC. Felix Sater has been cast as a Russian mafioso, a career criminal, and a key business associate of President Donald Trump's but he spent more than two decades as an intelligence asset who helped the US government track terrorists and mobsters. Emailus. tn_keyword: ['criminal-r', 'donald-tru', 'ivanka-tru', 'russia', 'trump-and-', 'us-intelli', 'vladimir-p'], By signing up to receive emails, you agree to receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation's journalism. Bob Dreyfuss, Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it, wrote Sater. inline_cta_button_text_258356 = ''; He famously plotted with Michael Cohen to broker a deal to build Trump Tower Moscow during the 2016 presidential campaign. [16][15], His wife, Viktoria, is the founder and owner of a granola health food company. After dating for a long time period, the couple exchanged their vows in a private marriage ceremony. In 1998, Sater pleaded guilty to his involvement in a $40 million stock fraud scheme orchestrated by the Russian Mafia,[9][10] and became an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and federal prosecutors, assisting with organized crime investigations. (Photo of Ray via DOJ; image of Capone credited to FBI), Have a tip we should know? Bob Dreyfuss Sater a Russian-born American and convicted felon for his role in a 1998 Mafia-linked stock fraud scheme turned FBI and CIA informant met Donald Trump in 2000, when his company took office space in Trump Tower. slotId: "thenation_article_indent", His birth sign is Pisces. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Colorful former Trump business associate Felix Sater who will testify before two congressional panels this week about Trump and Russia is facing more legal woes after his wife of 25 years, Viktoria, slapped him with divorce papers. } [27] In a 2013 sworn affidavit, Trump said "If [Sater] were sitting in the room right now, I really wouldn't know what he looked like,"[53] and in 2015 he stated "Felix Sater, boy, I have to even think about it. if( inline_cta_url_258356 !='' ){ In this piece, I draw on all of these sources and more. Now there are stunning new allegations in federal court documents that this Russian criminal network with worldwide reach hired Felix Sater, one of Trump's closest yet disavowed associates, to hide a fortune stolen in Kazakhstan. Moreover, the couple is also blessed with three daughters. Yet in 1993, Sater and several partners took over a securities firm called White Rock Partners, later called State Street Capital Markets, which portrayed itself as a legitimate brokerage firm but, in fact, ran a criminal enterprise involving stock fraud, money laundering, and a so-called pump and dump scheme that involved conspiring to inflate the apparent value of near-worthless stocks, sell them off to unsuspecting investors, and cash in. var qs = Object.keys(params).reduce(function(a, k){ a.push(k + '=' + encodeURIComponent(params[k])); return a},[]).join(String.fromCharCode(38)); . The Russian mafia is particularly reputed to be associated with human trafficking and money laundering crimes, as well as extracting compromising information from their victims. var magazine_button_text_258356 = ''; var inline_cta_2_font_color_258356 = ''; Sater and Al Qaeda 1998-? After dating for a long time period, the couple exchanged their vows in a private marriage ceremony. Sater said he most clearly remembers the beginning of his relationship with Cohen from the time the former Trump Organization attorney began dating his now-wife, whom Sater describes as a girl . . According to a recent Guardian profile, Saters relationship with Cohenand to organized crimegoes way back: Saters links to Trumps circle can be traced back to not long after he came to the US as a child. His reporting on the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell was featured on the Starz and Channel 4 documentary "Who Is Ghislaine Maxwell?" if( inline_cta_bg_color_258356 !='' ){ She has hired power divorce attorney Bernard Clair, whose clients include Judith Giuliani, currently in a difficult divorce with Trumps attorney Rudy. inline_cta_bg_color_258356 = '#ffcf0d'; Sater Went to Prison for Stabbing a Broker With a Martini Glass Stem in the Face in 1991. magazine_button_text_258356 = ''; [2] Felix and his sister adopted the surname Sater. Well, Sater also enjoys a massive net worth.

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