- The Washington Times - Wednesday, November 8, 2017

One of Russia’s leading tech financiers, an associate of White House aide Jared Kushner, funneled Kremlin investments to Facebook and Twitter, according to the so-called “Paradise Papers” leak of millions of sensitive documents exposing the murky world of offshore tax havens.

The revelation adds fresh fuel to congressional probes into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election currently investigating Moscow’s ties to both Mr. Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, and Silicon Valley’s social media giants.

Similar in content to the Panama Papers, which in 2016 exposed massive wealth in offshore tax-free accounts, the Paradise Papers are a massive leaked cache of documents from a law firm specializing in such dealings.

First obtained by a German newspaper, the documents were then shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which began reporting on them earlier this week through dozens of collaborating news outlets.

The papers cast an unflattering spotlight on Facebook and Twitter just a week after congressional Russian probes lambasted the social media companies for their inability to deal with an unprecedented onslaught of Russian propaganda in the 2016 election that exploited their sites.

According to reporting from The New York Times and The Guardian, an offshore firm connected to Russian tech mogul Yuri Milner received $191 million from the Russian-owned VTB Bank. Funds from that firm were later used to purchase a stake in Twitter.

Russia’s leading oil and gas firm, Gazprom, also lent money to another company that invested in a multimillion-dollar Facebook deal driven by Mr. Milner.

Mr. Milner reportedly dismissed the notion VTB bought any influence at Twitter. He also brushed aside Gazprom’s Facebook investment and said he was unaware of it.

The reports also stated it was unclear whether Moscow was pursuing “political interests” in the Twitter and Facebook investments or if the motives were profit-driven.

Twitter acknowledged in a statement that a fund managed by Mr. Milner was an investor before the firm’s initial public stock offering in November 2013. However, the firm added that the Milner stake was divested in May 2014.

Mr. Milner’s connection to Mr. Kushner is separate from Russian investments in Facebook and Twitter.

During a different period of activity, the Russian financier invested in Cadre, a real estate firm founded by Mr. Kushner and his brother. Mr. Milner told The New York Times that he only met Mr. Kushner once.

Mr. Kushner is under investigation by both Special Counsel Robert Mueller and multiple congressional Russia probes for a host of issues, including a July 2016 meeting in Trump Tower that he, Donald Trump Jr. and former Trump campaign Chairman Paul Manafort attended with a Russian lawyer allegedly promising damaging information about Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

Mr. Kushner has denied all accusations that he or anyone else associated with the Trump 2016 election campaign ever colluded with Russia.

 

 

• Dan Boylan can be reached at dboylan@washingtontimes.com.

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