Rinat Akhmetshin | |
|---|---|
Ринат Рафкатович Ахметшин | |
| Born | Rinat Rafkatovitch Akhmetshin 1967 (age 57–58) |
| Nationality | |
| Occupation | Lobbyist |
| Known for | Attendance at theTrump Tower meeting |
Rinat Rafkatovitch Akhmetshin[1] (Russian:Ринат Рафкатович Ахметшин,[2] born 1967) is aRussian-American[3]lobbyist and a formerSoviet counterintelligence officer.[4][5]Bill Browder alleges that Akhmetshin representsRussian intelligence interests.[6] He came to the American media's attention in July 2017 as aregistered lobbyist for an organization run by Russian lawyerNatalia Veselnitskaya,[7] who, along with him, had ameeting withDonald Trump'selection campaign officials in June 2016.[8][9]
Akhmetshin was born in Jan 22, 1968Kazan,Tatarstan.[1][10] Akhmetshin served briefly as a counterintelligence officer for theSoviet Union and, according to some U.S. officials, is suspected of "having ongoing ties to Russian Intelligence".[4][5] According to his statements, from 1986 to 1988 Rinat Akhmetshin served as a draftee in a unit of theSoviet military that had responsibility for law enforcement issues as well as some counterintelligence matters and was briefly in Afghanistan.[3][11][12] At a Soviet Army checkpoint in a tunnel in northern Afghanistan, he obtained cash and numerous items from Afghans which he would sell later while he was with a counterintelligence unit.[13] As a teenager in the Soviet armed forces, he was a courier that carried secret documents in briefcases handcuffed to his wrist with two men carrying Kalashnikovs and that he has been to every Soviet military base in Estonia and Latvia.[13] During his time in the Baltics, he sold gasoline from Soviet Army sources.[13] In 1992, he became a first lieutenant in "chemical defence" and trained in the Urals however he claims that he never received training to be an officer.[13] Before 1992, he studied chemistry for one year atKazan State University.[13]
He stated, "I will never f**k with Russian state," and "I will never do things against Russian government."[13]
He moved to the United States in 1994 to study biochemistry.[12][13] As he became a lobbyist for issues relating to theFormer Soviet Union, his mentor wasEdward Lieberman.[13] In 1998, he set up the Washington D.C. office of the International Eurasian Institute for Economic and Political Research to "help expand democracy and the rule of law in Eurasia".[14] He has been tied to lobbying for political opposition to Kazakhstan's ruling presidentNursultan Nazarbayev, efforts to discredit former member of Russia's parliamentAshot Egiazaryan who fled to the U.S., as well as major corporate disputes.[14] While Akhmetshin headed the International Eurasian Institute,Andrey Vavilov hired Akhmetshin to thwart the efforts ofAshot Egiazaryan who was trying to obtain political asylum in the United States.[15]
In 2009, he obtainedcitizenship of the United States.[14] In 2016 Akhmetshin toldPolitico: "Just because I was born in Russia doesn't mean I am an agent of [the] Kremlin."[8]
In 2010, he submitted an op-ed toThe Washington Times on behalf ofViktor Ivanov the director of Russia's anti-narcotic police.[15]
From 2012 to 2014,EuroChem's United States attorneys retained Akhmetshin as a consultant while theAndrey Melnichenko controlled EuroChem filed lawsuits in Europe against International Mineral Resources (IMR) that was controlled by theKazakh Trio ofPatokh Chodiev,Alexander Machkevitch, andAlijan Ibragimov who had founded theEurasian Natural Resources Corporation.[16] Mark Cymrot of the United States law firmBaker and Hostetler LLC (BakerHostetler) hiredFusion GPS.[17] Previously, Cymrot had representedRakhat Aliyev.[18]
In 2013, Akhmetshin recommended attorneys with BakerHostetler to Russian officials associated with Prevezon during ongoing prosecution ofPrevezon by the United States.[19] In 2013, both John Moscow and Mark Cymrot of BakerHostetler hiredGlenn Simpson and Akhmetshin for support during theBill Browder,Hermitage Capital andSergey Magnitsky related case involving Prevezon andPreet Bharara.[20][21] Previously, John Moscow of BakerHostetler represented Hermitage Capital interests for nine months beginning in September 2008 while Rengaz associated 2006 theft of tax rebates in Russia by a Russian criminal organization.[22]Natalia Veselnitskaya representedDenis Katsyv's interests during the court cases related to Prevezon and also assisted the Glenn Simpson associatedFusion GPS during its research into Bill Browder.[23]
According to theNew York Times, Akhmetshin was accused of being involved in two hacking campaigns and reportedly had a web of Russian connections.[1][24]
In 2011, Akhmetshin was hired byAndrey Vavilov to mount a media campaign in order to derail Egiazaryan's application forasylum in the United States.[25] Egiazaryan, a formerState Duma member had fled Russia in 2010.[26] According to his own testimony, Akhmetshin was paid "$70,000 or $80,000" in$100 bills.[25] Akhmetshin pushed negative stories on Egiazaryan in the American and Russian press, and also helped manipulate internet search results to further promote the negative stories.[27]
Also in 2011, Akhmetshin was employed by an alliance of businessmen led byDagestani politicianSuleyman Kerimov, a financier close to Putin who was in a commercial and political dispute with competitor Egiazaryan.[1] In early 2011 two of Egiazaryan's lawyers based in London received suspicious emails. The forensics experts they hired for analysis found that the emails contained spyware, and when they fed traceable documents into the spyware the documents were opened by computers registered at the Moscow office park of a company owned by Kerimov.[1]Scotland Yard spent more than 18 months investigating the case but in 2013 concluded that they lacked sufficient evidence to bring charges.[1] In court papers Akhmetshin stated that he was paid only by one businessman in the Kerimov alliance, but coordinated with Kerimov's team.[1]
In a lawsuit filed in July 2015 with theUnited States District Court for the District of Columbia, it was alleged byInternational Mineral Resources (IMR) that Akhmetshin had arranged the hacking of a mining company's private records. In court papers filed with theNew York Supreme Court in November 2015, lawyers for IMR, a Kazakh mining company that alleged it had been hacked, accused Akhmetshin of hacking into two computer systems and stealing sensitive and confidential materials as part of an alleged black-ops smear campaign against IMR. Akhmetshin, who was hired as an expert by a US law firm, denied hacking or asking anyone else to hack into IMR. He said he gathered research for the firm by bartering information with journalists before he was fired because of his ties to another client, the former prime minister of Kazakhstan, who was then an opposition figure in exile. The hacking accusations were later dropped and the case, which was litigated in New York and Washington, was dismissed.[28][29]
In July 2016, an article inRadio Free Europe stated: "Barely registering in U.S. lobbying records, the 48-year-old Akhmetshin has been tied to efforts to bolster opponents ofKazakhstan'sruling regime, discredit a fugitive former member of Russia's parliament, and undermine a Russian-owned mining firm involved in a billion-dollar lawsuit with company information allegedly stolen by hackers."[14]
Akhmetshin was linked toFusion GPS inWashington, D.C., and involved in a pro-Russian campaign in 2016 which involved lobbying congressional staffers to overturn theMagnitsky Act. Both Fusion GPS and Akhmetshin were subject of a complaint byUnited States Senate Committee on the Judiciary ChairmanChuck Grassley for failure to register as foreign agents under theForeign Agents Registration Act.[5][30][31]
On 14 July 2017, it was confirmed by multiple sources, including Akhmetshin himself,[32][33][34] that he was a fifth and previously undisclosed attendee who met withDonald Trump Jr.,Paul Manafort,Jared Kushner, and Russian attorneyNatalia Veselnitskaya in the Trump campaign–Russian meeting at Trump Tower on June 9, 2016.[35] Around the time of the meeting, Akhmetshin received half a million dollars in very large payments including $100,000 fromDenis Katsyv and another $52,000 from a foundation financially supported by persons wishing to change the Magnitsky Act and Katsyv who also donated $500,000 to theNatalia Veselnitskaya associatedHuman Rights Accountability Global Initiative.[36]
Asked about Akhmetshin, Kremlin spokesmanDmitry Peskov told reporters: "We don't know anything about this person."[37]
On August 11, 2017, Akhmetshin testified under oath for several hours in agrand jury investigation related toRobert Mueller'sinvestigations into the Trump campaign and Russian interference in the 2016 election.[38][39]
On the night of April 11, 2017, Akhmetshin met withUS CongressmanDana Rohrabacher in the lobby ofThe Westin Grand Berlin inBerlin,Germany.[40] There was a discussion about a high-profile money laundering case, along withrelated sanctions against Russia. The two had met previously in May 2016 in a meeting in Rohrabacher's office.[41]
In 2018 Akhmetshin suedBill Browder in a federal court in Washington, D.C., accusing Browder of defamation for labeling him aspy or Russian intelligence asset.[6][42][43] The case was dismissed in 2019 on jurisdictional grounds.[43] Akhmetshin appealed the dismissal; as of January 2020 the appeal is still pending.[43] On 16 January 2020, Akhmetshin founded a nonprofit in Washington called the Russian-American Anti-Defamation League.[43]
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link){{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link){{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link){{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
