The Curious Case of Concord Management and Consulting: The Inception
A difficult question to answer is how far back do you need to go to where the context will be sufficient. In the case of this court case we will start with by briefly looking at the inception of the defendant themselves, then to the appointment of the Special Counsel, the infamous 16 indictments against Russian individuals and companies, and lastly to right where this kicks off.
Yevgeny Prigozhin(left) and Russian President Vladimir Putin(right).
The story of Concord Management and Consulting begins in chaotic 90s in Russia, where you were either dirt poor or extremely rich. There, a relatively young nobody named Yevgeny Prigozhin who made good money from a hotdog selling network set up a company named Concord Management and Consulting LLC. This company quickly began to own other companies and worked on many real-estate projects that were highly controversial. Little by little, the company grew and so did Yevgeny Prigozhin’s social capital. Soon they were getting lucrative deals with the Russian government and Prigozhin made many powerful friends, namely Russian President Vladimir Putin. Their success and close relationship with Russian leadership had been well noted. With the United States Treasury Department adding Concord Management and Consulting to the list of companies sanctioned due to Russia’s intervention in Ukraine. However, while Prigozhin is still alleged to run the show, it is important to note that in official documentation ownership of the company eventually shifted in 2011 to Prigozhin’s mother: Violetta Prigozhin. With well known Russian mercenary leader, Dimirty Utkin, becoming the CEO in November 14, 2017.
We now must travel back around the world to understand how this case came to be in the United States. While I will not go into too much detail, as this series has an assumption readers are aware to some extent of the Russia interference in the 2016 elections saga, I will briefly explain this groundwork as to how this specific company became to be indicted. Russia (yes this is a hugely ambiguous term, is the government, individuals? This is however how it is was framed and I will use this terminology,as this terminology is a topic for another time) had long been accused of meddling in the elections in order to elect Donald Trump over his opponent Hillary Clinton. The accusations went further to say Donald Trump and his presidential campaign colluded with Russia in order to win. All of this eventually devolved into the Deputy Attorney General, Rod Rosentien, appointing former FBI Head Robert Mueller as Special Counsel to investigate alleged Russian meddling, the issue of Trump Collusion, and Obstruction of Justice. This investigation stayed relatively quiet until February 16, 2018.
On February 16, 2018, Deputy Attorney General, and the DOJ official overseeing the Special Counsel’s investigation announced 16 indictments against thirteen Russian individuals and three Russian companies. This indictment (can be fully read in the hyperlink in the previous sentence) outlined a deep and complex operation in which Russian’s used social media memes and helped organize rallies for Trump and against his then political rival: Hillary Clinton. A part of the indictment rarely mentioned was that after the election of Donald Trump, as per the indictment, this operation supposedly helped set up anti-Trump rallies. This indictment stated that these individuals worked for the three companies: Internet Research Agency- a troll farm which created the memes and organized rallies and as well as Concord Management and Consulting and Concord Catering(subsidiary of Concord Management and Consulting) who supposedly bankrolled and helped direct and plan the operation. The indictment although long, rarely outlined specific crimes that Concord Committed and lumped it in the first felony count which was Conspiracy to Defraud the United States (Concord was not charged with wire, bank fraud, or identity theft as was the Internet Research Agency). Some skeptics came out saying parts of this indictment were rather far-fetched such as when the indictment mentioned that somehow these companies“arranged for a real U.S. person to stand in front of the White House in the District of Columbia under false pretenses to hold a sign that read ‘Happy 55th Birthday Dear Boss.’ Defendants and their co-conspirators informed the real U.S. person that the sign 7 Case 1:18-cr-00032-DLF Document 1 Filed 02/16/18 Page 8 of 37 was for someone who ‘is a leader here and our boss . . . our funder.’ PRIGOZHIN’s Russian passport identifies his date of birth as June 1, 1961.” While some skeptics existed this was however met with extreme fanfare in the media. With some calling it a dark day for Trump and a huge victory for the Special Counsel’s investigation and America as a whole. This, however was largely for show. The Special Counsel was well aware that no individual would head over from Russia to be arrested and tried. The United States and Russia have no extradition treaty and given the political climate these people would never go the the United States. It seems that the Special Counsel scored a huge win- however there was a big flaw in their methodology- corporations are legal persons and cannot be arrested.
On April 11 2018- Concord Management and Consulting retained the legal services of Reed Smith’s Eric Dubelier and Katherine Seikaly and the case commenced.
