Business records show Russian finance intertwined with Psy Group
By: Scott Stedman
An analysis of the Matryoshka doll-like company structure of the private intelligence group that met with Donald Trump Jr. and Erik Prince during the 2016 campaign has revealed the presence of Russian money intertwined with Psy Group’s affiliates.
Additionally, the beneficial owner of Psy Group has no open source connection to Israel. The British Virgin Islands shell company which ultimately owns the private intelligence group, Protexer Limited, has links to Russian commerce.
The New York Times recently reported that Donald Trump Jr., Erik Prince, and George Nader met with the leader of Psy Group, Joel Zamel, in August 2016, in what was described as a meeting to offer help to the Trump campaign.
“The emissary, George Nader, told Donald Trump Jr. that the princes who led Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were eager to help his father win election as president,” the Times reported. “The social media specialist, Joel Zamel, extolled his company’s ability to give an edge to a political campaign.”
It remains unclear whether the meeting resulted in any action. After the election, Nader allegedly paid Zamel a sum of up to $2 million for unknown reasons. Attorneys for Trump Jr. and Nader did not respond to a request for comment, and Erik Prince could not immediately be reached.
Marc Mukasey, An attorney for Zamel, issued the following statement:
Not only are you treading over ground that has been well traversed by others to no avail, but your facts are also wrong. You’re chasing ghosts and you’re mischaracterizing and/or misunderstanding the probe and the terms of art associated with grand jury investigations.
When asked if he had any substantive responses to the questions posed, Mukasey did not respond.
Mukasey has previously said that Zamel, “offered nothing to the Trump campaign, received nothing from the Trump campaign, delivered nothing to the Trump campaign and was not solicited by, or asked to do anything for, the Trump campaign.” It is uncertain why, according to Mukasey, Zamel met with then-candidate Trump’s son during the heat of the election campaign.
The meeting has drawn the intense scrutiny of Special Counsel Robert Mueller in recent months, according to one source familiar with this aspect of the investigation. In February, Mueller subpoenaed the Cypriot bank accounts of Psy Group. The same source said that the Israeli bank accounts of Psy Group have also been queried, though it is unclear if a subpoena was issued.
Documents seen by this reporter indicate that Psy Group, which operates under the name of “Invop Limited” in Israel, used Bank Leumi in Tel Aviv for at least a portion of its banking activities. A spokesman for the bank denied that Bank Leumi has any connection to Mueller’s investigation. “Bank Leumi is not connected in any way to the mentioned investigation.”
Mueller, according to various news reports and a source familiar with recent interviews, has been recently asking about Russia’s role in the August 2016 meeting and whether the offer from the Middle Eastern countries coordinated with the Kremlin in offering help to the Trump campaign.
The Times reported that, “Companies connected to Mr. Zamel also have ties to Russia. One of his firms had previously worked for oligarchs linked to Mr. Putin, including Oleg V. Deripaska and Dmitry Rybolovlev, who hired the firm for online campaigns against their business rivals.”
In fact, as Trump Jr, Prince, Nader, and Zamel were meeting at Trump Tower, Deripaska’s private jet quietly flew into the nearby Newark Airport. It remains unknown who or what was on this flight and why it was chartered. The plane landed at 2:21 am local time and took off again, back to Moscow, at 6:40 pm. A day later, the plane took the Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Prikhodko to Molde, Norway where he met secretly with Deripaska on his private yacht.
Exclusively obtained financial, business, and credit documents show that Psy Group has set up an extensive shell company structure with its ultimate beneficiaries hidden. As previously mentioned, Psy Group is an alias for Invop Limited, incorporated in Israel. Invop is owned fully by a Cyprus company, IOCO Limited, which is in turn owned by the British Virgin Islands company, Protexer Limited. The dizzying web of shell companies, affiliates, and managers has one constant: connections to Russia.
The aforementioned IOCO Limited in Cyprus and Protexer Limited in the British Virgin Islands both have their own connections to Russian commerce. IOCO Limited is managed in Cyprus by a holding company which is in turn administered by two Cypriot Directors who act as affiliates for two state-owned Russian banks, and one large private bank. The two Directors, Ria Christofides and Giannakis Ermogenous, are both listed as official affiliates of Vozrozhdenie Bank, Promsvyazbank, and Avtovazbank.
As Directors of Psy Group’s parent company via the holding company, Christofides and Ermogenous “have the power to decide over the activities and conduct of the company. They are involved in all of the decisions concerning the company and have to fulfill certain duties towards the enterprise and its other members.” Their exact duties and/or powers for the Russian banks remains unclear.
Additionally, a subsidiary of the British Virgin Islands company that ultimately owns Psy Group is a Cyprus financial services company whose vast majority of business comes from Russia. Two of its six Directors are located in Russia, and according to an April 2018 brochure, “The Company’s activities are concentrated in Cyprus (operations) and Russia (business activities).” The sample incorporation documents that that financial service company uses for new clients specifically states, “The language of communications shall be English or Russian upon the choice of the Client, all the documents shall be
executed in English or in English and Russian.”
Notably, there is no record of any of the entities connected to Psy Group’s ownership structure having any ties to Israel. Hundreds of pages of documents have been reviewed and, apart from Invop Limited in Tel Aviv, there has been zero mentions of Israel.
The ultimate owner of Psy Group is unknown. The trail runs cold in the British Virgin Islands where the Financial Services Commission confirmed that the financial records on shareholders were filed confidentially, obstructing them from public view.
The full picture of Psy Group’s complicated ownership raises new questions about who finances the group and who was behind the August 2016 Trump Tower meeting.
Peter Carr, a spokesman for the Special Counsel’s office, declined to comment on their ongoing investigation.
