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20170216

Wiki: Bayrock Group

Bayrock Group is an international real estate development and investment company based in New York. It was founded by Kazakh businessman Tevfik Arif in 2001.

The Bayrock Group was founded in 2001 by Tevfik Arif, a former Soviet official from Kazakhstan who became an international businessman. He founded Bayrock after he moved some of his businesses to the United States.[1]

Arif hired Russian businessman Felix Sater as managing director of Bayrock in 2003.[2]Sater became Bayrock's Chief Operating Officer,[3] and assisted with several projects, including management of the Trump SoHo project.[2] Sater left Bayrock in 2008[4] after a New York Times article revealed his criminal past.[5][6] In 1998, Sater had pled guilty to stock racketeering and fraud as part of a US and Russian mafia-connected $40 million stock pump and dump scheme.[4] He worked with the CIA and the FBI, allegedly offering information on a black market for Stinger missiles.[4][7] Sater later worked as a senior advisor to Trump.[4]

Projects and properties[edit source]

After moving the Bayrock Group to the 24th floor of Trump Tower,[9] Arif developed a relationship with billionaire businessman Donald Trump. Bayrock went on to collaborate with The Trump Organization on projects in Turkey, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Arizona, Colorado, New York, and Florida.[2]

Loehmann's Seaport Plaza[edit source]

Arif began developing property in Brooklyn, initially redeveloping Loehmann's Seaport Plaza, a three-story, 280,000-square-foot (26,000 m2) waterfront shopping center on Emmons Avenue in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn.[10] The property's tenants include Loehmann's and Nine West Shoes.
Trump International Hotel & Residence[edit source]

In 2003, Bayrock purchased a site out of bankruptcy in the Camelback Corridor of Phoenix, Arizona. Bayrock announced plans for the Trump International Hotel & Residence, a $200 million, 190-foot Trump International Hotel. Plans for the project included 97 private residential units starting at $950,000 and 188 hotel/condo rooms. While the site was approved by the Phoenix City Council and the Planning Commission in 2005, the project was curbed by public opposition[11] and never finished.[12]

Bayrock subsequently defaulted on a $36 million loan from Hypo Real Estate Capital Group, who sold the site in 2010.

Moscow high-rise[edit source]
See also: Business projects of Donald Trump in Russia

In 2005, Donald Trump extended the Bayrock Group a one-year deal to develop a project in Moscow. Sater located Russian investors and a potential site for the high-rise, a closed pencil factory named for Sacco and Vanzetti.[9] Sater said, "We looked at some very, very large properties in Russia," on the scale of "...a large Vegas high-rise."[13] Bayrock organized a potential deal in Moscow between Trump International Hotel and Russian investors in 2007,[14] but the deal never came to fruition.[9]

Trump SoHo[edit source]

The Trump SoHo is a $450 million, 46-story, 39-unit hotel condominium located at 246 Spring Street in SoHo, New York City. The hotel was a joint venture between Bayrock, The Trump Organization, and the Sapir Organisation, a company owned by Georgian real estate developer Tamir Sapir. Trump provided a licensing deal for the hotel in exchange for a 18% equity stake in the project.[15][4] The project was funded by Kazakh businessman Alexander Mashkevitch.[16]

In 2007, Bayrock traded future profits from Trump SoHo and other projects in exchange for $50 million in financing from Icelandic company FL Group. The arrangement led Bayrock's finance director to file racketeering lawsuits, alleging that money was diverted to people outside the company, including Salvatore Lauria, an associate of Sater's.[2]

Sater was a managing director of Bayrock and a senior advisor to Trump when construction of Trump SoHo began in 2006. Sater played a major role throughout the process of the building's construction.[17]

Trump International Hotel and Tower (Fort Lauderdale)[edit source]

Bayrock worked with Trump to develop the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.[15]

Europe projects[edit source]

Bayrock Group developed seven waterfront hotel resorts in Europe. The hotels are managed by the Turkish luxury hotel chain Rixos Hotels.[18] The resorts in Turkey on the Mediterranean Sea include Rixos Hotel Tekirova near Tekirova; Rixos Hotel Belek in Belek; Rixos Hotel Labada near Çamyuva; and Rixos Hotel Beldibi in Beldibi.

Lawsuits involving Bayrock[edit source]

20170130

Wiki: Lev Avnerovich Leviev

Lev Leviev (born July 30, 1956) is an Israeli[3] businessman, philanthropist and investor, of Uzbek Bukhari Jewish background, Known as the "King of Diamonds". Lev Leviev has a net worth of $1.1 billion as of September 2016,[2] he has been a major philanthropist for Hasidic Jewish causes in Eastern Europe and Israel.[4] Beginning in the 1990s, Leviev avoided being directly involved with the Yeltsin family, and nurtured ties with Vladimir Putin.[5][6] His diamond mining investments in Angola and his investments in Israeli settlements have been the target of protests.[7] A prominent member of the Bukhari Jewish community, he is president of the World Congress of Bukharian Jews...

Leviev is an investor in the diamond industry, real estate and chemicals.By an agreement, signed in October 2006, Leviev hoped to get into the incarceration business, as a concessionaire for the first private prison in Israel. However, in September 2009, the Israeli High Court of Justice declared private prisons unconstitutional in Israel.[8]...

Leviev owns diamond mines in Russia and Africa, and is a major competitor to the De Beers international diamond cartel...

As De Beers came under fire during the blood diamonds furor, Leviev increasingly came to dominate the legal Angola diamond market. Leviev says he presented Angola with a plan to reduce smuggling and increase revenue by funneling diamonds through only one source, while others claim the deal was clinched through Leviev’s connections with obscure Russian businessmen...

New York Magazine reported in 2007 that a security company hired by Leviev had been accused by a local human rights group that year "of participating in practices of 'humiliation, whipping, torture, sexual abuse, and, in some cases, assassinations.'[15]...

Leviev is involved in the construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Leviev’s Danya Cebus company, a subsidiary of Africa-Israel, subcontracted the construction of Mattityahu East to Shaya Boymelgreen. Danya Cebus is also building part of Har Homa and Maale Adumim.[16]...

In April 2009, following public pressure for a boycott, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office announced that it would not be renting its Tel Aviv embassy from Leviev's Africa-Israel company.[23]...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lev_Avnerovich_Leviev

20170124

Wiki: Felix Sater

Felix Henry Sater (born Haim Felix Sater; March 2, 1966) is a Russian-born American real estate developerand managing director of Bayrock Group LLC, a real estate conglomerate based out of New York City, New York. Sater has been an advisor to many corporations, including The Trump Organization, Rixos Hotels and Resorts, Sembol Construction, Potok (formerly the Mirax Group), and TxOil....

Work with the Bayrock Group[edit]
Sater joined Bayrock Group LLC as a senior advisor in 1999 at the bequest of the company's owner and founder, Tevfik Arif. As a senior advisor, he assisted with several projects, including executive decisions in the Trump SoHo project.[3]
Trump SoHo[edit]

Felix Sater was a managing director of Bayrock Group LLC, as well as a senior advisor to Donald Trump and The Trump Organization when construction of the Trump SoHo began in 2006[4]

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. The building is a $450 million, 46-story, 39-unit hotel condominium located at 246 Spring Street in SoHo, New York City. The project was a collaboration between The Trump Organization, Bayrock Group LLC and Tamir Sapir....

Legal issues[edit]

In 1991, Sater got into an argument with a commodities broker at the El Rio Grande restaurant and bar in Midtown. He stabbed the man's cheek and neck with the stem of a margarita glass, breaking his jaw, lacerating his face, and severing nerves.[8][1] Sater was convicted of first degree assault in 1993 and served a year in prison.[2][9] This resulted in Sater being barred from selling securities on the National Association of Securities Dealers (now called the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority).[1]

In 1998, Sater was convicted of charges of fraud in connection to a $7.9 million penny stock pump and dump scheme through his employer, White Rock Partners. In return for a guilty plea, Sater agreed to assist the US government in issues of national security, working in Asia for the CIA.[10] He was ultimately sentenced to a $25,000 fine, and no prison time as a result of gratitude for service to his country. As a result of his assistance, Sater's court records were sealed by Loretta Lynch.[11] Several illegal attempts have been made to extort Sater through the use of these sealed documents as evidence from a corporate hard drive by former Bayrock Group co-workers Jody Kriss and Michael Chudi Ejekam, as part of a $1 billion lawsuit against Sater, Donald Trump, and many others.[12]...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Sater

20161111

Russia Documents its Success & US War Crimes & Failures in Syria- Warns ...

20160902

The Dumbed-Down New York Times

Exclusive: A New York Times columnist writes Americans are so “dumbed-down” that they don’t know that Russia “invaded” Ukraine two years ago, but that “invasion” was mostly in the minds of Times editors and other propagandists, says Robert Parry.

By Robert Parry

In a column mocking the political ignorance of the “dumbed-down” American people and lamenting the death of “objective fact,” New York Times columnist Timothy Egan shows why so many Americans have lost faith in the supposedly just-the-facts-ma’am mainstream media.

Egan states as flat fact, “If more than 16 percent of Americans could locate Ukraine on a map, it would have been a Really Big Deal when Trump said that Russia was not going to invade it — two years after they had, in fact, invaded it.”

But it is not a “fact” that Russia “invaded” Ukraine – and it’s especially not the case if you also don’t state as flat fact that the United States has invaded Syria, Libya and many other countries where the U.S. government has launched bombing raids or dispatched “special forces.” Yet, the Times doesn’t describe those military operations as “invasions.”

Nor does the newspaper of record condemn the U.S. government for violating international law, although in every instance in which U.S. forces cross into another country’s sovereign territory without permission from that government or the United Nations Security Council, that is technically an act of illegal aggression.

In other words, the Times applies a conscious double standard when reporting on the actions of the United States or one of its allies (note how Turkey’s recent invasion of Syria was just an “intervention”) as compared to how the Times deals with actions by U.S. adversaries, such as Russia...

https://consortiumnews.com/2016/08/27/the-dumbed-down-new-york-times/

20160526

Was Litvinenko Poisoned By His Friend Alexei Lugovoi?

20160330

Donald Trump, Dirty Money, & the Filthy Rich in Palm Beach

Is he really doing it without dirty money?

When asked to describe what they like most about Donald Trump, supporters usually say “He’s been doing it all without dirty money.” They mean his campaign is self-funded, and takes no money from lobbyists, special interests, and Republican Party kingmakers.

But what if Trump’s own money is dirty? Could a sizable chunk of Trump’s net worth come from selling real estate to drug lords, mobsters, and international financial criminals?

The answer is: There’s no way to tell. Secrecy hides the identity of the crooked, violent and corrupt who invest cash in U.S. real estate through shell companies registered in Delaware, managed by a bank in the Grand Caymans for a trust in Guernsey. And its all perfectly legal.

Even Swiss banks these days have to know who their customers are. Not American real estate developers. There’s no legal requirement whatsoever that U.S. real-estate developer Donald Trump know who his clients are. Probably, he couldn’t care less. Or even worse, he’d rather not know...

http://www.madcowprod.com/2016/03/17/donald-trump-dirty-money-the-filthy-rich-in-palm-beach/

20150118

CIA Asset 'Merlin' Testifies About Mission at CIA Leak Trial

In early 2000, the U.S. government pinned its hopes for disrupting Iran's nuclear ambitions on a Russian emigre working for the CIA who was tooling around Vienna looking to deliver bogus nuclear blueprints to the Iranians.

Unfortunately the asset, nicknamed "Merlin," was having a hard time finding the Iranians' address.

Jurors on Friday at the leak trial of ex-CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling heard Merlin testify for nearly three hours about his life as a CIA asset and his key role in the classified operation to give deliberately flawed nuclear blueprints to Iran.

Prosecutors say Sterling, 47, of O'Fallon, Missouri, who was Merlin's handler in 2000, illegally leaked details of the operation to New York Times journalist to get back at the agency for perceived mistreatment. Sterling denies that he leaked anything to Risen. His lawyers have suggested that others, including Merlin, appear to be more likely sources for Risen's work. Merlin testified Friday that he did not leak anything to Risen.

Former national security adviser Condoleezza Rice testified on Thursday that the Merlin operation "was one of the only levers we had to try to disrupt Iran's nuclear program."

Merlin, a Russian nuclear engineer who was paid $66,000 by the CIA in 2000, also told jurors Friday about his adventures in Vienna in February of that year, where his role was to deliver a set of blueprints for a nuclear weapons part called a "firing set" to Iran's mission to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. Merlin's CIA handlers had given him very explicit instructions, but Merlin said he deviated from those instructions when he thought it appropriate.

Merlin was supposed to deliver, free of charge, an incomplete set of blueprints for a firing set to the Iranians, with instructions that they could get the rest of the blueprints if they contacted him and paid him.

The blueprints were not only incomplete, but had been doctored to insert dozens of hidden errors that were supposed to leave the Iranians chasing their own tail for years trying to build a firing set that would never work...

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/cia-leak-trial-continues-condoleezza-rice-testimony-28265187

20140901

Obama’s “Catastrophic Defeat” in Ukraine

“We are currently witnessing an epic and historic event. The Ukrainian regular army and the punitive battalions are suffering a catastrophic defeat to the south of Donetsk…..It still is not quite clear how the Junta intends to avoid a complete defeat here…. By squandering the most combat-capable brigades in systematic offensive operations, the Junta sustained enormous losses and at the same time suffered a crushing, purely military defeat. The southern front has collapsed.”

- The Southern Front Catastrophe – August 27, 2014″, Colonel Cassad, Military Briefing, Novorossiya, Ukraine

“The reports out of Novorussia (New Russia) are nothing short of incredible… sources are reporting that Novorussian forces have bypassed Mariupol from the north and have entered the Zaporozhie region!”

- News from the Front, Vineyard of the Saker

Barack Obama has pushed Ukraine to the brink of political, economic and social collapse. Now he wants to blame Russia for the damage he’s done. It’s absurd. Moscow is in no way responsible for Ukraine’s descent into anarchy. That’s all Washington’s doing, just as Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and now Syria were Washington’s doing. If you want to blame someone, blame Obama.

Ukraine’s troubles began when the US State Department toppled the elected president in February and replaced him with a compliant stooge who agreed to follow Washington’s directives. The new “junta” government quickly launched a full-blown war against Russian-speaking Ukrainians in the east which split the civilian population and drove the country to ruin. The plan “pacify” the East was concocted in Washington, not Kiev and certainly not Moscow.

Moscow has repeatedly called for an end to the violence and a resumption of negotiations, but each request has been rebuffed by Obama’s puppet in Kiev leading to another round of hostilities. Washington doesn’t want peace. Washington wants the same solution it imposed on Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria, that is, a chaotic failed state where ethnic and sectarian animosities are kept at a boiling point so forward-operating bases can be established without resistance, so resources can be extracted at will, and so a formally-independent nation can be reduced to a “permanent state of colonial dependency.” (Chomsky) That’s the basic gameplan wherever Washington goes. The same rule applies to Ukraine. The only choice the people have is to arm themselves and fight back. Which is what they’ve done.

Donetsk and Lugansk have formed militias and taken the war to the enemy. They’ve engaged Obama’s proxy-army on the battlefield and pounded it into mincemeat. That’s why Obama deployed his propagandists to lie about the fictitious “Russian invasion”. The administration needs a diversion because the Novorussia forces (aka-the “pro Russia separatists”) are kicking the holy crap out of Obama’s legions. That’s why Washington and Kiev are in full panic-mode, because none of this was supposed to happen. Obama figured the army would put down the insurrection, crush the resistance, and move him one step closer to his goal of establishing NATO bases and missile defense systems on Russia’s western flank...

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/08/29/obamas-catastrophic-defeat-in-ukraine/

20140310

Invisible Russian cyberweapon stalked US and Ukraine since 2005, new research reveals

The mysterious ‘Uroburos’ cyberweapon named last week in Germany has been stalking its victims since as far back as 2005 and large enterprises and governments need to pay urgent attention to the threat it poses, UK security firm BAE Systems has urged.

German firm G Data’s recent analysis dubbed it ‘Uroburos’ while it is also known to some security firms as 'Turla'. BAE Systems’ Applied Intelligence division, which today published its own research, prefers the catchier ‘Snake’ but under any name the picture is alarming.

According to BAE Systems, It now transpires that Snake has been slithering silently around networks in the US and its NATO allies and former Soviet states for almost a decade, stealing data, getting ever more complex and modular and remaining almost invisible.

To be clear, this isn’t any old malware. Snake is just too long-lived, too targeted, too sophisticated, too evasive, too innovative. It appears to be on par with any of the complex cyberweapons attributed to the US such as Flame, first analysed by Kaspersky Lab in 2012...

http://news.techworld.com/security/3505688/invisible-russian-cyberweapon-stalked-us-and-ukraine-since-2005-new-research-reveals/

20140207

'FBI undertook a "false-flag operation" with respect to Defendant'

"...On or about September 21, 2012, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) undertook a "false-flag operation" with respect to Defendant. Supervisory Special Agent Stephen Laycock, of the FBI's Counterintelligence Engines Program, explained that a false-flag operation is an undercover operation where an intelligence service assumes the identity of a foreign intelligence service. In Defendant's case, the FBI assumed the identity of the Russian Federation's intelligence service in order to determine whether Defendant had been cooperating, or was willing to cooperate, with foreign intelligence operatives.

On or about September 21, 2012, a second female undercover agent approached Defendant's home in Virginia Beach, VA. That undercover agent, who testified at trial under the pseudonym of "Olga Doe," approached Defendant's home at approximately 8:20 A.M. Eastern Standard Time. The Agent's approach to the home, and interaction with Defendant, was subject to video and audio recording by the FBI. The video recording of that interaction was played at trial. See Gov.'s Trial Ex. 15A (videotape of September 21, 2012 package delivery to Defendant by FBI); Gov.'s Trial Ex. 15B (transcript of September 21, 2012 package delivery to Defendant by FBI).

After Ms. Doe rang the doorbell multiple times, Defendant opened the door. The undercover Agent announced that she was looking for "Robert," and after Defendant affirmed his identity, the Agent stated that she was there to deliver something to him on behalf of a "friend" in Moscow, Russia. The undercover FBI Agent handed Defendant the package and stated "just read it, umm ... follow the directions, and I might be seeing you again." Gov.'s Trial Ex. 15B, at 3. The interaction concluded at approximately 8:29 A.M..."

http://cryptome.org/2014/02/robert-hoffman.pdf

http://cryptome.org/2014/02/robert-hoffman-docs.pdf

20140121

Saudi Intelligence Chief Back in Russia to Discuss Syria Crisis

The Russian Foreign Ministry has declared in a statement on Wednesday that Bandar and Lavrov both sides discussed in detail the main issues regarding the developments in the Near East and Middle East, including the crisis in Syria and Geneva 2 conference as well as Iran's nuclear program, the Syrian state news agency reported.

The statement said the focus during the talks between Lavrov and the Saudi official was laid on the necessity to solve the acute regional issues on the basis of respecting the rules of the UN Charter and the international law principles, while the Saudi intelligence chief - whose country very openly funds, runs and supports terrorist groups in Syria and who himself is in charge of his country's decisions on Syria - is known for his extremist measures in support of the war of militancy against the Damascus government.

Discussions, the statement added, also dealt with the prospects of the Russian-Saudi relations, with reference made to the importance of continuing bilateral political dialogue and activating trade and economic relations.

Russian President's spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced that President Vladimir Putin met yesterday Bin Sultan and discussed with him the situation in Syria in the framework of the preparations for Geneva 2 conference.

Saudi Arabia is considered the number one supporter of terrorist groups in Syria and the top supplier of weapons and funds to the terrorists...

http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13920913001403

20131219

Report of Investigation (S8011P)

http://cryptome.org/2013/12/nuke-commander-nukes-self.pdf

20131006

Russia to monitor 'all communications' at Winter Olympics in Sochi

Athletes and spectators attending the Winter Olympics in Sochi in February will face some of the most invasive and systematic spying andsurveillance in the history of the Games, documents shared with the Guardian show.

Russia's powerful FSB security service plans to ensure that no communication by competitors or spectators goes unmonitored during the event, according to a dossier compiled by a team of Russian investigative journalists looking into preparations for the 2014 Games.

In a ceremony on Red Square on Sunday afternoon, the president,Vladimir Putin, held the Olympic flame aloft and sent it on its epic journey around the country, saying Russia and its people had always been imbued with the qualities of "openness and friendship", making Sochi the perfect destination for the Olympics...

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/06/russia-monitor-communications-sochi-winter-olympics

20130725

U.S. lawmakers want sanctions on any country taking in Snowden

Why don't they just drone him? Are civilians in the Sheremetyevo Airport worth more than in the Swat District?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Senate panel voted unanimously on Thursday to seek trade or other sanctions against Russia or any other country that offers asylum to former spy agency contractor Edward Snowden, who has been holed up for weeks at a Moscow airport.

The 30-member Senate Appropriations Committee adopted by consensus an amendment to a spending bill that would direct Secretary of State John Kerry to meet with congressional committees to come up with sanctions against any country that takes Snowden in.Snowden is wanted by the United States on espionage charges for revealing details of government intelligence programs. He arrived in Moscow on June 23 from Hong Kong, where he had fled to escape capture and trial in the United States...

http://www.reuters.com/assets/print?aid=USBRE96O18220130725

20130616

Iran to send 4,000 troops to aid President Assad forces in Syria

Washington’s decision to arm Syria’s Sunni Muslim rebels has plunged America into the great Sunni-Shia conflict of the Islamic Middle East, entering a struggle that now dwarfs the Arab revolutions which overthrew dictatorships across the region.

For the first time, all of America’s ‘friends’ in the region are Sunni Muslims and all of its enemies are Shiites. Breaking all President Barack Obama’s rules of disengagement, the US is now fully engaged on the side of armed groups which include the most extreme Sunni Islamist movements in the Middle East.

The Independent on Sunday has learned that a military decision has been taken in Iran – even before last week’s presidential election – to send a first contingent of 4,000 Iranian Revolutionary Guards to Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad’s forces against the largely Sunni rebellion that has cost almost 100,000 lives in just over two years. Iran is now fully committed to preserving Assad’s regime, according to pro-Iranian sources which have been deeply involved in the Islamic Republic’s security, even to the extent of proposing to open up a new ‘Syrian’ front on the Golan Heights against Israel...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iran-to-send-4000-troops-to-aid-president-assad-forces-in-syria-8660358.html

20130531

Did McCain Go to Syria to Sabotage US Russia Negotiations?

20130514

Who Is Graham Fuller?

20120623

061912 President Vladimir Putin of Russia Bilateral Meeting with President Obama - YouTube

via youtube.com

20120421

Ex-CIA officer sheds light on 1977 spy arrests in Moscow « intelNews.org

A recently retired CIA officer has spoken publicly for the first time about the 1977 arrest and eventual suicide of a Soviet double agent considered one of the Central Intelligence Agency’s most important assets during the Cold War.
Aleksandr Dmitryevich Ogorodnik was an official in the Soviet diplomatic service who, while stationed at the Soviet embassy in Bogotá, Colombia, was compromised and later blackmailed by Colombian intelligence into spying on Moscow. Ogorodnik was initially handled by the Colombians, with little success. Later, however, when he was moved to a sensitive post in the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow, the Colombians turned him over to the CIA.
He was handled by CIA officerAldrich Ames —himself a double spy for the Soviet KGB— who gave Ogorodnik the codename TRIGON...
http://intelnews.org/2012/04/16/01-970/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Dmitrievich_Ogorodnik