Posted on Mar 9, 2022
Dual citizen charged with acting as Russian agent in U.S.
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Federal prosecutors charged a dual U.S.-Russian citizen Tuesday with illegally acting as an agent of the Russian government in the U.S.
In a criminal complaint unsealed in federal court in New York, the Justice Department says Elena Branson, also known as Elena Chernykh, worked as an illegal Russian agent “to spread Russia interests, including through the lobbying of U.S. Government officials in favor of Russian policy positions,” for almost a decade.
"Throughout, Branson has received funding and direction from the Russian Government, including from the Russian Embassy in the United States, and received tasking from high-level Russian Government officials and Russian Government-run organizations," the filing said.
NBC News has asked the Russian Consulate in New York for comment.
In a criminal complaint unsealed in federal court in New York, the Justice Department says Elena Branson, also known as Elena Chernykh, worked as an illegal Russian agent “to spread Russia interests, including through the lobbying of U.S. Government officials in favor of Russian policy positions,” for almost a decade.
"Throughout, Branson has received funding and direction from the Russian Government, including from the Russian Embassy in the United States, and received tasking from high-level Russian Government officials and Russian Government-run organizations," the filing said.
NBC News has asked the Russian Consulate in New York for comment.
Dual citizen charged with acting as Russian agent in U.S.
Posted from nbcnews.com
Russia
Crime
DOJ
Propaganda
New York City
Posted 2 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."One of the officials Branson is alleged to have communicated with directly was then-Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, whom she is accused of asking for “administrative support” so she could host events at the consulate in New York and the embassy in Washington, D.C., the filing says.
It alleges that one of the ways she tried to spread Russian interests was by coordinating an effort to reach out to presidential candidate Donald Trump in April 2016 to attend an annual event known as Russia Forum New York or, if he couldn’t make it, to have one of his adult children attend.
“There is no indication that the now-former President or his children attended the referenced meeting,” the filing said.
Branson, 61, is also alleged to have tried to get Trump to attend the 2016 World Chess Championship, which was being held at New York’s South Street Seaport. Prosecutors said she emailed a Trump adviser on Nov. 10, 2016, asking that Trump, then the president-elect, attend the event. The FBI said in the court filing that it publicly released photos from the event to show it was attended by Dmitry Peskov, who is now Putin's press secretary. There is no indication that Trump attended.
Branson, who was born in the Soviet Union before she moved to the U.S. in 1991, became a U.S. citizen in 1999, according to the court filing. She set up an organization called Russian Center New York with the help of the Russian government and is alleged to have told a high-level member of a Moscow-based think tank that the center's "goals were to 'fight against' anti-Russian sentiment in the United States," the filing says."...
..."One of the officials Branson is alleged to have communicated with directly was then-Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, whom she is accused of asking for “administrative support” so she could host events at the consulate in New York and the embassy in Washington, D.C., the filing says.
It alleges that one of the ways she tried to spread Russian interests was by coordinating an effort to reach out to presidential candidate Donald Trump in April 2016 to attend an annual event known as Russia Forum New York or, if he couldn’t make it, to have one of his adult children attend.
“There is no indication that the now-former President or his children attended the referenced meeting,” the filing said.
Branson, 61, is also alleged to have tried to get Trump to attend the 2016 World Chess Championship, which was being held at New York’s South Street Seaport. Prosecutors said she emailed a Trump adviser on Nov. 10, 2016, asking that Trump, then the president-elect, attend the event. The FBI said in the court filing that it publicly released photos from the event to show it was attended by Dmitry Peskov, who is now Putin's press secretary. There is no indication that Trump attended.
Branson, who was born in the Soviet Union before she moved to the U.S. in 1991, became a U.S. citizen in 1999, according to the court filing. She set up an organization called Russian Center New York with the help of the Russian government and is alleged to have told a high-level member of a Moscow-based think tank that the center's "goals were to 'fight against' anti-Russian sentiment in the United States," the filing says."...
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