What’s What
NOTE: Names in red are most important to the narratives in this series.
Disclaimer: The information below was compiled from Simpson’s testimonies, the Steele dossier, and William Browder’s opening statement, and may or may not be accurate. Content that includes information that I add will be surrounded by [brackets] and/or will include a link or reference to the source.
Access Hollywood
An entertainment news show that occasionally delves into celebrity gossip. Shortly before the 2016 election, the show uncovered videotape of Donald Trump boasting about kissing and grabbing women without their consent.
Alfa Bank
The largest private commercial bank in Russia. Alfa’s server was detected by U.S. intelligence to be mysteriously “pinging” a Trump campaign server during the 2016 Presidential campaign. [Alfa Bank’s Kazakhstan office is in Almaty, a city that filed a New York lawsuit against Kazakh money launderers, some of which money, Simpson alleges, may have ended up with Trump Soho or Felix Sater. (Alfa Bank) (Fortune Magazine)
Baker Hostetler
A major law firm based in Cleveland, Ohio. Baker Hostetler represented Prevezon Holdings in a money laundering case brought by the U.S. Department of Justice. Baker Hostetler retained Fusion GPS to do research for the case. Prevezon settled out of court for $5.9 million without admitting guilt. Baker Hostetler lawyers David Rivkin Jr. and Lee Casey later wrote an October 2017 op-ed to the Wall Street Journal encouraging Trump to pardon anyone believed to be involved in Russian interference with the U.S. election (Wall Street Journal)
Bates Numbers
A numbering system used for filing that usually includes some indication of the date of the document.
Bayrock
Felix Sater’s real estate development company. Bayrock developed the Trump Soho Hotel, and Simpson believed Sater and Bayrock to have connections to Russian organized crime.
Cambridge Analytica
A political data mining, analysis and communications company with offices in New York City, Washington DC and London. It is partially owned by the Mercer family, who are fervent and wealthy supporters of Donald Trump and who, until recently, were a major funding source for Steve Bannon. They worked on Ted Cruz’s Presidential primary campaign, Trump’s general election campaign, and also on the Brexit campaign in the UK.
Center for the National Interest
A think tank founded by former President Richard Nixon in 1994 to encourage “strategic realism” in U.S. foreign policy. Simpson encouraged the House Intelligence Committee to look into them. (Center for the National Interest)
CIS
Commonwealth of Independent States. An alliance of countries that used to make up the Soviet Union including: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The group was formed in 1991, after the fall of the Soviet Union. Georgia was a member until 2008, and Turkmenistan is currently an associate member.
Cyprus
A small country off the coast of Turkey whose banking community has a reputation for laundering money for wealthy Russians. Prevezon Holdings is based in Cyprus. As a side note, Wilbur Ross was Vice Chairman of the Bank of Cyprus just prior to being appointed by Trump to be U.S. Secretary of Commerce, overseeing the flow of commerce between the U.S. and other countries.
DNC (Democratic National Committee)
The governing organization for the Democratic Party in the United States. The DNC provides strategy, helps candidates, and organizes the Democratic National Convention.
Foreign Agent Registration Act
A 1938 U.S. law requiring agents of foreign governments who engage in political or semi-political activities in the U.S. to register with the U.S. government and disclose their activities, finances, and their relationship with the foreign government.
FCPA (Foreign Corrupt Practices Act)
A U.S. law making it illegal for a U.S. citizen to bribe foreign government officials in order to get business. (U.S. Department of Justice)
FISA Warrant (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act)
A warrant authorizing U.S. law enforcement or intelligence agencies to perform surveillance on suspected foreign spies inside the United States. The request for the warrant must be approved by the Deputy Director of the FBI, then approved by the Attorney General or Deputy Attorney General, and then brought before a federal judge from the U.S. FISC (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court) – a court that is closed to the public and specifically deals with such requests. Secrecy is essential due to the nature of the requests. As with all warrants, the judge must be shown sufficient evidence to show “probable cause” to perform surveillance.
FSB (Federal Security Service)
Formerly known as the KGB, Russia’s domestic intelligence agency.
Fusion GPS
A Washington-DC-based research firm founded by former Wall Street Journal investigative reporter Glenn Simpson. Fusion specializes in research of public records, often to help a client understand an event (e.g., fraud, theft) or relationship (e.g., repeatedly losing a government contract to a clearly inferior competitor) so that the client can have a better understanding of how best to move forward. Fusion also occasionally does opposition research for high-paying political clients. There work on two projects – a legal case against Prevezon Holdings and a project compiling information on Donald Trump – make them a key part of understanding the Trump-Russia connection.
Gazprom
Russia’s largest company, involved in extracting, transporting and selling natural gas. Gazprom is supposedly a private company, but its majority owner is the Russian government.
Global Magnitsky Act
A generalization and expansion of the Magnitsky Act, allowing the U.S. President to deny visas and impose economic sanctions on specific foreign individuals associated with human rights violations.
GRU
Russia’s military intelligence agency.
Hermitage Capital Management
A wealth management firm run by William Browder. According to Browder, Hermitage was one of the largest financial advisers in Russia from 1996-2005, investing over $4 billion in Russian stocks. They are headquartered on an island in the English Channel, with additional offices in London, Moscow, and the Cayman Islands.
Hermitage Fund
A hedge fund created by William Browder’s company Hermitage Capital Management. The Hermitage Fund is HCM’s main investment fund. They claim that part of their success is achieved by exposing corporate corruption in the companies that they hold, with the goal of weeding out issues that negatively impact the value of those companies. One of those companies was Gazprom between 1998-2000. Russia filed fraud charges against Browder in 2013 related to Gazprom. (Reuters) Fusion GPD found that the Hermitage Fund was registered in Delaware, but Browder paid no U.S. taxes on the profits that he made with that fund.
HRAGI
Human Rights Accountability Global Initiative Foundation (http://hragi.org ), a Washington DC-based nonprofit formed by Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer who met with Trump Jr., Manafort and Kushner at Trump Tower. The stated purpose of the organization is to restore adoption of Russian orphans by Americans. It may or may not be of any importance that the headquarters address listed on HRAGI’s web site is less than seven blocks from the offices of Fusion GPS. It may also be noteworthy that, as of this writing, every page on the web site other than the home page is “under construction.”
KGB
The primary intelligence and security agency in the former Soviet Union.
Kleptocracy
A corrupt government in which officials use their power and authority to take from the people or the country for their own personal gain.
Kompromat
A Russian term to describe compromising material that can be used as leverage over someone. This can encompass a wide range of things, including personal relationships, business entanglements, tainted political donations, and evidence of embarrassing or illegal activity. Kompromat is a common tactic used in Russian politics and business to gain advantage.
Kremlin
The Russian government headquarters, located in Moscow. The Russian equivalent of the White House.
Magnitsky Act
The Magnitsky Act, passed by Congress in 2012 after lobbying efforts by William Browder, imposes strict sanctions on Russians believed to be responsible for the death of Russian attorney Sergei Magnitsky. The Act impacts a number of wealthy Russian oligarchs. To retaliate, Putin stopped all adoptions of Russian children by Americans. When people in Trump’s circle are found to be “just talking about adoption” with Russians (Manafort, Kushner and Trump Jr. in the Trump Tower meeting, President Trump with Putin at the G20), they are likely discussing the Magnitsky Act and Putin’s desire to have those sanctions lifted.
Money Laundering
Putting illegally obtained money through a process that makes the money appear legitimate. Money laundering efforts may involve shell companies, real estate purchases, businesses with unusually high expenses, etc.
Mossack Fonseca
A Panamanian law firm that was revealed in the Panama Papers to have a decades-long history of creating offshore companies to help corrupt individuals – including many wealthy people – further enrich themselves illegally through money laundering and tax evasion. The Panama Papers had been leaked from this law firm. (Wikipedia)
Newseum
A Washington DC museum dedicated to journalism and the First Amendment. (Newseum)
Oligarch
A wealthy businessperson with a lot of political influence.
Orbis and Associates/Orbis Business Intelligence Ltd.
A research and consulting firm where Christopher Steele works.
P.A.
The Russian Presidential Administration.
Panama Papers
A massive set of millions of private financial and legal documents leaked to the public in 2015, revealing illegal and embarrassing information about a number of wealthy individuals around the globe. The documents had been created by and taken from a Panamanian law firm called Mossack Fonseca. (Wikipedia)
Party of Regions
The pro-Russia political party in the Ukraine. Viktor Yanukovych was elected President of Ukraine in 2010 running under this party. Paul Manafort did work for the Party of Regions and for Yanukovych.
Perkins Coie
The law firm that hired Fusion GPS to do Trump research after the Republican Primary ended.
Potomac Group/Potomac Square Group
A Virginia-based marketing consulting firm that was hired by Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya to create what Browder calls a “fake documentary” about Browder and Sergei Magnitsky.
Prevezon Holdings Limited
An investment holdings company based in Cyprus (see info on Cyprus). Prevezon was accused by the U.S. Department of Justice of laundering millions of dollars in New York real estate, using money from a $230 million Russian tax fraud scheme. Prevezon settled out of court for $5.9 million without admitting guilt.
Raiffeisen Bank
A Romania-based bank that Simpson says helped launder a lot of the money that Putin and the Russian mafia were skimming from the gas trade between Ukraine and Russia.
Red Notice
A book written by William Browder.
Russian State Investigative Committee
The Russian equivalent of the FBI.
Russotrudnichestvo
An NGO that the FBI considers to be a front for the SVR.
Shell Company
An inactive company whose purpose is often to hide business ownership from law enforcement or the public. (Investopedia)
Solntsevo Brotherhood
Russia’s largest organized crime family and the major dominant mafia clan in Moscow. They have a “robust U.S. presence,” according to Simpson.
Subpoena
A document issued by the government to require a person to testify in court.
SVR
Russia’s foreign intelligence agency.
Tax Haven
A country with low taxes. Businesses and wealthy individuals sometimes claim their base of operations in a tax haven in order to avoid higher taxes in their actual country of operations.
Trump Administration
President Trump, his Cabinet and advisors, and other staff of the executive branch of government.
Trump Campaign
The group of volunteers and paid staff who worked between June 2015 and November 2016 to help elect Donald Trump President.
Trump Organization
Donald Trump’s real estate business – a privately held company.
Trump Transition
The group of people who worked to prepare the Trump Administration and select key people to put in place for it during the period between the election (November 8, 2016) and the inauguration (January 20, 2017).
UKIP
The UK Independence Party – a pro-Brexit, nationalist political party in the United Kingdom.
Washington Free Beacon
A conservative web site that initially hired Fusion to research Donald Trump. (Washington Examiner)
Weber Shandwick
A large public relations firm that Simpson recommended to Prevezon. Weber Shandwick has worked on campaigns to change public opinion for corporate clients and foreign governments.
WikiLeaks
An organization that started with the mission of promoting government transparency. WikiLeaks made public incriminating e-mails from the DNC and the Clinton Campaign. The organization has also been responsible for publicly releasing highly sensitive U.S. government material. (Wikipedia)
YBM Magnex
An elaborate stock fraud scheme in Philadelphia that was run by the Solntsevo Brotherhood.
Read more of this special series:
The Trump-Russia Web
- Part 1: Introduction
- Part 2: What’s What (Glossary)
- Part 3: Who’s Who (Glossary)
- Part 4: Timeline, Key Relationships, Key Places
- Part 5: High-Level Summaries
- Part 6: William Browder
- Part 7: Natalia Veselnitskaya
- Part 8: The Steele Dossier
- Part 9: Fusion GPS
- Part 10: Glenn Simpson and the Prevezon Case
- Part 11: Glenn Simpson and the Trump Investigation
The Week In Trump 