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Jump to: 2017; 2018;
Also see: Fusion GPS; Magnitsky Act; Bill Browder;
Undated: Rinat Rafkatovitch Akhmetshin[1] (born 1967) is a Russian-American[2] lobbyist and former Soviet counterintelligence officer.[3][4] He came to American media spotlight in July 2017 as a registered lobbyist for an organisation run by Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya,[5] who, along with him, had a meeting with Donald Trump's election campaign officials in June 2016.[6][7]
Akhmetshin was linked to Fusion GPS in Washington, D.C., and involved in a pro-Russian campaign in 2016 which involved lobbying congressional staffers to overturn the Magnitsky Act. Both Fusion GPS and Akhmetshin were subject of a complaint by United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley for failure to register as foreign agents under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.[18][19]
On 14 July 2017, it was confirmed by multiple sources, including Akhmetshin himself,[20][21][22] that he was a fifth and previously undisclosed attendee who met with Donald Trump Jr., Paul Manafort, Jared Kushner, and Russian attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya in the Trump campaign–Russian meeting at Trump Tower on June 9, 2016.[23]
Asked about Akhmetshin, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: "We don't know anything about this person."[24]
On August 11, 2017, Akhmetshin testified under oath for several hours in a grand jury investigation related to Robert Mueller's investigations into the Trump campaign and Russian interference in the 2016 election.[25][26]
On the night of April 11, 2017, Akhmetshin met with US Congressman Dana Rohrabacher in the lobby of The Westin Grand Berlin in Berlin, Germany.[27] There was a discussion about a high-profile money laundering case, along with related sanctions against Russia. The two had met previously in May 2016 in a meeting in Rohrabacher's office.[28]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rinat_Akhmetshin
-- 2017 --
July 15: The new figure in the Trump-Russia controversy: Rinat Akhmetshin
The saga surrounding a June 2016 meeting between senior Trump campaign officials and a Russian lawyer took another turn Friday when it was revealed that there were additional participants, including a Russian-American lobbyist who served in the Soviet military and now promotes Kremlin-aligned interests in Washington.
Akhmetshin has been a presence in the US for more than 20 years, and his history has been a source of intrigue for months. Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley requested more information about his immigration history in April as his committee investigated a complaint that Akhmetshin, Veselnitskaya and others engaged in undisclosed lobbying on behalf of the Kremlin to weaken the Magnitsky Act.
Akhmetshin was born in the Soviet Union. He moved to the United States in 1994 and became a naturalized American citizen in 2009, according to a statement he provided to Radio Free Europe.
In a civil lawsuit not related to the Russia investigation, [Rinat Akhmetshin] was described as "a former Soviet military counterintelligence officer." And in the complaint filed with the DOJ by a Magnitsky ally about his alleged undisclosed lobbying for the Kremlin, he was called "a former member of the Russian military intelligence services (GRU)."
Akhmetshin insisted he was loyal to the US in a July 2016 statement to Radio Free Europe: "I am an American citizen since 2009 who pays taxes, earned his citizenship after living here since 1994, and swore an oath of loyalty to the United States of America."
Akhmetshin's lobbying has made him a player in DC, and a Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) complaint filed against him, as picked up by Grassley, has alleged that his lobbying went beyond what was disclosed and was conducted as a foreign agent on behalf of the Russian government.
The complaint was filed last year by American financier Bill Browder, whose company worked closely with Russian lawyer Sergey Magnitsky in the 2000s. Magnitsky uncovered a $230 million tax fraud scheme in Russia, was jailed, and later died in a Moscow prison under suspicious circumstances. US lawmakers passed the Magnitsky Act in 2012 to punish the Russians allegedly responsible for his death.
It's this legislation that Akhmetshin and Veselnitskaya waged a campaign to overturn last year.
https://www.cnn.com/2017/07/15/politics/who-is-rinat-akhmetshin/index.html
-- 2018 --
May 16: Materials from Inquiry into Circumstances Surrounding Trump Tower Meeting
Rinat Akhmetshin
(interviewed November 14, 2017)
---Transcript
---Exhibits
https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/press/releases/materials-from-inquiry-into-circumstances-surrounding-trump-tower-meeting
May 18: Russian-American Lobbyist At Trump Tower Meeting Described Knowing Hillary Clinton, Associates
Akhmetshin, a former Soviet military intelligence officer, also said his attorney, Edward Lieberman, knows Clinton well. Lieberman’s late wife, Evelyn Lieberman, was a close confidante of Clinton’s. At one point, Akhmetshin said he was not a fan of President Donald Trump’s family.
Akhmetshin attended the June 9, 2016, Trump Tower meeting with Russian attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya.
Veselnitskaya carried into the meeting a memo that accused Bill Browder, a London-based banker who is the leading force behind the Magnitsky Act, of links to improper donations to Democrats.
In a bizarre twist, it turned out Veselnitskaya’s memo was put together by Glenn Simpson, the founder of Fusion GPS — the firm that commissioned the Steele dossier. Simpson happened to be working with Veselnitskaya and Akhmetshin to investigate Browder as part of an effort to undermine the Magnitsky Act.
https://dailycaller.com/2018/05/18/rinat-akhmetshin-clinton-trump-tower/
July 12: A Russian-American lobbyist who attended the infamous meeting with Trump campaign officials at Trump Tower in June 2016 has filed a libel lawsuit against one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's most prominent critics.
Rinat Akhmetshin filed the civil case Thursday against investor Bill Browder in federal court in Washington, alleging that Browder repeatedly defamed him by labeling him as a Russian intelligence operative.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/12/trump-tower-meeting-russia-akhmetshin-putin-browder-lawsuit-717843
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