Don't Be Fooled

Not To Be Too Cynical, But...

... every time a "good-for-business" or "help-for-the-little-guy" policy gets put in place, it's almost a sure bet that one of it's main functions to be a smoke screen. 

It's dressed up to sound all fair-minded and helpful, but the probability is high that it's being done to put large chunks of cash in the pockets of a buncha dog-ass rich fucks who have used coin-operated politicians to grease the skids for them.

And if it actually does help somebody get going on a new food truck or a bookkeeping service - well, that just gives it an air of legitimacy, and the plutocrats figure they'll get around to fucking those people too eventually, so hey - win win, right?

And the kicker: By the time the "small fry fraud" starts to show up, the big guys will have had their day - laundered the money they needed to launder, or hidden the assets they needed to hide from the IRS, or whatever.

They can find cover for their own shit behind the petty fraudsters, cluck their tongues, and mutter the usual mantra: "See what happens when you try to do something nice for people? The government should just stay out of the way".

More than 15,500 business filings in Colorado deemed fraudulent were made by one guy

The Attorney General’s Office said the filings linked to one Northglenn address were made when filing fees were reduced to $1, at a cost of $765,919 to taxpayers. There could be more.

The number of new companies created in Colorado in the past two years may not have set all-time records after all, after officials discovered more than 15,500 fraudulent business filings last year by a man who used a stranger’s home address.

The Colorado Attorney General’s Office on Wednesday filed a consent judgment in Denver District Court to settle allegations against defendant Marcio Garcia Andrade for violating the Colorado Consumer Protection Act. Andrade, who doesn’t live in Colorado, was accused of filing the new business formations between February 2022 and August 2023 that were linked to a Northglenn townhome address “without the knowledge or consent of the homeowner and resident,” according to the AG’s lawsuit.

The settlement means that Andrade, who denied all allegations, is barred from filing new business registrations that don’t comply with the law. He also must dissolve the 15,660 businesses created at false addresses and pay $75,000 in penalties. Failure to do so means the AG could pursue further penalties.

“The defendant in this case is being held accountable for his conduct, and my office will continue to pursue those who attempt to defraud the state and harm consumers with false business filings,” Attorney General Phil Weiser said in a statement.

David Curt Japha, the Denver attorney representing Andrade, said his client “did not make any fraudulent business filings,” and offered Andrade’s response to the AG’s lawsuit.

In a legal filing, Andrade used a registered agent located at the same Northglenn address “since November 7, 2016” and was “not made aware of the registered agent’s change of address and had a good faith belief that they had the consent of the owner or occupant,” of the home.

“Mr. Andrade had a contract with a registered agent who resided at the address listed on the filings. However, the agent moved without informing Mr. Andrade before the filings were made. The Attorney General’s press release is not accurate and is itself deceptive,” Japha said in an email.

Andrade’s associate, Rick Steenbock at Jumpstart Incorporations Inc., named in the original complaint, was dismissed from the lawsuit.

Registering a business that has no assets or isn’t active isn’t illegal. Such so-called “shell companies” fueled the tech company trend of SPACs, or special purpose acquisition companies, to help startups go public without the usual public offering rigamarole.

But creating a business using false information can lead to all sorts of mayhem because it gives legitimacy and a public record, according to the AG’s office. It provides a credible Colorado presence for the owner to get a loan, bank account, patents and trademarks. Companies can disguise ownership, conduct real estate transactions anonymously and hide assets.

“Fraudulent business filings are dangerous tools in the hands of bad actors. The veneer of legitimacy provided by a registered corporation can be used to deceive consumers into transacting with, including extending credit to, a business that has supplied false information. And if a business filing is fraudulent, a consumer may be unable to contact the business with concerns — or legal process,” said the AG’s complaint.

But as an extra kick in the pants to the state’s business-friendly filing system, Andrade paid less than usual to start the new businesses. In May 2023, someone at the Secretary of State’s office noticed the unusual number of filings linked to the same address, just as a popular discount was about to be depleted. The discount reduced business filing fees to $1, from $50, and was part of a year-long investment approved by lawmakers to help small businesses recover from the pandemic. About 9% of the $8.4 million in taxpayer funds set aside to cover filing costs allegedly benefited Andrade and Steenbock, for a total of $765,919 in credits, according to the lawsuit.

The AG’s office said 15,433 of Andrade’s business filings were made during the fee discount period.

Weiser said his office didn’t pursue recovering the credits because it wasn’t cash that ended up in Andrade’s pocket. His team had to weigh the time and costs to go to trial for a civil case.

“Our clear conclusion is that there was fraud in terms of the registration of these businesses and all I can say is they agreed with the conclusion that they need to pay 75 grand and they have to dissolve these entities and if they didn’t feel comfortable with that settlement, they could have proceeded to let this case be litigated,” Weiser said. “Our goal was to stop this fraud and this practice and hold this individual accountable.”

Both men have had run-ins with federal authorities. In June 2019, a federal court froze the assets of Grand Teton Professionals, a Wyoming LLC behind an alleged credit-repair scheme that “bilked consumers out of at least $6.2 million, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Andrade was named as a defendant, as was Atomium Corps., a Colorado company where Steenbock was president.

The Colorado AG’s lawsuit said Andrade didn’t have a primary residence in the state, making him ineligible to be a registered agent here. Steenbock has a Parker address. Andrade is also linked to Wholesale Shelf Corp., which profits by selling “shelf corporations” or registered businesses with no activity that are resold so someone new can skip the regular business-startup process. On Tuesday, Wholesale Shelf had nearly a dozen Colorado shelf corporations listed for sale for $10,349 to $15,974. Many had the same Northglenn address.

After noticing the link to the same Northglenn address on May 10, 2023, the Secretary of State’s Office also linked Andrade and Steenbock to the filings using data logs of foreign IP addresses, as well as the same payment method.

Local economists and the Secretary of State had credited the temporary fee discount for the rise in new business filings during the period the fee was in effect. Filings hit record highs each quarter before the funding ran out. First quarter 2023 reached an all-time quarterly record of nearly 56,000 new companies. Previously, new business filings rarely rose above 40,000 a quarter, as seen in the chart below.

But there’s a good chance that some of the data could be rolled back. The Secretary of State’s Office, however, declined to comment on the latest case and did not share details of how fraud has impacted past quarters.

“I don’t think it really means anything for the real economy because a new entity filing is a prelude to activity,” said Brian Lewandowski, executive director of the Business Research Division at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Leeds School of Business. “However, if fraudulent activity is in excess of normal, then the series loses some predictive power as a leading indicator of the real economy.”

Why there’s fraudulent business filings

Authorities have been aware of business fraud for years. In 2022, the Secretary of State’s Office supported Senate Bill 34, which created a process for victims of business identity theft to complain about fraud and have complaints investigated by the attorney general. If determined fraudulent by a judge, the secretary of state must mark the business record as “fraudulent or unauthorized.”

The office’s Fraudulent Business Filings Working Group met for about five months in late 2022 and early 2023 to hash out guardrails later adopted into law.

During a session in December 2022, working group member Greg Wertsch, a Denver-based special agent with Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations, shared examples of how shell companies move assets to avoid paying taxes. Sometimes, it’s legal like in Delaware, where many companies choose to incorporate due to low business taxes.

But worse than evading taxes are the scammers behind shell companies that decimate victims financially (like pig-butchering scams that use flattery to romance the lonely and get them to transfer over their life savings) or cause physical harm. Wertsch said he had a counterfeit Specialized bike helmet that would break into 1,000 pieces if he jumped on it.

“This is the kind of stuff that these shells are importing into our country and that our parents and friends are buying on the internet thinking they have real products. It is a real issue to real families in our state,” Wertsch said. “Counterfeit medications we’ve seized, we have airplane parts, car parts, airbags, safety gear and so much more is being imported by these shells.”

He pulled up a list of more than 80 companies registered in Colorado with “United Nations” in their name.

“I talked to the United Nations. None of these entities are part of the United Nations. None! Yet all of these entities are here. Why do you think that is? Why do you think people are incorporating the Children’s Fund United Nations here in Colorado? You think they might be taking money from people who think they’re donating to the U.N. Children’s Fund, which might be a real thing?” he said, pointing to the United Nations fraud alert page. “It’s likely.”

In a local case, Wertsch said a young woman had difficulties selling her townhouse because pallets of bathroom products — including giant boxes holding toilets, bathtubs and appliances — would arrive daily at her home. They were customer returns sent back to the company’s corporate address.

“This woman’s house was the corporate address for this company,” Wertsch said. “Doing more investigation, there’s a lot of fraud involved with this company (and) many, many companies registered the exact same address within minutes of this company being registered here in Colorado. … This is an example of a Colorado illicit shell that has no place in our state, should not be allowed to be registered. We should not be collecting money from them.”

Business fraud complaints growing

Since then, some changes were made to business filings in Colorado. Victims can now file a complaint with the Secretary of State’s Office if a business used their name or address to register or changed an existing business information without the owner’s consent. Law enforcement can also file a complaint directly with the office, which wasn’t allowed before the new law.

As of Aug. 20, the agency said 2,208 reports of fraudulent businesses have been filed and 1,004 were referred to the Attorney General’s Office for investigation, said Jack Todd, a spokesperson for the secretary of state. Another 816 cases were resolved and the business records updated. Approximately 286 were rejected because they fell out of the office’s scope, 42 were pending an initial review and nine had no violation or evidence of fraud.

“If the subsequent investigation determines that there is evidence of fraud, the Secretary of State’s Office then redacts victim information and flags the record in our business database as suspected fraudulent activity,” Todd said in an email.

Rules went into effect Aug. 7 that prohibit registered agents from using a P.O. Box as their address. Businesses that dissolved or are late in their paperwork also can’t easily refile after a certain number of years unless they show proof of ID and an affidavit.

Some of the rules have yet to begin, such as requiring registered agents to have a Colorado driver’s license or state identification card. That doesn’t go into effect until July 1, 2025.

But without the law, the AG’s office says it couldn’t as easily pursue action to shut down fraudulent businesses or pursue penalties, unless it used the Consumer Protection Act. With the beefed-up law, law enforcement agencies can now file a complaint about fraudulent businesses directly with the state department instead of relying solely on victims.

Guns

Gun crime has something to do with gun proliferation.

Gun proliferation has everything to do with coin-operated Republicans.

Senator Podcast

Beryl leaves hot misery in its wake as the still-dangerous storm churns over the US interior

Power has started to come back for some of the millions of homes and businesses left in the dark when Hurricane Beryl slammed into the Houston area.

HOUSTON (AP) — Many of the millions left without power when Hurricane Beryl crashed into Texas, killing several people and unleashing flooding, now face days without air conditioning as dangerous heat threatens the region Tuesday.

A heat advisory was in effect through Wednesday in the Houston area and beyond, with temperatures expected to soar into the 90s (above 32.2 Celsius) and humidity that could make it feel as hot as 105 degrees (40.5 Celsius). The widespread loss of power, and therefore air conditioning, could make for dangerous conditions, the National Weather Service said.

More than 2.3 million homes and businesses around Houston lacked electricity Tuesday morning, down from a peak of over 2.7 million on Monday, according to PowerOutage.us.

“Houstonians need to know we’re working around the clock so you will be safe,” Houston Mayor John Whitmire said Monday, urging residents to also know the dangers of high water, to stay hydrated and to check on their neighbors.

Beryl has been blamed for at least seven deaths — one in Louisiana and six in Texas, officials said.

The storm weakened after making landfall, and late Tuesday morning it was a post-tropical cyclone centered over northeastern Arkansas, moving northeast with maximum sustained winds near 30 mph (48 kph), the weather service said. Its strength wasn’t expected to change much in the next two days.

CLIMATE GLIMPSE: Heat and a hurricane descend on the U.S., other wild weather around the world

The storm is forecast to bring heavy rains and possible flash flooding from the lower and mid-Mississippi Valley to the Great Lakes into Wednesday, the weather service said.

A flood watch was in effect for parts of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. A few tornadoes were possible in Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, forecasters said.

Beryl came ashore in Texas as a Category 1 hurricane, far less powerful than the behemoth that tore a deadly path through parts of Mexico and the Caribbean. But its winds and rains still knocked down hundreds of trees that had already been teetering in saturated earth and stranded dozens of cars on flooded roads.

It could take days to fully return power in Texas after Beryl toppled 10 transmission lines. Top priorities for power restoration include nursing homes and assisted living centers, said Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is acting as governor while Gov. Greg Abbott is out of the country.

Powerful storms in the area in May killed eight people, left nearly 1 million without power and flooded streets. Residents now without power after Beryl were doing their best.

“We haven’t really slept,” said Eva Costancio as she gazed at a large tree that had fallen across electric lines in the Houston suburb of Rosenberg. Costancio said she had already been without power for several hours and worried that food in her refrigerator would be spoiled.

“We are struggling to have food, and losing that food would be difficult,” she said.

The state was opening cooling centers, as well as food and water distribution centers, said Nim Kidd, chief of state emergency operations.

Beryl’s rains pounded Houston and other areas of the coast Monday, closing streets that had already been washed out by previous storms. Houston officials reported at least 25 water rescues by Monday afternoon, mostly for people with vehicles stuck in floodwaters.

Many streets and neighborhoods throughout Houston were littered with fallen branches and other debris. The buzz of chainsaws filled the air Monday afternoon as residents chopped up knocked-down trees and branches that had blocked streets and sidewalks. Several companies with refineries or industrial plants reported the power disruptions required the flaring of gases.

The earliest storm to develop into a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic, Beryl caused at least 11 deaths as it passed through the Caribbean on its way to Texas. In Jamaica, officials said Monday that island residents will have to contend with food shortages after Beryl destroyed over $6.4 million in crops and supporting infrastructure.

It's The Money, Stupid

Headline Translated:

Billionaire demonstrates next level usury

And does this not pose a threat by way of furthering Trump's graft?

How long before we decide coin-operated politicians need to be driven out, and not molly-coddled?

How a California billionaire known for auto loans provided Trump’s bond

Don Hankey, who made a fortune offering high-interest auto loans to customers with poor credit, said providing the $175 million bond to Trump is a good business deal

As former president Donald Trump struggled last month to post a bond for more than $450 million to keep authorities from seizing his properties, California billionaire Don Hankey and his wife, Debbi, started discussing a solution: Hankey’s business could cover it.

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Hankey, a Trump supporter who made a fortune providing high-interest auto loans to customers with poor credit, soon reached out to Trump’s team to negotiate a deal that would allow Trump to stay the penalty while he appealed a massive New York civil fraud judgment. But when a court reduced the bond to $175 million last week and Trump said he had the cash to post it himself, the matter seemed moot, Hankey told The Washington Post.

Then, to his surprise, the Trump team last week revived the talks and asked Hankey if he would back the new amount. Hankey promptly agreed. He said that his company is charging Trump a “modest fee,” which he declined to disclose, and that the arrangement allowed Trump to hold onto his money, adding, “At least he’s getting interest on his collateral.”

With the bond, which Trump posted Monday, Hankey appears to have facilitated a final step in Trump’s narrow escape from a cash crunch that a few weeks ago had the New York attorney general vowing to come after his assets and experts wondering if he would have to file for bankruptcy as he faced more than half a billion dollars in penalties from two civil cases, with only weeks to find the money.

The financial boost for the presumed GOP nominee has thrust Hankey into the midst of a presidential campaign, bringing a new national profile to a colorful 80-year-old worth $7.4 billion, according to Forbes, who worked his way from car salesman to major player in the car loan industry and owner of Xanadu, formerly Olivia Newton-John’s Malibu estate. If Trump is elected, their relationship could come under new scrutiny if the government is involved in matters affecting Hankey’s business.

Hankey said the bond, which was provided by one of his companies, a subsidiary of Knight Insurance, was a good business deal, not a political statement.

“I’m chairman of the board of several companies, and we just carry on our business and we try to stay away from political issues or taking sides,” said Hankey, who said he has been a Trump supporter “and I will support him in the future, but I wouldn’t consider myself a major supporter.” He said that while many of his contributions have gone to Republicans, he has also donated to Democrats.

Hankey also said he provided the bond to Trump in part because he agreed with the former president’s defense in the New York civil case, in which he was convicted of committing fraud by overvaluing his assets and getting loans at lower rates than otherwise would have been available. Trump argued that even if the property values were overstated, it was a common practice and that the loans were repaid in full.

Hankey said that one of his businesses, Westlake Financial Services, provides loans to 1.5 million customers and that “quite often, when credit statements or financial statements are submitted to us, the values are exaggerated on some of the assets. … I would say it probably happens on 75 percent of our applications.”

The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment, referring instead to a post by the former president on his social network, Truth Social, in which he said, “I had to pay New York State in order to appeal a corrupt decision by a biased, crooked and highly overturned judge.”

Hankey is also the largest individual, non-institutional shareholder of Axos Bank, a little-known online company that in 2022 provided $225 million in crucial loans to keep Trump’s businesses afloat after many of his longtime lenders cut ties in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Hankey said he was unaware of the Axos loans until after they were provided to the Trump Organization. Axos’s president and chief executive previously told The Post he approved the loans because they were profitable for his bank, not for political reasons.

While not as well-known nationally as some other billionaires who support Trump, Hankey is a prominent figure in California, where his best-known business has revolved around providing high-interest auto loans to customers with poor credit. Remembering how he once had to turn away such customers when he was a car salesman, he said, he established a business that provided loans to higher-risk customers at higher rates.

A 2015 article in Forbes magazine described Hankey calculating how he might provide a hypothetical customer with a low credit score a loan at 23.99 percent. The article said that his company at the time had 336,000 outstanding car loans from 23,000 auto dealerships, and that his company repossessed 250 cars per day because of problems with repayment.

While the business provided financing to many customers who couldn’t get it elsewhere, the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found that it sometimes went too far.

The agency on Oct. 1, 2015, announced that it had ordered Westlake Financial Services and another company, Wilshire Consumer Credit, to provide $44.1 million in relief to customers and to pay a civil penalty of $4.25 million for what the agency called “illegal debt collection tactics.” The news release did not name Hankey, and he was not accused of wrongdoing. Hankey said in the interview that the companies relied on an “electronic program” and that he didn’t think they did anything wrong.

In the bank case, brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), state Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron ruled in February that Trump, several of his companies, his two elder sons and former executives were civilly liable for fraud by lying about the true value of his assets to obtain better rates.

Attorneys for the Trump Organization and family have argued that the company was engaged in normal business practices and that the judge’s financial penalty was wildly excessive and ought to be waived or reduced.

After Engoron’s ruling, Trump moved to appeal — but first needed to either post a bond of more than $450 million to stay the financial penalty, or pay it. Weeks later, Trump’s attorneys told the court that he couldn’t do so after approaching 30 surety companies.

But the Hankeys had already begun discussing a potential deal. Hankey said his wife, Debbi, first suggested providing the bond, and then contacted a friend who knew the campaign and connected them with Hankey.

A round of negotiations soon commenced, but last week, an appeals court panel in New York ruled that Trump needed to post only $175 million to appeal.

“We thought our negotiations were finished,” Hankey said. “And we were thanked by the Trump Organization.”

But Trump’s company soon reached out again. “They called back and asked us if we would put up the bond for $175 million,” he said.

It took only a few days to complete the new deal.

By posting the $175 million bond Monday, Trump appeared — at least for now — to escape from a financial jam that weeks ago appeared so untenable that experts wondered if he would file for corporate bankruptcy.

Instead, he has gained stays in the two most daunting civil cases against him without having to forfeit any of his assets or sell any of his properties. Nor did he have to touch stock he has in his social media company, Trump Media & Technology Group Corp., a stake that was still valued at around $4 billion Tuesday afternoon despite the stock price’s recent slide.

Nonetheless, depending on how the appeals process plays out, Trump still may face substantial judgments in the bank case as well as in an unrelated defamation case, in which an insurance company posted a $91 million bond.

By using the bonds and the appeals process, Trump has given himself additional chances to argue his position in court, in front of different judges, and — perhaps most important — gained more time to pay any penalties that are ultimately levied upon him.

Robert E. Malchman, a longtime New York lawyer who has been following the bank case, said that the appellate court’s decision to reduce the bond amount had given Trump a lifeline and that James will probably now have to press her case well after the election through the appeals process.

Trump still may face the full penalties, Malchman said, even if he returns to the White House.

“He can be president of the United States again, but that’s not going to affect his civil judgments,” he said.

He said Trump remains under the purview of a court monitor, former judge Barbara S. Jones, who must approve major financial transactions by the Trump Organization. And he can no longer use the money he has provided as collateral for the bond for other purposes, which could strap him financially. “That’s $175 million that you can’t use for anything else,” Malchman said.

Hankey said he has never spoken to Trump. But after the bond deal was made public, he heard from one of Trump’s sons, who effectively runs the company.

“I talked to Eric Trump this morning,” Hankey said. “He called and thanked us for posting the bond.”

Prick Up Your Ears

When even the Press Poodles notice something - enough to actually say something about it - and to say straight out that the behavior sucks and needs to stop - maybe we're starting to get somewhere.

Of, course there's the usual Both Sides razor blade in this apple, and that pisses me off, but at least WaPo subtly points out the differences in the way each member is using the power to block.

Manchin is being Manchin - a self-dealing prick, and coin-operated shill for the Dirty Fuels Cartel.

And Bernie is holding certain nominees in order to get a commitment from Biden to put up a real plan to reduce medication prices.

So on one side we've got Senators holding things up for reasons other than partisan politics.

But the Republicans are doing it in order to impose minority rule - perfectly in keeping with their fucked up ideas about using government to exact political vengeance (ie: "weaponizing government") - so they can suck up to Trump and his MAGA rubes.

Opinion

Senators have become hostage-takers. It should stop.

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) announced during former president Donald Trump’s arraignment in federal court on Tuesday that he will use what are known as “procedural holds” to stop the confirmation of Justice Department nominees. “We have to grind this department to a halt until Merrick Garland promises to … stop going after his political opponents,” he said in a video posted to Twitter. To decry what he wrongly claims is the politicization of law enforcement, Mr. Vance is, well, politicizing law enforcement.

Mr. Vance is not the only senator taking hostages. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) is blocking more than 200 military promotions, typically approved by unanimous consent, in a gambit to stop the Pentagon from reimbursing service members who need to travel out of state for abortions. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said Monday that he’ll block President Biden’s pick to lead the National Institutes of Health, as well as any other health nominee, until the White House releases a comprehensive plan to cut prescription drug prices. Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, announced blanket opposition last month to every nominee for the Environmental Protection Agency until the Biden administration rescinds proposed power plant regulations.

In taking an unprincipled stand on behalf of a criminal defendant, Mr. Vance appears to be acknowledging that a political debt has come due. He owes his Senate election to Mr. Trump’s endorsement last year.

His goal, he claims, is to “limit the number of people that [Attorney General] Merrick Garland has access to.” In practice, Mr. Vance’s announcement means Rosie Hidalgo will not get confirmed anytime soon to be director of the DOJ’s Office on Violence Against Women. The Senate Judiciary Committee already advanced her nomination, and she’s awaiting a floor vote. Mr. Vance says he will not put holds on nominees to the U.S. Marshals Service, but his procedural ploy also jeopardizes the confirmations of U.S. attorney nominees for Mississippi and the Southern District of California.

Most relevant for Mr. Vance’s constituents, his announcement means Cleveland is unlikely to get a U.S. attorney anytime soon. Last week, Mr. Biden nominated veteran prosecutor Becky Lutzko to oversee the Northern District of Ohio, which is responsible for combating federal crime in 40 Ohio counties that are home to nearly 6 million residents. The office has already suffered the longest stretch without a Senate-confirmed leader in its 166-year history. Ms. Lutzko has worked as a career prosecutor since 2005 and oversees the office’s appellate division. Depriving the staff of permanent leadership disadvantages the community and undermines public safety while having no impact on the probe into the former president.

Hey, WaPo - maybe you could connect a coupla more dots here by pointing up how Republicans love to bitch about "rampant crime" while blocking the appointment of federal crime fighters. Just a thought, fellas.

Mr. Garland has gone out of his way to stay above the political fray and to restore the independence of his department. He appointed Jack Smith as special counsel so he could keep the case at arm’s length. Mr. Smith charged Mr. Trump with 37 serious crimes, including violations of the Espionage Act and conspiracy to obstruct justice. William P. Barr, who served as Mr. Trump’s attorney general, called the indictment “very damning” and said Sunday on Fox News: “If even half of it is true, then he’s toast.”

Holds cannot ultimately stop confirmations, but breaking through them requires significant and valuable Senate floor time — typically two or three days per nomination — that is better used, for instance, to confirm judges to lifetime appointments. While we might like to see Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) keep the Senate in session seven days a week and cancel summer recess to force the hands of obstinate members and push through the president’s nominees, that’s not realistic.

Senators in both parties need to respect a president’s right to make appointments. It’s unconscionable to treat the people charged with keeping us safe, whether career prosecutors or generals, as pawns in partisan fights. These senators should drop their holds.

Today's Eternal Sadness

"Conservatives" have often tried to blame "kicking Jesus out of the classroom" for the gun violence that plagues American schools.

6 people dead at a Christian school - in a Presbyterian church - killed by a former student. I guess maybe we can shit-can the No-Jesus-Allowed Theory. Again. 

No word yet on how, or whether, the shooter's trans-gender-ness factors in. We'll have to wait and see if the manifesto explains anything.

Nashville school shooter who killed 6 was heavily armed, left ‘manifesto’

NASHVILLE — A shooter armed with two AR-style weapons and a handgun killed three students and three adults at a private Christian school in Nashville on Monday, the latest deadly rampage in a nation anguished by the regularity of mass killings but deeply divided over how to stop them.

Police identified the shooter as Audrey Elizabeth Hale, 28, of Nashville. Hale was shot and killed by police who responded to the Covenant School, a small academy housed within a Presbyterian church that served about 200 students from preschool to sixth grade.

John Drake, chief of the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, said law enforcement officials were working to determine a motive but said Hale had attended the school. During a search of Hale’s home, he said, officers recovered a “manifesto” and maps that appeared to include entry points for the school. Police later said they recovered additional material in a car Hale drove to the scene.

Drake said Hale was transgender. Asked if that had played a role in what he described as a “targeted attack,” Drake said it was part of the police investigation.

“There is some theory to that,” Drake said. But, he added, “We’re investigating all the leads, and once we know exactly, we will let you know.”

Don Aaron, a police spokesman, later clarified the chief’s remarks. “Audrey Hale is a biological woman who, on a social media profile, used male pronouns,” Aaron said in an email.

Police identified the victims as students Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney, all 9; and staff members Cynthia Peak, 61; Katherine Koonce, 60; and Mike Hill, 61.

Koonce was the longtime head of Covenant, according to the school’s website. Peak was a substitute teacher, while Hill was a custodian, police said.

Nashville Mayor John Cooper, speaking at one of several news conferences Monday, called it the “worst day” and a “dark hour” for the city, but he praised first responders including police officers who ran toward the gunfire to try to stop it.

“Even in a remarkably fast response, there was not enough time. And those guns stole precious lives from us today,” Cooper said.

The incident unfolded over less than 15 minutes in a leafy suburban area about 10 miles south of central Nashville. Police said they received a 911 call about a shooter at the school at 10:13 a.m. Dozens of emergency vehicles arrived at the scene, and officers entering on the first floor of the school heard gunfire coming from the second floor, police said.

Five officers proceeded upstairs into a lobby-type area where they confronted Hale, who fired at them, police said. Two officers fired back, fatally shooting Hale, who was pronounced dead at 10:27 a.m.

Police initially described Hale as appearing to be a teenager before revising the age upward to 28.

According to police, Hale gained access to the school by firing through a first-floor side door before opening fire inside the building. It was not immediately clear what security procedures were in place at the school or whether, like schools across the nation in a siege of shootings, it had fortified itself against attack.

Unlike public schools in Nashville, the private school did not have a public safety officer on-site, according to police.

Police later released photos of the scene, including images showing a shattered glass door with bullet holes where they said Hale gained entry into the building. The department also shared photos of police cars with bullet holes and shattered glass, saying Hale fired on responding officers as they arrived.

The shooting was captured on surveillance video, a portion of which was made public late Monday. The footage showed a person the police identified as Hale arriving at the school, dressed partially in camouflage. The video then showed the shooter firing on the glass door, entering the building and going through the hallways while holding an assault rifle.

A police spokesman declined to say where the victims were found, including whether a specific classroom had been targeted. But in a Monday afternoon news conference, Drake said police found material that suggested Hale had considered an attack at another location but ruled it out because there was “too much security.”

Police said Hale was armed with two semiautomatic weapons — an AR-15-style rifle, an “AR-style pistol” and a handgun. At least two of the weapons were purchased legally, according to Drake, who did not give the status of the third. He said Hale had “multiple rounds of ammunition prepared for confrontation with law enforcement” and was “prepared to do more harm.”

The department late Monday released images of the weapons, adding that Hale had “significant ammunition.”

Tennessee’s gun laws, like those in many conservative states, are comparatively loose. The state allows people to own automatic assault weapons and does not have a law banning high-capacity magazines.

In 2022, Guns & Ammo — a magazine dedicated to firearms and ammunitions — ranked Tennessee as the 12th-best state in the country for gun owners. The state recently allowed residents to carry handguns in public without a permit. State officials are considering lowering the age to carry handguns without a permit from 21 to 18, according to the Associated Press.

The incident was the latest tragedy in a country spinning on an endless carousel of mass violence, including bloodshed in schools, hospitals and virtually every gathering place. At the scene, in the Green Hills section of Nashville, cameras captured views eerily similar to those that have played out in other cities that have dealt with mass violence, including Uvalde, Tex., and Newtown, Conn., including footage of children holding hands and being led away from school under heavy guard.

Scores of police cars and ambulances went to the scene as officers in body armor and carrying long guns checked a wooded area next to the school. Local television reported that some of the children had run into the woods to escape the gunfire.

Frantic parents were seen abandoning their cars and running toward the scene in search of their children.

John Wilkinson, 45, was at his chiropractor across the street when he saw a single police car crest the hill near the school. Within seconds, five other police cars had arrived. Within five minutes, there were at least 50 police cars at the scene, he said, as officers entered the building.

“They were showing unbelievable courage,” Wilkinson said.

An officer then entered the building Wilkinson was visiting and told those inside to lock the doors, he said.

After 20 minutes, he said, the first of six ambulances left the scene under police escort. About 20 to 30 minutes after that, he said, other ambulances left, unaccompanied.

Dozens of public school buses eventually ferried children to a reunification point at nearby Woodmont Baptist Church, where parents waited and others went to check on friends who worked at the school. Many of the children inside were crying.

James Jardin, a campus minister at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, was in a meeting when he heard about the shooting at Covenant, where his friend is a minister who teaches music. He left his meeting and drove to Nashville.

Jardin said his friend assured him he was all right — he texted, “I’m OK, please pray for me” — at about 10:30 a.m. local time. Jardin tried to enter the reunification center but was turned away. “There is nothing I can do,” the minister said.

Gillian Stewart said that her friend has a kindergartner who attends Covenant and that the friend described to her the chaos of parents trying to pick up their children. “It was a mad rush to pick up their kids. Cars were abandoned everywhere,” Stewart said.

She was still looking for her friend. “I haven’t seen her yet,” Stewart, outside the reunification center, said through tears.

The Nashville attack drew anguished responses from across the nation, including in Washington, where President Biden called Monday’s shooting “a family’s worst nightmare” and repeated his call for Congress to pass gun-control legislation that includes a ban on assault rifles. He ordered all American flags displayed at government buildings to be flown at half-staff.

“We have to do more to stop gun violence — it’s ripping our communities apart, ripping the soul of this nation,” Biden said during a White House event on women in business. “We have to do more to protect our schools, so they aren’t turned into prisons.”

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), of nearby Brentwood, said in a Twitter message that she was “heartbroken” about the killings.

“Please join us in prayer for those affected,” Blackburn wrote. Her message drew the ire of gun-control activists and musicians with Nashville ties, including singer Sheryl Crow, who responded to Blackburn’s tweet.

“If you are ready to assist, please pass sensible gun laws so that the children of Tennessee and America at large might attend school without risk of being gunned down,” Crow wrote.

Fire these assholes

Because Of Course

How do you launder 12 million dollars?

How do you pay off a crooked politician without making it obvious that you're paying off a crooked politician?

American politics has come to look like an open sewer - at least on the Republican side.

I'm not saying there are no Democrats making bank on selling their influence - Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema being the most noticeable examples - it's just that Republicans are making far less effort to cover their shit.

So now it's up to Kevin McCarthy to figure out how to spank the more obvious offenders like Santos - making it seem as though McCarthy is "taking a firm hand" - without losing the support of the plutocrat assholes who put guys like Santos in office in the first place.

But of course, McCarthy will be weighing his options even then. Does he get more out of it by smacking Santos, or by using the threat of smacking Santos to rein him in, which sets the example of a "strong Speaker" who'll allow the shenanigans as long as he gets his cut?

Sold: Yacht With a Waterfall. Price: $19 Million. Broker: George Santos.

Just before his House election, Mr. Santos helped two of his largest donors reach a private deal on a $19 million boat, mixing his political and personal interests.

Representative George Santos brokered the sale of a yacht that sleeps 12 guests and seven crew, and boasts an infinity pool, a waterfall and an outdoor shower.

A $19 million luxury yacht deal brokered by Representative George Santos between two of his wealthy donors has captured the attention of federal and state authorities investigating the congressman’s campaign finances and personal business dealings.

The sale, which has not been previously reported, is one of about a dozen leads being pursued by the F.B.I., the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn and the Nassau County district attorney’s office, people familiar with the investigation said.

Prosecutors and F.B.I. agents have sought in recent weeks to question the new owner of the 141-foot superyacht — Raymond Tantillo, a Long Island auto dealer — about the boat and his dealings with Mr. Santos, including his campaign fund-raising efforts.

Mr. Tantillo bought the boat from Mayra Ruiz, a Republican donor in Miami. Mr. Santos negotiated the payment — $12.25 million up front, with $6.5 million more in installments — and advised the two on the logistics of turning over the yacht, according to a person familiar with the sale, which took place a few weeks before his election in November.

It is not clear what laws, if any, may have been broken in the transaction. Several election law experts said that if the sale was designed to inject money into Mr. Santos’s campaign, it may be in violation of federal law governing caps on campaign contributions. It could also be illegal if Mr. Santos tied any commission he received on the sale to previous or future donations.

But even if Mr. Santos broke no laws, the deal serves as further evidence of an emerging narrative given by people in his political orbit — that Mr. Santos seemed to use his campaign not only to win elected office but also as a networking exercise to ingratiate himself with rich donors and enrich himself from those contacts.

Mr. Santos has denied wrongdoing. Joe Murray, a lawyer representing Mr. Santos in potential criminal matters, declined to comment, as did spokesmen from the F.BI., the United States attorney’s office in Brooklyn, and the Nassau County district attorney, who is working with federal authorities on the investigation.

More on George Santos

• House Committees: Representative George Santos said that he would temporarily recuse himself from sitting on congressional committees as he faces multiple investigations over his lies.
• Signaling a Re-election Bid: Mr. Santos filed paperwork indicating his intent to seek re-election in 2024. The move does not guarantee that Mr. Santos will run for office, but it allows him to continue fund-raising and spend campaign funds.
• A.T.M. Fraud Scheme: Mr. Santos's former roommate, who pleaded guilty to a federal fraud charge in 2017 and was deported to Brazil, sent an affidavit to federal authorities accusing the representative of running a card-skimming operation.
• His First Bill: Mr. Santos wants to raise the cap on the so-called SALT deduction — a move that would partly undo President Donald J. Trump’s tax plan that limited how much homeowners could deduct in state and local property taxes.
• Mr. Santos’s campaign finances and personal business dealings have been under scrutiny following revelations by The New York Times in December that Mr. Santos had fabricated or embellished most of his résumé. The Times has since reported on curious omissions in his campaign filings, an unregistered fund connected to him, and other irregularities in his finances.

A central mystery is Mr. Santos’s sudden, unexplained jump in income, and where he got the money to loan himself roughly $700,000 over the course of his 2022 campaign.

During his first bid for Congress in 2020, he reported an income of $55,000; two years later, he reported a $750,000 salary and over $1 million in dividends from his company, the Florida-based Devolder Organization, which Mr. Santos described as a “capital introduction” business.

Mr. Santos, a Republican, has said publicly that his company brokered deals between high net-worth clients. In an interview with Semafor in December, he sought to explain his work by saying that if a client wanted to sell a plane or a boat, he would “put that feeler out there” among his contacts, adding that he had landed a couple of million-dollar contracts.

“If you’re looking at a $20 million yacht,” he told Semafor, “my referral fee there can be anywhere between $200,000 and $400,000.”

As it turns out, there was, in fact, a yacht worth nearly $20 million.

In 2019, records show, John H. Ruiz, a Miami lawyer and businessman, bought a superyacht made by the Italian yacht builder Mangusta. The yacht, which was listed at the time for 18 million euros, or $20 million, sleeps 12 guests and seven crew, and featured an infinity pool, a waterfall and an outdoor shower. It was called “Namaste,” a greeting in Hindi.

Mr. Ruiz, a Coral Gables lawyer who specializes in health care and malpractice claims, gained notoriety last year when he took his data analytics company public in a reverse merger with a special purpose acquisition company. The company, MSP Recovery, briefly had a record-setting valuation of nearly $33 billion, making Mr. Ruiz a billionaire many times over.

But the stock promptly plummeted to a dollar a share and, in June 2022, he and the firm’s co-founder lent the company $113 million to plug a cash shortfall.

Mr. Ruiz did not donate to Mr. Santos’s campaign, but his wife, Mayra, was a particularly generous supporter. Campaign finance records show that on March 31, 2022, Mayra Ruiz gave $10,800 to Mr. Santos’s joint fund-raising committee. Later, she was among the first to give Mr. Santos money after he won the election.

Mr. Santos has failed to disclose any of his Devolder clients. But in December, the Tantillo Auto Group — Mr. Tantillo’s network of car dealerships on Long Island — and two organizations tied to Mr. Ruiz’s family were identified by The Daily Beast as Devolder clients. The Daily Beast quoted Mayra Ruiz saying the family had hired Devolder in early 2022, but did not provide more detail.

Ms. Ruiz did not respond to requests for comment. Christine Lugo, a lawyer for Mr. Ruiz, said her client was “not interested in making any statement other than the fact that he has already publicly disclosed that he does not know who George Santos is and has never contributed to his campaigns and has never done any business with him.”

Mr. Santos, by many accounts, mingled campaign fund-raising with personal business opportunities. Several donors have described encounters with Mr. Santos at fund-raisers in which he would describe deals he could broker with other donors in industries including insurance and pharmaceuticals, or he would tell them about donors who were seeking to sell businesses or luxury items.

Mr. Santos would offer to bring people together, with the implicit understanding that he would take a cut, they said. The pitches were often paired with requests for donations. None of the other potential arrangements described to The Times appear to have resulted in deals.

Among the donors he courted, Mr. Santos seems to have grown close to Mr. Tantillo, according to people familiar with their relationship.

Mr. Tantillo gave more than $17,000 to Mr. Santos’s campaign and affiliated committees; his estranged wife is recorded as giving at least $5,000 more, as is another ex-wife. (Contribution limits in New York congressional races in 2022 were slightly altered after a state court ruling scuttled an electoral map and forced an August primary; the Federal Election Commission held that candidates could raise additional funds.)

In August, Mr. Santos approached Mr. Tantillo with an offer to sell him the yacht. The agreement was hammered out in late September in Coral Gables, and Mr. Santos suggested moving the boat into a free-trade zone at the port, the person said.

It is common for boat sales to take place in a free-trade zone before going overseas — often, the Bahamas — and returning with a new owner, according to another person familiar with the sale and with the Miami port system.

As negotiations progressed, Mr. Santos pressed Mr. Tantillo for additional donations and financial help for his campaign and for other Republicans as Election Day drew near, the person said. Mr. Tantillo did not provide additional funds.

“I have every reason to believe that Mr. Tantillo will not be charged for anything, including the purchase of a boat or campaign contributions,” said Robert Curtis Gottlieb, a lawyer for Mr. Tantillo.

At least one other large donor was asked for a major contribution weeks before the election, The Times has reported.

After weeks of negotiations, Mr. Tantillo agreed in September 2022 to buy the yacht, according to a person familiar with the sale. The deal was brokered by Mr. Santos with Ms. Ruiz, according to emails described to The Times.

On Nov. 3, 2022, “Namaste” left for the Bahamas from its berth in West Palm Beach, Fla. Fifteen days later, port records show, the boat returned to Florida under a new flag — the Cayman Islands — a different name and a new owner.

Mr. Tantillo rechristened the boat “Neverland.”

A Thought

It should be interesting. If Republicans of the House Loudmouth Caucus get their way, and they investigate the money "going to Ukraine", and follow every dollar like a hound from hell (their words), what happens when they've (oops) made it plain for all to see that the money is staying right here in USAmerica Inc, and that a bunch of it is going into the pockets of some of the GOP's biggest dark money donors?

GOP Newspeak

It should not surprise me anymore, but somehow I'm still jolted when I hear just how craven some of these GOP assholes are.

"It will be my objective to phase out Social Security - to pull it out by the roots and get rid of it." --Sen Mike Lee (R-UT) February 2010

Let's be really clear on this - Republicans are still fully intent on killing Social Security, but Mike Lee and practically all his comrades are now backpedaling furiously because they know they'll be savaged if they don't dress up their plan in language that's a little softer, and more likely to lull the unsuspecting into a false sense of security.

They will never stop trying to fuck us out of what we've all spent a lifetime earning. And they will never tell us the truth about what they're trying to do. Ever.

When they say "reform", they mean "privatize".

And when they say "privatize", they mean, "We have to placate our dark-money sponsors by perpetuating Wall Street Welfare forever."

Fuck these guys.

Today's Gun Nut

Andrew Clyde owns a gun store in Georgia that sells a shitload of AR15s, body armor and ammo.

Seems like when he hands out lapel pins shaped like assault weapons, it's not just another opportunity for Republicans to spit in our face (this is Nat'l Gun Violence Survivors Week for fuck's sake) but also a pretty blatant abuse of his office in order to further his own commercial interests.

THERE IS NO HONOR

IN THE GOP

GOP Rep. Responsible for AR-15 Pins Permeating Capitol Reveals Himself

Georgia congressman Andrew Clyde made no apologies for the obvious troll—and said he even had more to share.

The man responsible for handing out pins in the shape of assault weapons that have been adopted by right-wing Republicans in Congress has revealed himself—as clashes between the political parties grow over the controversial accessory.

Earlier this week, the pins appeared on the lapels of Rep. George Santos (R-NY) and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) in committee meetings and on the House floor.

Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA), who has worn the pin for years, was also seen parading it on Wednesday as he delivered remarks critical of gun restrictions.

The pins did not go unnoticed, with Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) tweeting out photos asking: “Where are these assault weapon pins coming from?”

It now appears we have an answer.

Turns out Clyde, who Business Insider revealed last year owns Georgia's No. 4-ranked firearms store, is responsible for dishing out the pins. He even says he has “plenty more to give out.”

“I’m Congressman Andrew Clyde for Georgia’s 9th District,” Rep. Clyde says in a video posted to Twitter on Thursday night claiming credit for the stunt.

“I hear that this little pin I’ve been giving out on the House floor has been triggering some of my Democrat colleagues,” he continues, no doubt referencing Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), who described them as “despicable and an insult to all of the victims of assault weapons,” and Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI), who asked simply, “What is wrong with you?”

Clyde then explains his decision to hand out the pins and urges those who want one to visit his office.

“I give it out to remind people of the Second Amendment of the Constitution and how important it is in preserving our liberties.

“If I missed you on the House floor, please stop by my office in Cannon, I have plenty more to give out.”

The news was greeted by Rep. Barry Moore (R-AL), who tweeted in reply: “Save a pin for me!”

It came on the same day Rep. Clyde said he filed a measure to overturn two bills passed by the D.C. Council: one that would allow non-citizens the right to vote in local elections and another that would update the city’s outdated criminal code.

It is also National Gun Violence Survivors’ Week.

 (from May, 2022)

A Republican member of Congress owns a gun store and makes millions selling military-style rifles, body armor, ammunition, and other weapon accessories

Members of Congress come from all sorts of backgrounds, but most don't own a gun store.
Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia's 9th Congressional District is the owner of Clyde Armory in Athens.

According to Clyde's financial disclosure, the store is worth up to $25 million.
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Support for Second Amendment rights and firearm ownership are conservative staples in Congress.

But as lawmakers again debate firearm restrictions in the aftermath of an elementary school massacre in Uvalde, Texas, a member Congress actually owns a gun store: Republican Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia's 9th Congressional District.

When not working in Washington, DC, Clyde leads the No. 4-ranked firearm store in Athens, Georgia, according to Yelp: Clyde Armory.

According to Clyde's 2021 federal financial disclosure, the congressman's stake in the store is worth anywhere between $5 million and $25 million, and it earned him between $1 million and $5 million in income in 2020 alone.

In addition to being a retail gun store, the armory also acts as "law enforcement supply," per the disclosure.

The store's website shows it sells a multitude of firearms and accessories, including military-style semiautomatic rifles, weapon silencers, and ballistic helmets.

Among the items for sale at Clyde Armory: a Colt-manufactured AR-15 rifle for $1,349.95 and a .50 caliber semi-automatic rifle for $11,384.95.

Clyde is supported by the National Rifle Association — the organization's political action committee donated $1,000 to Clyde's campaign in 2020, according to nonpartisan research group OpenSecrets.

Representatives from Clyde's office did not respond to Insider's questions and request for comment.

But according to Clyde's campaign website, he's got big plans for firearm rights in Congress. He wants to:

• Repeal several taxes on firearms and ammunition
• Deregulate weapon silencers, short-barreled rifles, and short-barreled shotguns
• Eliminate the Brady background check system

In December 2020, Clyde told Fox News that the nation's current gun background check system is flawed and "puts the federal government between the Constitution and the individual in a way that denies the person their individual constitutional right. That's not right."

The congressman also spoke out in March against firearm records kept by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.

"As a steadfast supporter of the Second Amendment and a Federal Firearms Licensee by trade, I find the ATF's egregious abuse of power deeply unsettling and in need of swift action from Congress in order to protect law-abiding gun owners' privacy and Second Amendment rights," Clyde said alongside members of the House Second Amendment Caucus.

Clyde, a freshman representative, may be best known for equating the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol to "a normal tourist visit."

He sits on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform and the Homeland Security Committee. He's also a member of the House Freedom Caucus.

Clyde coasted to victory in his Republican primary Tuesday night, easily defeating his GOP challengers.

Being in a "Safe R" district, he's likely to win re-election in November, according to Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

Ruh-Oh, Reorge

Russian Oligarch’s Cousin Funneled Cash to N.Y. Politician

Andrew Intrater, money manager to Russian Viktor Vekselberg, gave $56,100 to committees tied to Rep.-elect George Devolder-Santos, who called Ukraine “totalitarian.”

The cousin and cash handler for one of Russia’s most notorious oligarchs poured tens of thousands of dollars into electing a newly minted congressman-elect who called Ukraine’s government “a totalitarian regime.”

Republican George Devolder-Santos vanquished Democrat Robert Zimmerman this month in the race for a House seat covering parts of Long Island and the New York City borough of Queens—riding a red wave that swept the Empire State this cycle, and washing away two decades of Democratic dominance in the district.

Devolder-Santos had long courted conservative media attention by presenting himself as a “walking, living, breathing contradiction”—a gay Latino millennial born in New York City, who is also a fervent devotee of ex-President Donald Trump.

For much of his professional career, which included a stint as regional director at an alleged Ponzi scheme, the Republican used the name George Devolder. However, as he ventured further into the world of politics, he began to increasingly use the name George Devolder-Santos or simply George Santos.

He stood out to the Washington Post earlier this year for his remarks in the aftermath of Russia’s bloody, unprovoked assault on Ukraine.

“It’s not like Ukraine is a great democracy. It’s a totalitarian regime. They’re not a great bastion of freedom,” the congressman-to-be told the paper.

He has insisted that Ukraine “welcomed the Russians into their provinces”—an apparent reference to President Vladimir Putin’s 2014 invasion to prop up rogue separatist parties—and that Ukrainians in the east “feel more Russian than Ukrainian,” even though every single Ukrainian province overwhelmingly voted for independence in 1991.

It was not the first time Devolder-Santos had parroted Kremlin talking points. In the weeks before Putin’s brutal, blundering attack upon his western neighbor, the candidate repeatedly took to Twitter to accuse President Joe Biden of plotting to “start a war” with Russia and deploy American troops to Ukraine.

But unreported until now is that by the time Devolder-Santos made these statements, his congressional ambitions had already received a $32,800 boost from a controversial figure linked to the uppermost echelons of the Russian regime—and that support would more than double in size during the months ahead.

The cash came from Andrew Intrater and his wife, who variously listed her occupation as “homemaker” and “analyst” for Falcon AI, one of her husband’s subsidiary firms.

Intrater’s main venture is today called Sparrow Capital, but it previously used the name Columbus Nova—and its primary function has long been to manage the investments of Intrater’s cousin, Viktor Vekselberg, one of Putin’s wealthiest and most influential courtiers.

So tightly intertwined is Intrater’s business with that of his relative, who snatched up swaths of Russia’s aluminum and fuel industries during the post-Soviet period, that Columbus Nova described itself in 2007 Securities and Exchange Commission filings as “the U.S.-based affiliate” of Vekselberg’s Renova Group. In fact, SEC records show that “Columbus Nova” was merely a trade name, and the company was in fact incorporated as Renova U.S. Management LLC until it rechristened itself Sparrow Capital in 2018.

The rebrand came just months after the Department of the Treasury froze almost all of the company’s assets for its tight ties to the heavily sanctioned Vekselberg. The following year, Intrater became a national figure when it surfaced that his firm had paid half a million dollars to longtime Trump fixer Michael Cohen, and the pair had exchanged hundreds of phone calls and text messages during the 2016 campaign.

Intrater sued the federal government in hopes of regaining access to his fortune, but a judge slapped the effort down in 2020. However, the businessman persisted and ultimately reached what court records refer to as an “administrative agreement” regarding at least part of the corporate accounts in late 2021. However, the case file does not include this document, and Intrater’s team did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Intrater’s support for Devolder-Santos dates to the GOP pol’s first failed bid for Congress in 2020, which got a $11,600 cash infusion from the financier and his bride, reflecting the maximum contribution amount then allowed.

But after that initial defeat federal donation limits would prove a small obstacle. Starting in March 2021, Intrater and his wife began pouring tens of thousands of dollars into auxiliary committees backing Devolder-Santos: $20,000 directly to GADS PAC, a leadership political action committee bearing the candidate’s initials, plus $12,100 to Devolder Santos Nassau Victory, a joint fundraising committee formed with the Nassau County Republican Party. Devolder Santos Nassau Victory had to drop $10,000 of that gift into the Nassau GOP’s federal account—but that account made just two federal expenditures this cycle, the larger of them by far being the purchase of lawn signs supporting Devolder-Santos.

All this came on top of $12,400 Intrater and Pentinen gave the Devolder-Santos for Congress committee.

The individual who answered a phone associated with Devolder-Santos identified himself to The Daily Beast as his campaign coordinator, but declined to share his name. He would not speak directly about the Intrater gifts, but insisted that the national Republican Party had set the candidate up with most of his large contributors.

But Devolder-Santos was far and away the largest beneficiary of Intrater’s largesse this year. Further, Devolder-Santos’s committees are the only ones that received gifts from Intrater’s wife this cycle.

The campaign coordinator directed The Daily Beast to forward all questions to a press email, but messages sent to the address provided received no reply.

Shortly after the Russian onslaught against Ukraine began, and public opinion swung toward Kyiv, Devolder-Santos appeared to soften his stance on the country. In a Fox News interview, he highlighted that his grandfather was born in the Ukrainian capital, and on Twitter he has urged prayers for the country.

However, he seems to have avoided the topic since late February, and it is unclear at this point whether he will join the anti-Ukraine faction within the narrow GOP majority in seeking to sever aid to the embattled nation.