.png)
''' FACEBOOK -FOUL- FAMEBOOK '''
*THE PATH AND BRIDGES TO SILICON VALLEY* : And we find that Mr. Yuri Milner, 55, studied theoretical Physics at Moscow State University-
Before moving to the United States, where he attended the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in the early 1990s and then worked for the World Bank in Washington.
He returned to Russia and worked as an executive at Bank Menatep, which was founded by Mikhail B. Khodorkovosky, the oil tycoon who was stripped of his company, prosecuted and imprisoned after a televised confrontation with President Vladmir V. Putin.
Mr. Milner, whose holdings have included major stakes in Facebook and Twitter, is known for expounding on everything from the future of social media to the frontiers of space travel.
BUT when someone asked a question that had swirled around the his ascent in Silicon Valley -Who were his investors? -he did not answer, turning repeatedly to the moderator with a look of incomprehension.
NOW, leaked documents examined by the The New York Times offer a partial answer :
Behind Mr. Milner's investments in Facebook and Twitter were hundreds of millions of dollars from the Kremlin.
Obscured by a maze of offshore shell companies, the Twitter investment was backed by VTB, a Russian state controlled bank often used for politically strategic deals.
And a big investor in Mr. Milner's Facebook deal received financing from Gazprom Investholding, another government-controlled financial institution according to the documents.
They include a cache of records from the Bermuda law firm Appleby that were obtained by the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung and reviewed by the Times in collaboration with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
Ultimately, Mr. Milner's companies came to own more than 8 per cent of Facebook and 5 percent of Twitter, helping earn him a place on various lists of the world's most powerful businesspeople.
His companies sold those holdings several years ago, but he retains investments in several other technology companies and continues to make deals.
Among Mr. Milner's current investments is real estate venture founded and partly owned by Jared Kushnner, President Trump's son-in-law and White House Adviser.
Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites have become a major focus of federal investigations into Kremlin interference in the 2016 election in the united States.
Federal prosecutors and congressional investigators are examining how Russian linked to the Kremlin turned the sites into garden hoses of bogus news stories and divisive political ads, and whether they coordinated with the Trump campaign.
No one has suggested that Mr. Milner or his companies had any connection to the propaganda operation, Mr. Milner said in a pair of recent interviews that the-
Russian government money was no different from financing he had received from the many other investors around the world.
Even so, his use of the state-directed apparatus employed by so many Russian oligarchs to enrich themselves shows how the Kremlin has extended its long financial arm not only to his company but to some of America's technology giants.
''Kremlin connected institutions make investments with strategic interests in mind -not just commercial interests but state interests as well,'' said Michael Carpenter, the Russian director at the National Security Council during the Obama administration-
Who is now senior director at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement ''They go hand in hand.''
THERE is nothing illegal about foreign state-owned institutions investing in American companies. VTB and Gazprom said the transactions were both sound investments, not motivated for political considerations.
As Mr. Milner sses it, the story is similarly simple -''nothing more than business,'' he said, adding :
''We are getting money and we are putting them in Facebook and Twitter. We are making money for our limited partners, and we are giving money back to them. For me it's a commercial arrangement.''
The Honor and Serving of the latest ''Operational Research'' on Social Media Platforms and Fundings : *Millions in Facebook shares rooted in Russian cash*, continues. The World Students Society thanks researcher and author Jesse Drucker.
With respectful dedication to the Leaders, Students, Professors and Teachers of the world. See Ya all register on !WOW! -the World Students Society and Twitter- !E-WOW! -the Ecosystem 2011:
''' Lucrative Synergies '''
Good Night and God Bless
SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Grace A Comment!