Britney Spears, American Oligarchs and Mueller’s Russia Investigation
The ties between Putin’s slush fund and Britney’s Las Vegas Show
After 13 years, Britney Spears’ conservatorship ended on November 12, 2021. Since February 2008, every aspect of Britney’s life was controlled by her father Jamie Spears who was the conservator of her person and estate. The secrecy surrounding the conservatorship was akin to a clandestine intelligence operation.
Many were left wondering:
How could this audacious case of human trafficking of an American citizen happen to one of the most famous people in the world?
The Answer: Money. Lots and lots of dirty money.
In this article, I will demonstrate how a constellation of forces worked together to institute and maintain the conservatorship: government corruption, the Great Recession, American oligarchs, a family from Louisiana and direct ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. There is a reason that Britney’s team hired two professionals who worked on Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Much of the Mueller Report is still classified, yet the Russian Direct Investment Fund played a featured role within the Mueller investigation. There is a direct relationship between the private equity investors of Caesars Entertainment, the site of Britney Spears’ Las Vegas residency, and the Russian Direct Investment Fund. While the operations of private equity firms are opaque, we can learn a lot from public transactions and long standing personal relationships. Let’s begin.
Background on Britney’s case and the #FreeBritney Movement
The #FreeBritney movement was formed as a grassroots campaign to bring attention to Britney’s abusive conservatorship. Britney was completely unable to speak publicly, associate freely with people of her choosing or make her own healthcare decisions. In April 2019, fans began sounding the alarm when it was announced that Britney had “voluntarily” entered a mental health facility.
Social media accounts began to proliferate that were specifically focused on galvanizing support for Britney’s cause. For example, after the social media account @FreeBritneyNYC was founded other accounts soon followed that represented locations around the world, including FreeBritNorway, FreeBritneyOH, Free Britney America.
In Britney’s June 2021 testimony to Judge Brenda Penny in the Los Angeles Probate Court Britney confirmed that she had been held against her will at a mental health facility called Bridges. In Britney’s testimony, she stated that she had given the exact same testimony to Judge Penny two years prior in 2019. Judge Penny was appointed to the bench by then Governor Jerry Brown in 2018, although Penny had already been overseeing Britney’s case for some time without being a judge. In August 2008, Jerry Brown was Attorney General of California and his office had declined to investigate the legality of Britney Spears’ conservatorship.
Since the beginning of the #FreeBritney movement many fans have noted that there are potential infiltrators into the movement that are purposely spreading disinformation. Some #FreeBritney advocates actively welcomed QAnon supporters into the #FreeBritney movement, which lead to social media being flooded with inflammatory rhetoric and preposterous conspiracy theories.
As an illustration, the infamous QAnon supporter Liz Crokin released her own documentary entitled Slave Princess and she was supported by prominent #FreeBritney accounts. It is well established that QAnon is supported and amplified by the Russian government.
The legitimate #FreeBritney advocates are not mere sycophantic fans, but come from a wide variety of professional backgrounds and some have been extensively involved in the disability justice movement. Given the known facts around Britney’s case, it appears highly probable that there may be a concerted effort by hostile actors to actively spread disinformation and/or discredit the #FreeBritney movement. It has already been revealed that #FreeBritney advocates were spied on by Black Box Security who was involved in Britney’s conservatorship.
Jamie Spears hired Black Box Security shortly after the conservatorship was instituted. Black Box was founded by Edan Yemini who is former member of the Israeli special forces. The services provided by Black Box are eerily reminiscent of Black Cube, who the convicted felon Harvey Weinstein used to harass his victims and spy on journalists.
Casual observers of Britney’s case may not understand the minute control that her team had over her life, such as not allowing her access to her money and monitoring all of her communications. The whistleblower Alex Vlasov, a former employee of Black Box, first came forward with these allegations and provided hundreds of hours of surveillance materials to the New York Times. The surveillance of Britney was the focus of Liz Day and Samantha Stark’s documentary Controlling Britney Spears. After the conservatorship was terminated Britney’s team hired military security specialists to sweep Britney’s home for surveillance equipment.
Indicators of a relationship between Britney’s case and the Mueller Investigation
Once the Britney’s conservatorship was terminated an investigation began to determine if there was any wrongdoing in the administration of the conservatorship. In a July 10th, 2022 court filing, Britney’s attorney Mathew Rosengart referred to Jamie Spears obstruction to being deposed and turning over documents as follows:
“Mr. Spears continues to repeat the “Big Lie” that Ms. Spears is litigating claims against him.”
President Donald Trump’s false claim that the 2020 election was stolen has been referred to as the “Big Lie”. Rosengart’s use of the phrase the “Big Lie” is not a smoking gun of any Russian influence in Britney’s conservatorship. In fact, it is the personnel that Britney’s legal team hired that potentially indicate a connection to Mueller’s Investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
Around the time Britney’s conservatorship ended in November 2021, Kyle R. Freeny was added to Britney’s team and they also work for the law firm Greenberg Traurig along with Mathew Rosengart. Freeny’s background includes working on Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
“As Assistant Special Counsel, Kyle played a lead role in federal tax and bank fraud investigations, as well as a money laundering investigation into the funding of Russian intelligence cyber intrusions during the 2016 Presidential election using cryptocurrency.”
— Kyle R. Freeny’s professional bio
Subsequently, Britney’s team also hired Sherine Ebadi who worked on the Mueller investigation as the lead agent on the investigation and prosecution of Paul Manafort, as well as the lead agent on the resulting guilty plea of Rick Gates.
“Ebadi served as a special agent for the FBI. Over a distinguished ten-year career, she led numerous high-profile investigations involving embezzlement, public corruption, international bank fraud, money laundering, securities fraud, organized crime and identity theft.”
Manafort and Gates had worked for Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and spent many years working for the former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. Yanukovych was forced out of power in 2014 and now resides in Russia. Gates was Manafort’s assistant and was a cooperating witness for the Mueller investigation. Manafort pleaded guilty to many felonies in 2018, which were largely related to his work in the Ukraine. These crimes included money laundering, tax fraud, illegal foreign lobbying, and lying to investigators. In 2019, he was sentenced in Virginia to an additional 47 months in prison for even more financial fraud crimes.
Note: Recently Britney’s ex-husband Kevin Federline has completed a tell all interview with Daphne Barak. Kevin Federline has been completely silent about Britney’s circumstances for over a decade. I believe it is not coincidental that Daphne Barak co-wrote a book with Rick Gates on his plea deal with Robert Mueller.
Ebadi has confirmed that Britney was being surveilled by her father and that evidence gathered from her investigation may have criminal implications for Jamie Spears. Judge Penny has recently ruled that Ebadi will not have to sit for a deposition by Jamie Spears’ legal team. At this time, Ebadi works for Kroll as the associate managing director in the Business Intelligence and Investigations. Kroll describes its work as follows:
“Kroll delivers the coverage global organizations need to anticipate and exceed the complex demands surrounding risk, governance, operations and growth.”
Kroll oversaw the Caesars bankruptcy case that began in 2015, which found significant financial malfeasance during the bankruptcy court process. At that time, Caesars owned Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, which was the site of Britney’s Piece of Me residency. Caesars emerged from bankruptcy in 2017. Kroll’s involvement and expertise will become a highly relevant fact as you continue to read this article. This is particularly true given the voluminous data produced during that bankruptcy court process, including almost 10,000 documents.
Business relationships of Britney’s team prior to the conservatorship
The Maloofs are a very wealthy family that inherited a Coors Beer distribution empire from their late father George Maloof Sr. The Maloof patriarch had 5 children including George Maloof Jr. and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Adrienne Maloof. In the 2000s, the Maloofs owned the NBA’s Sacramento Kings, the WNBA’s Monarchs, Arco Arena and the Palms Casino in Las Vegas.
Jamie Spears met the Maloofs via Britney’s manager — Larry Rudolph — around the time the Palms Casino opened in 2001. The Palms Casino was a beacon of the celebrity glitterati of the 2000s. The Palms is renowned for bringing back Hugh Hefner’s fabled Playboy Club. Although often a forgotten celebrity hot spot, the Palms was featured in many reality shows like the Real World Las Vegas, The Girls Next Doors, and in the first season of Keeping Up with the Kardashians.
Prior to the conservatorship, George Maloof stated multiple times that he wanted Britney to do a Las Vegas residency.
Jamie Spears had numerous business relationships with the Maloofs between 2006–2009. At some point, Jamie Spears was Adrienne Maloof’s personal chef.
Interviewer: How did you even meet [the Maloofs]?
Jamie Spears: My daughter’s manager, Larry Rudolph. I’ve been knowing them ever since the Palms started. … Larry and George (Maloof) were good friends. I had come to California. I was thinking about trying to go to a chef’s school or something. Larry told me, “Let me talk to George.” So I loaded up my truck. I took all my stuff down to Phil’s condo on Wilshire Boulevard, and I went and cooked for him: fried chicken, mashed potatoes, Southern stuff.
Even after the conservatorship, Jamie Spears stayed close to the Maloof family. This is evidenced by Jamie permitting Britney to hang out with George Maloof immediately after the conservatorship began, his work on the Maloof Money Cup and Adrienne Maloof’s own statements. After Britney was spotted with George Maloof in May 2008 there were rumors Britney was planning a Las Vegas comeback.
Larry Rudolph, Britney’s manager, also had extensive business dealings with the Maloofs like Sunset Tan; a reality show and tanning salon franchise. George Maloof assisted Britney in getting her marriage to Jason Alexander annulled in January 2004. Once Britney married Kevin Federline in October 2004, Larry Rudolph went to work for the Maloofs.
The Maloofs were hit hard by the financial crisis and were forced to sell all but 2% of their ownership the Palms Casino in 2011. TPG Capital and Leonard Green & Partners each purchased 48% of the Palms Casino. A few months before the Maloofs sold the Palms Casino, Britney did a surprise show at the Palms’ Rain nightclub, which was part of the promotion around her new album Femme Fatale.
The idea of Spears’ previewing her “Femme Fatale” album at the Palms’ Rain nightclub started with her manager, Larry Rudolph, Maloof said.
It all came together because of a longstanding relationship among Maloof, Rudolph, Spears and MTV.
— Las Vegas Review-Journal, March 31, 2011
In 2011, the Maloofs were also facing pressure from the California state legislature to pay off a $73 million loan they owed to the city of Sacramento if they wanted to relocate the Kings to another city.
I have long theorized that Jamie Spears originally connected with Lou Taylor via Ron Artest (AKA Metta World Peace, Metta Sandiford Artest). Artest signed with Lou Taylor in 2005 after a high profile scandal called Malice at the Palace. Artest began playing for the Maloofs’ Sacramento Kings during the 2005 season. I have created a detailed and extensive timeline of these events here.
In 2008, Lou Taylor became the public spokesperson for the Spears family. At that time, Lou Taylor was based in Nashville and subsequently opened another Tri Star Sports and Entertainment’s office in Los Angeles in 2008. Lou Taylor had been relatively unknown in Hollywood. Yet, Lou Taylor was more prominent within powerful Evangelical circles, including running the Caleb Group with Billy Graham’s grandson Stephan Tchividjian.
The opacity of private equity firms and the flooding of dirty money into our financial system after the global financial crisis
Private equity firms are very large investment groups and their business dealings are very opaque.
ProPublica and many others have shown, the ways in which private equity goes about this restructuring can raise a number of concerns, over such things as layoffs and furloughs for employees and degraded services for customers. Critics also worry that private equity firms weigh down acquired companies with substantial debt from the money borrowed to finance the purchase.
It is beyond the scope of this article to describe how our financial system has been deeply corrupted by dirty money. So here are some sources:
Drugs money worth billions of dollars kept the financial system afloat at the height of the global crisis, the United Nations’ drugs and crime tsar has told the Observer.
— The Guardian, December, 12, 2009
A huge trove of secret government documents reveals for the first time how the giants of Western banking move trillions of dollars in suspicious transactions, enriching themselves and their shareholders while facilitating the work of terrorists, kleptocrats, and drug kingpins.
And the US government, despite its vast powers, fails to stop it.
— Buzzfeed News, September 20, 2020
Since the financial crisis, dozens of crackdowns have targeted money launderers who effectively rely on banks, shell companies, and other mechanisms to cover their tracks. Fines have surged into the billions of dollars, but it’s unclear whether the enforcement efforts — some of the more notable ones are described here — have made much of a dent. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, shady transactions continue to reach as much as $2 trillion a year.
TPG Capital & Apollo Global Management buy Harrah’s Entertainment (later Caesars Entertainment)
Prior to the 2008 global financial crisis, TPG Capital and Apollo Global Management agreed to purchase Harrah’s Entertainment via a leveraged buyout in December 2006. This lead to Caesars becoming a private company.
Harrah’s was the largest casino operator in the world and owned 39 casinos. The acquisition of Harrah’s was completed in January 2008 for $27.8 billion, which including a significant amount of debt. Harrah’s was a public company prior to being acquired by TPG and Apollo. TPG and Apollo’s large scale investors included private and public pension funds, endowments and institutions.
When Apollo and TPG bought Caesars the money they used to buy Caesars became the debt of Caesars. The debtors ultimately included Blackstone, Oakhill, Appaloosa and others.
In November 2009, Harrah’s announces it is currently planning to acquire Planet Hollywood. The Aladdin in Las Vegas became Planet Hollywood in 2007. The Aladdin, Caesar’s Palace and other casinos on the Las Vegas strip were originally financed by the Teamsters pension fund.
Reports have said that TPG Capital was hit harder than other private equity firms during the global financial crisis, which began when Lehman Brothers collapsed in September 2008. Furthermore, Nevada was the hardest hit U.S. state by the global financial crisis. Las Vegas was uniquely devastated by the Great Recession. Even by June 2010, the state of Nevada was in dire circumstances. For example:
“But where the state of Nevada and the city of Las Vegas have really been hammered is in the housing industry. It is estimated that a whopping 65 percent of all homes in the state of Nevada are underwater. Let that sink in for a bit. 65 percent of all homeowners with a mortgage in the state of Nevada owe more than their homes are worth. Talk about an implosion. Nationally, the number of homes that are “underwater” is about 24 percent. That is an all-time record for the entire nation, but it doesn’t come anywhere close to the nightmare that is unfolding in Nevada and in Las Vegas.”
In November 2010, Harrah’s Entertainment was renamed Caesars Entertainment.
In 2013 and 2014, Caesars transferred ownership of many hotels to other Caesars subsidiaries, including three hotels in Las Vegas. These transactions lead to accusations of financial fraud by Caesars debt holders. during the Caesars bankruptcy that began in 2015.
“In one of the more bizarre Las Vegas stories in some time (that, again, we aren’t making up), Caesars Entertainment has announced it’s going to sell four hotels, three of which are in Las Vegas, to itself.”
In 2015, Caesars was found to be culpable for a large money laundering scheme and was fined only $8 million. This scheme involved ultra high wealth individuals and Caesars lack of oversight in their lavish private gambling rooms.
“Caesars knew its customers well enough to entice them to cross the world to gamble and to cater to their every need,” said FinCEN Director Jennifer Shasky Calvery. “But, when it came to watching out for illicit activity, it allowed a blind spot in its compliance program.”
The Caesars matter is part of a broader U.S. government crackdown on casinos over anti-money laundering weaknesses.
— Reuters September 8, 2015
The 2013 debut of Britney’s Piece of Me residency
Cleary, people on Britney’s team wanted her to be in Vegas many years prior to the debut of her Piece of Me residency in 2013. Many #FreeBritney advocates assert that Lou Taylor is the architect of Britney’s conservatorship. I allege that Irving Azoff, a U.S. based music mogul, is a key architect of Britney’s Piece of Me residency. Irving Azoff is one of the most powerful people in the music industry.
Irving Azoff became the CEO of Ticketmaster in 2008 and soon thereafter talks immediately behan on merging with Live Nation. After the 2010 merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster Azoff became the CEO of Live Nation. The merger went through despite warnings that Live Nation would essentially control almost all of the live music industry.
In December 2012, Irving stepped down as the CEO of Live Nation. Irving asserted that he stepped down as CEO because he didn’t like the constraints of working for a publicly traded company. Irving jokingly blamed President Obama for his departure.
“It’s no secret that a public company isn’t my first choice of what to do. Fortunately there’s lots of money [available] and assets to consider — not just in the music space.”
Michael Rapino became the new CEO of Live Nation in 2013 and still runs Live Nation to this day. Irving has stayed close with Rapino ever since his departure and Azoff likely still wields influence over Live Nation. Irving stepped down from running Live Nation *right* when his son and Rob Light became Britney’s new talent agents.
Jeffrey Azoff had a busy year in 2012! Jeffrey was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown to a statewide position in California. Jerry Brown has said political appointments are one of the most powerful tools a governor has to act independently from the other branches of government. Jeffrey Azoff became a talent agent at CAA in 2012. At this time, TPG Capital owned 35% of CAA which it had purchased it in 2010.
When Irving Azoff left Live Nation he had a non-compete agreement with Live Nation so he could not add any new artists to be under his management. I believe Irving Azoff used his son as a proxy to get around his non-compete with Live Nation.
After Britney signed with CAA there was immediate gossip that Britney would be doing a Vegas residency. In leaked emails, Ari Emanuel explicitly blamed Irving Azoff for Britney joining the talent agency CAA and leaving Emanuel’s talent agency William Morris Endeavor. Ari’s brother is Rahm Emanuel, who worked in the White House with President Barack Obama.
Days before the debut of Britney’s 2013 Piece of Me, Caesars and Live Nation announced a historic partnership.
2014: A big year for everyone in Britney's Piece of Me
Britney’s manager, Larry Rudolph, founded a new management company called Maverick in 2014, which is a subsidiary of Live Nation. Larry was given a whole new company under Live Nation called 724 Management, which was announced a month before Britney’s conservatorship ended on November 12, 2021.
Also in 2014, TPG Capital acquired a 53% controlling stake in CAA.
Britney’s business manager, Lou Taylor began having a reputation for revitalizing Las Vegas residencies and started winning entertainment industry awards. Many of these awards were given by publications owned by Penske Media, including the Hollywood Reporter, Variety, and Billboard.
Lou Taylor has attributed much of her success to having excellent mentors, including Michael Rapino and Irving Azoff. Lou Taylor has grown her client list to include many of the same celebrities that Irving Azoff works with, including Travis Scott, Gwen Stefani, and the Prince estate.
Lou Taylor, Live Nation and Travis Scott are currently facing a $750 million lawsuit for tragedy at the Astroworld concert, which resulted in 10 deaths and thousands of injuries.
CAESARS INVESTORS’ RELATIONSHIP TO TRUMP AND RUSSIA
Leon Black of Apollo Global Management
Leon Black was the founder of Apollo Global Management in 1990. As of 2021, Forbes listed Black as the second richest private equity billionaire with a net worth around $10 billion. Leon Black had a close personal and financial relationship to Jeffrey Epstein dating back to the mid-1990s. Leon Black repeatedly tried to get others in Apollo to invest with Jeffrey Epstein, which they apparently declined.
Jeffrey Epstein was on the board of the Black Family Foundation for 10 years, which was until 2007. Over time, Leon Black paid Jeffrey Epstein $158 million and some of that money was for financial services provided by Epstein that helped Black save between $1 to $2 billion. Yet, there are allegations that part of the reason Epstein paid large sums of money to Epstein was because Black did not want his name associated with certain financial activities.
Ultimately, Black would step down from running Apollo in 2021 due to his connections with Jeffrey Epstein, but he remains Apollo’s largest stakeholder. Apollo’s involvement in Caesars Entertainment is considered one of their biggest investment failures.
During Mueller’s investigation Leon Black testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee due to Black’s relationship with Donald Trump and Russia. Black had joined Trump during his 1996 trip to Moscow, his reported meeting with President Putin in 2011, involvement in the Russian Development Impact Fund, among other relationships with people of interest in the Mueller investigation.
David Bonderman of TPG Capital
David Bonderman founded TPG Capital in 1992 and is one of the wealthiest private equity billionaires with a net worth over $4 billion. As of 2015, TPG Capital was one of the most active private equity firms in Russia.
“Bonderman is especially attracted by the fact that Russian asset prices have taken a hit since the conflict with Ukraine began. And the country is starved of capital investment. That means deals can be had.
“Returns tend to be better in places where either the troops are in the street, or the prices are low,” Bonderman said during the Milken Global Conference in Los Angeles. ‘If you’re a mid-to-long term investor, the Russian market has some attractions to it.’” — CNN Business, May 1, 2015
Irving Azoff has asserted that David Bonderman is one of his mentors.
Stephen Schwarzman of the Blackstone Group
According to Forbes, Stephen Schwarzman is the wealthiest private equity billionaire with a net worth over $37 billion. Schwartzman founded the Blackstone Group in 1985 and they control almost $700 billion in assets.
During the Trump administration, Schwartzman served at the pleasure of the president on his business council. Schwartzman’s proximity to Trump helped advance Blackstone Group’s business interests, such as a $20 billion investment deal with Saudi Arabia and a beneficial trade deal with China. Schwarzman stayed loyal to Trump until the Capital insurrection, even concluding there may have been voting irregularities during the 2016 presidential election.
The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF):
Could have Caesars’ private equity investors been corrupted by the Kremlin?
The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) was founded by President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in September 2011. The purpose of the fund is for international investors to co-invest in Russian businesses. The involvement of the Russian government in the RDIF was ostensibly to help mitigate investors concerns that Russia was risky place to make investments.
Vladimir Putin was re-elected as President of Russia in December 2011 and took office in March 2012. Therefore, there were only a few months between when the RDIF was formed and Putin re-ascended to power.
The RDIF has repeatedly been criticized for its close ties to the Kremlin. Some have stated that the RDIF is “Putin’s slush fund”. A slush fund is a pot of money that is often used for illegal purposes and does not adhere to proper accounting practices. So it seems that anyone involved with the RDIF has their money under the direct purview of Putin.
All of the aforementioned names were involved with Caesars Entertainment at the time of Britney Spears’ Piece of Me residency. Here are some quotes from these executives when they joined Russian Direct Investment Fund’s inaugural board in 2011:
“We believe there are many attractive investment opportunities in Russia — the RDIF will provide the strong and experienced local partnership needed for investors to realize those opportunities.” — David Bonderman, TPG
“Russia has strong fundamentals that will continue to fuel its growth trajectory and offer attractive investment opportunities. We believe the Russia Direct Investment Fund will help further align U.S. and Russian objectives in terms of identifying paths toward partnership in the private sector.” — Leon Black, Apollo
“It’s always good to have friends when you are going to a place that you are not as familiar with.” — Stephen Schwarzman, Blackstone
— Insider, July 30, 2015
After the invasion of Crimea in the Ukraine in February 2014 many investors started pulling their money out of RDIF. Yet, some investors remained like David Bonderman.
In 2015, President Obama used an executive order to place the RDIF on a U.S. Treasury sanctions list due to Russia’s invasion and occupation of Crimea.
The Mueller Investigation and connections to the RDIF
The CEO of the RDIF is Kirill Dmitriev who has strong connections inside the United States. In September 2014, after the invasion of Crimea David Bonderman, Leon Black & Stephen Schwarzman’s names vanish from the RDIF’s website. Although, David Bonderman was still doing business in Russia in 2015 before the U.S. Sanctions were in place. Rick Gerson ran Falcon Edge and was doing business deals with David Bonderman in 2017. Rick Gerson is a close friend Jared Kushner and met with Kirill Dmitriev during the presidential transition period prior to Donald Trump taking office.
A pivotal meeting took place in the Seychelles that showed that Dmitriev was acting on behalf of Russia to establish a back channel to communicate with the Trump administration. A back channel refers to any communications that would not be included in the government’s official records. Apollo’s Leon Black also may have played a key role in the Seychelles meeting. [Mueller Report].
REMEMBER: the Ukraine was an area of extreme importance to U.S. — Russia relations and that Britney Spears has hired people with expertise on Paul Manafort’s relationship to the Ukraine.
In January 2017, before Trump’s inauguration, Erik Prince (whose extended family owns the Orlando Magic) travels to the Seychelles for a secret meeting with the head of the Russia Direct Investment Fund, Kirill Dmitriev. The Mueller Report says it is part of an effort by the Kremlin to establish a back channel to the incoming administration. Apollo Global has many connections to this meeting:
Prince started a company, Blackwater, that has been purchased by Apollo Global.
Prince’s great benefactor at the CIA, Buzzy Krongard, is on the Apollo Board.
Apollo’s founder Leon Black has been on the board of Dmitriev’s RDIF.
In this effort, the Mueller report later clarifies, Prince is reporting to Steve Bannon — who has a long history with Epstein, at a time that Epstein’s key source of funds is Apollo’s Leon Black.
Dmitriev is seen as a direct connection to Putin. “Putin wanted Dmitriev to be in charge of both the financial and the political relationship between Russia and the Gulf states, in part because Dmitriev had been educated in the West and spoke English fluently,” the report says.
Apollo’s biggest outside investor is the United Arab Emirates, whose leader MBZ reportedly convened the Seychelles meeting.
The Daily Beast later obtained what is evidently a memo that Dmitriev drafted after the meeting; one of the topics is how the Trump and Putin administrations could reimagine their partnership on various topics, including Ukraine. Trump’s second impeachment, years later, would later be impeached for his role in holding up military aid to Ukraine.— True Hoop
2015: Caesars declares bankruptcy*
[*Editor Note: This is very complicated so I’m boiling it down.]
In January 2015, Caesars filed for bankruptcy due to being $18 billion in debt. This resulted in a lawsuit against Apollo and TPG Capital by institutions that opposed Caesars bankruptcy plan to restructure the debts they owed creditors. These creditors included GSO Capital Partners (affiliated with Blackstone), Elliott Management Corporation, Appaloosa Management and Oaktree Capital Management. These creditors accused TPG and Apollo of “unimaginably brazen looting”.
In the lean years after the financial crisis, Apollo’s clever deal making had, against all odds, kept Caesars alive in the hope that its fortunes would eventually snap back.
— Institutional Investor, March 17, 2021
The bankruptcy of Caesars Entertainment was billed as a fight waged between private equity and hedge funds. But investment banks and law firms took a central role as well. An investigation by an independent examiner concluded that there may have been as much as $5.1bn in fraudulent transfer claims from controversial asset sales that Caesars undertook between 2009 and 2014 before its bankruptcy filing. Those transactions faced scrutiny because the investigation first determined that the key subsidiary holding Caesars debt was insolvent and should have had directors and advisers independent of Apollo Global and TPG, the private equity firms that owned the Caesars parent company. — Financial Times, September 26, 2017
Caesars emerged from the $18 billion bankruptcy in 2017. Ultimately, Apollo & TPG together only retained 16% ownership of Caesars.
“How messed up is it that they buy a company, drive it into the ground and make [multiple] times their money, while their investors get 27 cents on the dollar?” the investment head of a large public pension that invests with Apollo told The Post.
— New York Post, October 3, 2016
Trump, TPG Capital and the SEC
In the 2010s, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was holding private equity firms for taking exorbitant fees from investors, including Blackstone and Apollo. Once Trump became President of the United States the SEC went much softer on wrongdoings by private equity firms, including TPG Capital:
TPG’s penalty wasn’t wrapped up until Mr. Trump took office, and the company was treated much differently. Instead of publishing a crowing news release, the SEC disclosed the sanction in a dense legal document that was quietly posted on the agency’s website after U.S. stock markets had closed. When the $13 million settlement popped on Dec. 21, many on Wall Street were already out of the office for Christmas break.
— Bloomberg News 2/15/2018
In 1999 Trump had his own a encounter with the SEC due to his hotel and casino empire. Trump was the first enterprise that the SEC went after for doctoring their earnings to misrepresent the value of the company to investors (AKA pro forma accounting). The company claimed $14 million in net income for the quarter, but the real number was around $3 million
Trump Hotels valued those assets at $17.2 million — a one-time gain, but one that was nonetheless included as part of the company’s quarterly revenue. So, as yesterday’s cease-and-desist order explained, the Trump Hotels’ revenue on a pro forma basis was $403 million and its pro forma net income was just under $14 million, or 63 cents a share.
Yet when the restaurant-transaction gain was excluded the actual revenue was $386 million and net income was $3 million, or 14 cents a share.
Ultimately, Trump settled the SEC case in 2002, yet Trump did not admit any wrongdoing or pay any kind of fine.
Final Reflections
I can not prove for a fact that Putin’s Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) had any relationship directly with the company Caesars Entertainment. Yet, a few facts may indicate a substantial relationship.
First, there is the relationship between the leaders of TPG Capital and Apollo Global Management with Caesars and the RDIF.
Second, there is the relationship between the RDIF’s CEO Kirill Dmitriev and Americans involved with establishing a back channel between Russia and the Trump administration. This was uncovered by the Mueller investigation and parts of their findings are still redacted.
Third, the timing of the U.S.’s divestiture in Russia in 2014 due to the invasion of Crimea and Caesars bankruptcy in 2015, which uncovered substantial financial fraud and theft.
Lastly, Britney Spears’ legal team has hired two people who played pivotal roles in the Mueller investigation.
Through the monopoly of Live Nation, the people controlling Britney Spears were able to completely silence the entire music industry about her abusive conservatorship. The extreme control Britney experienced was an open secret in Hollywood, as hundreds of people worked with Britney during her 13 year conservatorship.
American oligarchs with very close ties to Russia and the Trump administration had a vested interest in maintaining Britney’s conservatorship due to their ties to Caesars Entertainment.
Where the corruption starts and stops — I’m not sure, as I believe there is still a lot of information that is classified.
In July 2021, there was a #FreeBritney rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. Here is a televised interview [2:30 mark] I did with Ruptly, which is a Kremlin funded media company. The U.S. State Department has asserted that Ruptly has been using active measures to spread disinformation and propaganda.
Here is my full connection map.
Here is a video summary of this article.
Check out my website for 100% factual research!
© 2022 by Melanie L. Carlson. All Rights Reserved.
