Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Americans Running Russian Fund Scrutinized for Trump Links


The Russian Direct Investment Fund’s boss, who met with Erik Prince last year, has deep ties to the United States—and is tight with Vladimir Putin.

By Katie Zavadski

A multibillion-dollar Russian sovereign wealth fund has Americans in senior positions, despite being sanctioned by the United States.

The Russian Direct Investment Fund drew renewed interest in recent weeks after news surfaced that unofficial Trump envoy Erik Prince met with RDIF’s CEO, Kirill Dmitriev, days before President Trump’s inauguration. And an individual close to the bank says Dmitriev is focused on removing sanctions on the fund, as it tries to attract investments into Putin’s Russia.

“It’s an interesting organization, a little bit more open to outsiders than other state-run organizations,” an individual close to RDIF told The Daily Beast. “I think now their proportion [foreigners] is smaller, and that probably represents the overall trend in Russia.”

“Now it’s a little bit like one of those ministries, you can say, the ministry of foreign investment,” the individual added.

Americans and people with ties to the U.S. have held some of the top spots at RDIF. For years, the fund’s number two was Sean Glodek, a Stanford alum and Wharton MBA graduate who previously worked at Deutsche Bank and Lehman Brothers. The current deputy co-director for RDIF’s Russia-China investment fund is Oleg Chizh, a Brandeis and Columbia graduate. Other Americans have served in top investor relations and advisory roles.

RDIF is a sovereign wealth fund, which oil-rich nations like Russia use to invest for profit, and has more than $10 billion in assets under management, according to its website.

Click here for the full article. 

Source: The Daily Beast

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