Secretive LLCs obscure Ukrainian foreign influence operation funding
A network of limited liability companies, offshore accounts, shell corporations and other secretive entities spending on interests related to former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has spent over $1 million on influence in the United States—but the source of funding for recent foreign influence operations remains a mystery.Tymoshenko—a longtime Ukrainian politician who gained international attention after she was imprisoned for corruption charges from 2011 until 2014—has remained a public figure and recently announced her plans to run in Ukraine’s next presidential election.
On May 7, 2018, a limited liability corporation named ITBC LLC was formed in the state of Maryland. Weeks later, using the name Innovative Technology and Business Consulting, the LLC had already inked a $50,000-per-month contract—including a six-figure payment upfront at the time of signing—to pay the Livingston Group, a lobbying firm run by former Congressman Bob Livingston (R-La.) for “government affairs representation and lobbying services before the federal government on promotional issues related to Ukraine and any other matters mutually agreed upon.” The Livingston Group’s FARA registration paperwork primarily refers to the foreign principal’s name as “Innovative Technology and Business Consulting LLC,” but parts of their contract on file with the Justice Department refers to the entity as “International Technology and Business Consulting LLC” and Maryland business records simply refer to the entity by its initials, “ITBC LLC.” ITBC LLC has no website under any of its currently known nom de plumes and Maryland’s business entity search engine lists the office address as a suite in Pikesville that houses other LLCs, law firms, and provides “serviced offices to rent.” The LLC’s resident agent is Sergei Krasnitsk, whose signature is also on the contract with Livingston Group in FARA records, according to FARA disclosures on file with the Department of Justice and made available through the Center for Responsive Politics’ Foreign Lobby Watch tool. Krasnitsk is also listed as an agent for another Maryland company called 4G Development which was incorporated in 2011. The Livingston Group’s paperwork registering as a foreign agent of ITBC LLC includes no mention of Tymoshenko.
https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/09/secretive-foreign-influence-money-trail/