https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/borzoudaragahi/papadopoulos-and-flynn-client-both-tied-to-israeli-energy
The Leviathan field, one of the largest gas finds worldwide, has attracted enormous interest within the energy sector.
"We want to see Israeli partnerships with European countries, especially from the Mediterranean, such as Greece, Cyprus and Turkey,” Papadopoulos said during his panel at the energy conference, held on April 4, 2016 at the Hilton Hotel in Tel Aviv, according to a report by Israel Defense.
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While there is no evidence of a connection between the panel and the energy deal, Alptekin’s firm Inovo and Ratio signed a consulting deal on April 13 last year, according to documents reviewed by BuzzFeed News.
Significant energy finds such as Leviathan often draw the attention of ambitious businessmen such as the 30-year-old Papadopoulos and Alptekin, a well-connected 39-year-old whose primary business has been aerospace and real estate.
In another possible coincidence, both Alptekin and Josef Mifsud, a London-based Maltese scholar who has acknowledged that he is the unnamed “overseas professor” in the Papadopoulos case, are among several hundred international relations specialists and players who are members of the European Council of Foreign Relations, a mainstream think tank with offices in seven countries. According to the plea deal, Papadopoulos sought to reach out to sources in Moscow after the UK-based professor informed him in April 2016 that the Russians had incriminating material that could be used to damage the presidential candidacy of Hillary Clinton.