Sergei Millian
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Sergei Millian (born Siarhei Kukuts; October 22, 1978) is a
Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...
ian-American businessman and former president of the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce. He has claimed association with
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
and members of Trump's 2016 election campaign, and he was alleged to have been a source for the
Steele dossier The Steele dossier, also known as the Trump–Russia dossier, is a controversial political opposition research report on the Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign, 2016 presidential campaign of Donald Trump compiled by counterintelligen ...
. Millian has denied being a source. In November 2021, after the indictment of Steele's primary subsource
Igor Danchenko Igor Yurievich Danchenko (born May 5, 1978) is a Russian citizen and U.S. resident currently residing in Virginia who works as a Eurasia political risk, defense and economics analyst. Together with Clifford Gaddy he analyzed Vladimir Putin's 1996 ...
for allegedly lying to the FBI about the sources he used in compiling claims for the dossier, ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' corrected and removed large portions of their previous articles that had identified Millian as a source. Danchenko was acquitted of all charges in October 2022.


Life in America

In 2001, Millian moved to the United States, and in May 2006, he formed the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce in
Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
. In January 2016, Millian stated that the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce has about 200 businesses and most of them are in the United States. Millian has also worked as a translator and interpreter, including for clients such as the
Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation (MFA Russia; , МИД РФ) is the central government institution charged with leading the foreign policy and foreign relations of Russia. It is a continuation of the Ministry of Foreig ...
. He has claimed to have "high-level contacts in the Russian government" but denied that he was affiliated with Russian intelligence services. In 2007, Millian met
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
and Jorge Pérez at a horse racing event in
Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
, and he has claimed that Donald Trump then introduced him to Michael Cohen. Afterward, he reportedly signed a contract with the
Trump Organization Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 45th president from 2017 to 2021. ...
and
The Related Group The Related Group is a privately-owned, real estate development company based in Miami, Florida, with projects and/or offices in Orlando, Tampa, Atlanta, Texas, Arizona, Las Vegas, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, and Panama. The company founder is Jor ...
to market properties at Trump Hollywood via a brokerage company, Richard Bowers & Co. Millian also claimed to be the "exclusive broker" for Trump Organization properties in the former
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
. Trump Hollywood has stated that they have no record of any signed agreement with Millian; Michael Cohen has also denied meeting Millian and said that Millian had no substantive relationship with Trump or his company.


Trump 2016 presidential campaign

During Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, Millian began months-long outreach to Trump's onetime foreign policy advisor,
George Papadopoulos George Demetrios Papadopoulos (; born August 19, 1987) is an author and former member of the foreign policy advisory panel to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. On October 5, 2017, Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to a felony charge of mak ...
. In an August 2016
Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
message, he offered to supply Papadopoulos with a "disruptive technology that might be instrumental in ispolitical work for the campaign." Papadopolous told investigators for the Mueller report that he had no memory of the matter. Millian also offered Papadopoulos a consulting contract to work simultaneously for Trump and an unidentified Russian, which Papadopoulos declined.


Alleged connection to the Steele dossier


Allegations that Millian was a source

Millian was reportedly identified as Sources D and E in the
Steele dossier The Steele dossier, also known as the Trump–Russia dossier, is a controversial political opposition research report on the Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign, 2016 presidential campaign of Donald Trump compiled by counterintelligen ...
and later as "Person 1" in the Inspector General's report. As an alleged source, Millian was said to have shared key information with a compatriot (later identified as Steele's primary subsource, Russian analyst
Igor Danchenko Igor Yurievich Danchenko (born May 5, 1978) is a Russian citizen and U.S. resident currently residing in Virginia who works as a Eurasia political risk, defense and economics analyst. Together with Clifford Gaddy he analyzed Vladimir Putin's 1996 ...
), who then shared it with
Christopher Steele Christopher David Steele (born 24 June 1964) is a British former intelligence officer with the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from 1987 until his retirement in 2009. He ran the Russia desk at MI6 headquarters in London between 2006 and 200 ...
. Millian has denied being a source for any material in the dossier, and he has reportedly refused to cooperate with investigators for the Mueller report. According to Christopher Steele, Danchenko told him he met with Millian in 2016 on three different occasions at restaurants in
Washington DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...
,
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, and
Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...
. However, Danchenko told the FBI that he never met Millian, but only spoke on the telephone with someone who he believed was Millian. Danchenko was indicted by
John Durham John Henry Durham (born March 16, 1950) is an American lawyer who served as the United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut (D. Conn.) from 2018 to 2021. By April 2019, the Trump administration assigned him to investigate the origin ...
in November 2021 (and later acquitted) for allegedly having fabricated this telephone conversation with Millian, and ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' later corrected and removed large portions of their previous articles that had identified Millian as a key source of the Steele dossier. In October 2022, judge
Anthony Trenga Anthony John Trenga (born 1949) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia as well as the Presiding Judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Education Trenga wa ...
cast doubt on Millian and two 2020 emails he wrote denying he talked to Danchenko: The "emails lack the necessary 'guarantees of trustworthiness' as the government does not offer direct evidence that Millian actually wrote the emails, and, even if he did, Millian possessed opportunity and motive to fabricate and/or misrepresent his thoughts."


Claims allegedly made by Millian in the dossier

Source E (in September 2022, reported to have been Bernd Kuhlen, a German citizen who does not speak Russian) and Source D were reported as the sources behind multiple allegations in the Steele dossier, including the alleged prostitution ("pee tape") incident at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Moscow. According to the founders of
Fusion GPS Fusion GPS is an opposition research and strategic intelligence firm based in Washington, D.C. The company conducts open-source investigations and provides research and strategic advice for businesses, law firms and investors, and political c ...
, seven Russian sources told Steele about this incident. According to the dossier, these included Sources D and E and others in Steele's "alphabet list of assets". Media reports in November 2021, however, suggest that the dossier's claims about prostitutes in Moscow did not originate from Millian, but from Charles Dolan Jr., who was "a longtime participant in Democratic Party politics". Source E was also alleged to have admitted to "a well-developed conspiracy of cooperation between he Trump campaignand the Russian leadership...managed for Trump by former campaign chairman
Paul Manafort Paul John Manafort Jr. (; born April 1, 1949) is an American former lobbyist, political consultant, and attorney. A long-time Republican Party campaign consultant, he chaired the Trump presidential campaign from June to August 2016. Manafo ...
", that included " moles in the Democratic Party" and coordinated cyber-attacks such as the
2016 Democratic National Committee email leak The 2016 Democratic National Committee email leak is a collection of Democratic National Committee (DNC) emails Democratic National Committee cyber attacks, stolen by one or more hackers operating under the pseudonym "Guccifer 2.0" who are allege ...
. This was alleged to have the objectives of swinging supporters of
Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician and activist who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from the state of Vermont. He is the longest-serving independ ...
away from
Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...
and toward Donald Trump, weakening Clinton and bolstering Trump. In return for this assistance, Source E alleged that the Trump team had agreed to "sideline Russian intervention in Ukraine as a campaign issue and to raise US/NATO defense commitments in the Baltic and Eastern Europe to deflect attention away from Ukraine." Source E was also alleged to have said that the Trump camp became angry and resentful toward Putin when they realized he not only was aiming to weaken Clinton and bolster Trump, but was attempting to "undermine the US government and democratic system more generally". Some of the claims in the dossier allegedly made by Source E became part of the FBI's foreign intelligence surveillance warrants on
Carter Page Carter William Page (born June 3, 1971) is an American petroleum industry consultant and a former foreign-policy adviser to Donald Trump during his 2016 presidential election campaign. Page is the founder and managing partner of Global Energy C ...
.


Work for the FBI

Millian was a
confidential human source An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a "snitch", "rat", "canary", "stool pigeon", "stoolie", "tout" or "grass", among other terms) is a person who provides privileged information, or (usually damaging) information inten ...
for the FBI field office in Atlanta from September 2007 to March 2011.


FBI counterintelligence investigation

In August 2016, the FBI opened a counterintelligence case on Millian to determine if he had been "directed to engage in activities related to Russian Government efforts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election." In January 2019, the case was ultimately closed.


Awards

In January 2015, Millian received the Silver Archer Award in the category of "Persona," considered to be the most prestigious, for his efforts to attract investments to Russia, which were estimated to be around $500 million (~$ in ).


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Millian, Sergei Living people 1978 births American people of Belarusian descent Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign People associated with the 2016 United States presidential election People associated with Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections