Russian Agents Sought Secret US Treasury Records On Clinton Allies During The 2016 Campaign

[Airyaman]

Saw this a few days ago, really surprised no one started a thread so I guess I will. Seems the reporters worked on this for over year, filing FOIA requests and even filing suit to obtain the information. Appears at least 10 whistle blowers at FinCEN, or the Treasury's Department's financial crimes unit, were trying to warn about back channels set up between people at Treasury and Russian agents seeking financial information on Clinton allies -- specifically those who had crossed the Kremlin in some way. The Treasury folks involved sent information regarding this financial information to Hotmail and Gmail accounts set up by the Russians.

Russian Agents Sought Secret US Treasury Records On Clinton Allies During The 2016 Campaign

Interesting tidbits:
* Most startlingly, Russia requested sensitive documents on Dirk, Edward, and Daniel Ziff, billionaire investors who had run afoul of the Kremlin. That request was made weeks before a Russian lawyer showed up at Trump Tower offering top campaign aides “dirt” on Hillary Clinton — including her supposed connection to the Ziff brothers.
* Despite warnings that the Russians could be using the back-channel to obtain sensitive financial records (including bank account numbers and SSNs), Treasury staff continued to use the Gmail back-channel.
* FinCEN officials reported the breach of protocol in July and August of 2016, but there did not appear to have been a follow-up investigation. Staff continued to use the back-channel after being warned not to.

That is just in the first section of the article, much to digest here.

Yes, this was during the Obama administration. But it appears to have continued into the Trump administration.

This would be a huge story in the past but with so much happening last week, it simply did not get the attention it should have.

 

[chuckiechan]

Saw this a few days ago, really surprised no one started a thread so I guess I will. Seems the reporters worked on this for over year, filing FOIA requests and even filing suit to obtain the information. Appears at least 10 whistle blowers at FinCEN, or the Treasury's Department's financial crimes unit, were trying to warn about back channels set up between people at Treasury and Russian agents seeking financial information on Clinton allies -- specifically those who had crossed the Kremlin in some way. The Treasury folks involved sent information regarding this financial information to Hotmail and Gmail accounts set up by the Russians.

Russian Agents Sought Secret US Treasury Records On Clinton Allies During The 2016 Campaign

Interesting tidbits:
* Most startlingly, Russia requested sensitive documents on Dirk, Edward, and Daniel Ziff, billionaire investors who had run afoul of the Kremlin. That request was made weeks before a Russian lawyer showed up at Trump Tower offering top campaign aides “dirt” on Hillary Clinton — including her supposed connection to the Ziff brothers.
* Despite warnings that the Russians could be using the back-channel to obtain sensitive financial records (including bank account numbers and SSNs), Treasury staff continued to use the Gmail back-channel.
* FinCEN officials reported the breach of protocol in July and August of 2016, but there did not appear to have been a follow-up investigation. Staff continued to use the back-channel after being warned not to.

That is just in the first section of the article, much to digest here.

Yes, this was during the Obama administration. But it appears to have continued into the Trump administration.

This would be a huge story in the past but with so much happening last week, it simply did not get the attention it should have.

No one is talking about whether or not information was transferred. But the use of personal e mail account has to be addressed. We are at the point where we have to take cyber security serious. I get the feeling we are walking toward the barn when when the horses left last year. Plus, we can assume the Chinese are doing the same thing only better and with more intrusive results.