A guy named Sam Patton was arrested yesterday on the charge of violating FARA, the Foreign Agent Registration Act.

Here is his Information

Here is the Statement of Offense:

Here is “Foreigner A”:  Konstantin Kilimnik

Here is “Foreigner B”:  Serhiy Lyovochkin

And now and explanation of its larger relevance:

Konstantin Kilimnik set up a lobbying firm in Washington, DC, Incorporation Date: Feb 19, 2015, using Legalinc Corporate Services. The firm was called Begemot Ventures International, LLC.  (Begemot is Russian for “behemoth”)

According to its website, Konstantin Kilimnik’s Begemot Ventures International: A strategic & political advisory firm that helps its clients win elections, strengthen political parties, build the right arguments before domestic & international audiences & achieve better results. 

If you haven’t been paying attention, Konstantin Kilimnik, is currently front-and-center in the federal investigation into Russian government meddling in the 2016 presidential election. 

Kilimnik has a years-long professional relationship with former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, whom Mueller has accused of illegally advancing the interests of foreign clients in the U.S.

Kilimnik was also a frequent intermediary between Manafort and Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska, to whom Manafort offered private briefings on the 2016 presidential race. Kilimnik has long been suspected of having worked with or for Russian intelligence services in the past.

Serhiy Lyovochkin is the former chief of staff to ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who hired Manafort to rebrand the pro-Russia Party of Regions in 2014  Lyonovochkin brought Patten onto the team that was behind multiple boxing world champion Vitali Klitschko, who was a candidate trying to hold his seat has mayor of Kiev.  That campaign reportedly had support from Russian mobsters and oligarchs.

On February 2, 2006, Sam Patten was in DC with self-admitted GRU agent Rinat Akhmetshin, of the infamous 2016 Trump Tower meeting.

So basically, if Patten flips  it could be huge because he worked with Konstantin Kilimnik, the Russian-intel linked operative who was Manaforst’s Number Two guy; and Rinat Akhmetshin, the Russian-American lobbyist who attended the Trump Tower; as well as various oligarch who funded Manafort.

And maybe just as importantly, Patten worked with Cambridge Analytica around the world, including in the U.S., and might have some insight in Russia use of data to influence the Trump campaign.

SAM PATTEN specialized in off-the-radar & unregistered lobbying for clients in former Soviet states. He told me last year that specialists like him are “more effective than 20 guys in slick suits who put their interns on an account to contact … Congress.” https://t.co/AJ3dL47hON

— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) August 31, 2018

Moments ago — appearing before a federal judge in Washington, DC, Patten, 47, pleaded guilty to those charges and agreed to cooperate with federal investigators.

Looks like a flipper.

Here is the plea agreement. In it, prosecutors outlined other crimes that the Patten admitted to, but wouldn’t be charged with. Among them was “causing foreign money” to be paid to the Trump inaugural committee. Patten signed off on the allegation.  FOREIGN MONEY.

It’s important to remember that there is still one million dollars in donations to Trump’s inauguration that is COMPLETELY ANONYMOUS.

P.S.  You gotta love this Sam Patten quote…

“I’ve worked in Ukraine, Iraq, I’ve worked in deeply corrupt countries, and [the American] system isn’t very different." — consultant Sam Patten, who pleaded guilty today in the Trump-Russia probe https://t.co/TqHBzROIK3

— Will Bunch (@Will_Bunch) August 31, 2018