US banker with ties to Putin's inner circle sought access to Trump transition: Sources
Source: ABC News
Robert Foresman sought to meet with Trumps team after the 2016 election.
By Matthew Mosk, Katherine Faulders and John SantucciJan 22, 2019 4:07 AM ET
Nine days after Donald Trump won the presidency, as scores of supporters clamored for meetings with his transition team, the Hollywood producer of The Apprentice, Mark Burnett, reached out to one of Trumps closest advisers to see if he would sit down with a banker who has long held ties to Russia.
The banker, Robert Foresman, never got the role he was seeking with the fledgling Trump administration. But he has recently attracted the attention of congressional investigators as one more name on an expanding list of Americans with established ties inside the Kremlin who appears to have been seeking access to the newly elected presidents inner circle, according to three sources familiar with the matter.
Foresman, who is now vice chairman of the Swiss bank UBSs investment arm, lived for years in Moscow, where he led a $3 billion Russian investment fund and was touted by his new company as someone who maintains connections to Russian President Vladimir Putins inner circle. Reached by phone, Foresman declined to comment. Attorneys he has hired, including one in Washington who was hired to deal with the congressional probe, also declined to discuss the matter.
What is known about Foresmans efforts to meet with Trumps team during the post-election period in late 2016 stems from internal presidential inaugural committee emails reviewed by ABC News, testimony and court filings in an unrelated legal matter and three sources who had knowledge of Foresmans communications, but who would only talk about the subject on the condition that they not be named due the sensitivity of ongoing investigations.
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