Documentary filmmaker Jack Bryan appeared on CNN Monday to promote his new film about Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election, called “Active Measures.”
When asked by CNN’s John Berman what new information his movie brings to the debate about Trump and Russia, Bryan said that it would shed more light on Trump’s connections with a man named Semion Mogilevich, an alleged Russian organized crime boss whom Bryan describes as a “money laundering kingpin.”
Bryan said the first indication that Trump got involved with Russian mobsters came in 1984, when he sold five Trump Tower condos to a Russian mobster named David Bogatin, who was later found to be part of a larger scheme that revolved around buying up properties as a way to launder money.
As Bryan makes clear, this wasn’t just a one-time incident when it comes to Trump’s interactions with Russian mobsters.
“Throughout the ’90s and early 2000s, he starts getting in debt, starts going through bankruptcies, and it seems that 2004 is really the year that Mogilevich and the Russian mob really make the move,” he said. “People associated with the Russian mafia start working within the Trump Organization, and it changes the dynamic of where the money is coming from.”
Berman interjected at that point and asked Bryan to clarify what he meant by Russian mobsters working directly for Trump — and Bryan pointed to Felix Sater, a Trump-linked Russian-born businessman who in 1998 pleaded guilty to taking part in a mafia-related stock fraud scheme.
“Felix Sater tried to make deals with Donald Trump,” Berman said.
“He not only tried to, he did,” replied Bryan.
Watch the video below.