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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNew Article about communications between Alfa Bank, Spectrum Health, The Trump Organization
A team of computer scientists sifted through records of unusual Web traffic in search of answers.
Examining records for the Trump domain, Maxs group discovered D.N.S. lookups from a pair of servers owned by Alfa Bank, one of the largest banks in Russia. Alfa Banks computers were looking up the address of the Trump server nearly every day. There were dozens of lookups on some days and far fewer on others, but the total number was notable: between May and September, Alfa Bank looked up the Trump Organizations domain more than two thousand times. We were watching this happen in real timeit was like watching an airplane fly by, Max said. And we thought, Why the hell is a Russian bank communicating with a server that belongs to the Trump Organization, and at such a rate?
Only one other entity seemed to be reaching out to the Trump Organizations domain with any frequency: Spectrum Health, of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Spectrum Health is closely linked to the DeVos family; Richard DeVos, Jr., is the chairman of the board, and one of its hospitals is named after his mother. His wife, Betsy DeVos, was appointed Secretary of Education by Donald Trump. Her brother, Erik Prince, is a Trump associate who has attracted the scrutiny of Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating Trumps ties to Russia. Mueller has been looking into Princes meeting, following the election, with a Russian official in the Seychelles, at which he reportedly discussed setting up a back channel between Trump and the Russian President, Vladimir Putin. (Prince maintains that the meeting was incidental.) In the summer of 2016, Max and the others werent aware of any of this. We didnt know who DeVos was, Max said.
The D.N.S. records raised vexing questions. Why was the Trump Organizations domain, set up to send mass-marketing e-mails, conducting such meagre activity? And why were computers at Alfa Bank and Spectrum Health trying to reach a server that didnt seem to be doing anything? After analyzing the data, Max said, We decided this was a covert communication channel.
The Trump Organization, Alfa Bank, and Spectrum Health have repeatedly denied any contact. But the question of whether Maxs conclusion was correct remains enormously consequential. Was this evidence of an illicit connection between Russia and the Trump campaign? Or was it merely a coincidence, cyber trash, that fed suspicions in a dark time?
More: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/10/15/was-there-a-connection-between-a-russian-bank-and-the-trump-campaign
A few quotes:
"To our knowledge there are no senior intelligence officials at senior levels at Alfa Bank.
"Given the limitations of D.N.S. data, none of the independent experts I spoke to could be certain of what Alfa Bank and the Trump Organization were doing."
"The enigma, for now, remains an enigma. The only people likely to finally resolve the question of Alfa Bank and the Trump Organization are federal investigators. Max told me that no one in his group had been contacted [by the FBI]."
MelissaB
(16,420 posts)The Trump domain vanished from the Web on 9/23, 2 days after @nytimes presented its data to BGR, Alfa Banks lobbyists in DC, but before it called Trump or Cendyn."
Qutzupalotl
(14,331 posts)MelissaB
(16,420 posts)Thanks so much!
Roland99
(53,342 posts)We dont know what was in these data packets; that info is beyond our purview at this time, but ask yourself a simple question and you find your answer: What do Trump Tower, the Devos Family and the Russians all have in common? A desire for Donald Trump to be President of the United States.
Tea Pains working theory is that Russia created a voter targeting database with information gleaned from hacked DNC data rolls and other data rolls acquired from other states to feed this growing contact database. That database originated at Russian Intelligence which was in turn replicated to Russias Alfa Bank. This is where the data laundering takes place, Alfa Bank is the pivot point where the FSBs data fingerprints are wiped clean. Ironically Russia launders its data at the same place it launders its money.
At Trump Tower, more data could merged into this system using various legal sources as well. Spectrum Health could also add value to the data by matching names and addresses in their extensive healthcare databases to harvest email addresses and phone numbers to flesh out this list. All these changes would be promptly replicated back to Russia in a matter of hours.
Roland99
(53,342 posts)CNN: Inside a Russian Troll Farm in St. Petersburg
Inside look at a Russian troll farm
..........
The Russian oligarch indicted by Mueller as the financier of the massive Russian election disruption and Trump support operation is known as "Putin's Chef" for his ability to cook up and finance propaganda.
3
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210260153
MelissaB
(16,420 posts)FakeNoose
(32,767 posts)But it's a great reminder for us because we're running from one WTF to another all day long.
lostnfound
(16,191 posts)Roland99
(53,342 posts)Nov 2017
Twitter thread on Trump org subdomains routing to Russia. Sharing servers with Wikileaks??
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029782683
July 2018
Putin's daughter, Trump Tower internet traffic, Spectrum Health, Betsy DeVos
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210915778
And then this one too:
Feb 2018
CNN: Inside a Russian Troll Farm in St. Petersburg
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210260153
triron
(22,020 posts)Roland99
(53,342 posts)Linked to Russian companies indicted by Mueller??
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=11256396
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)The NYT at the behest of the FBI rewrote the story to hide the truth about this specific connection, as well as the FBI's widening investigation of Trump-Russia, just over a week before the election.
Dirty as hell.
triron
(22,020 posts)Wetsand18
(4 posts)It's probably obvious to everyone else who follows this topic, but I believe that this Spectrum Health (DeVos partnership), Deutsche Bank and Trump Organization was created by that Seychelles meeting with Erik Prince, or the idea was given to him by an outside influence. For example, Michigan during the 2016 elections was considered a solid blue state for the most part. And what happened? It became a major swing state by giving the vote to Trump.
Now, Spectrum Health is a huge health organization. They have numerous doctors, surgical centers, specialists and hospitals throughout the Midwest. Which means if you live in this area (Great Lake's region specifically), chances are that you or someone you know has a connection to this huge health Organization. Personal information, address, phone number, email address and on it goes.
Think all of the information they had on Michigan residents (at least) who've had any association with Spectrum Health? The number is enormous! By giving/trading/deal making with this very handy dandy information on voters, it was used somehow to influence the 2016 election. At least, I think Michigan was.