Another one bites the dust (Russian in Trump scandal web dies)

[Tanuki]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/new-development-on-the-michael-cohen-peace-plan-meeting
Josh Marshall:
"There is a startling new development in the ongoing Trump/Russia story.

Last week I wrote about Michael Cohen and his extensive network of personal and business relationships in the Ukrainian-American emigre community. One of those was a man named Alex Oronov, who runs a major agribusiness concern in Ukraine. Oronov was a partner in the ethanol business Cohen and Cohen's brother Bryan set up in Ukraine about a decade ago. Oronov is Bryan Cohen's father-in-law. Today we learned that Oronov apparently organized that 'peace plan' meeting that brought together Ukrainian MP Artemenko, Cohen and Felix Sater. About four hours ago Andrii Artemenko, the Ukrainian parliamentarian who came to New York with that 'peace plan', went on Facebook to announce that Alex Oronov has died.

(I was first alerted to Artemenko's post by Natasha Betrand of Business Insider who has been all over this story.)


The rest of the post is a sort of pained rant, blaming Oronov's death on the reporting of The New York Times. The Times you'll remember published the story on Feb. 19 describing the meeting between Artemenko, Michael Cohen and Felix Sater. Artemenko describes himself as a pawn caught up in a war between the Times and Donald Trump and said the stress created by the article and the subsequent press attention was too much for Oronov to bear.

A notable detail is that Artemenko says that it was Oronov who arranged the meeting described in that initial story by the Times. Here is a loose translation courtesy of a friend who is a Russian speaker: "Yes, I’m guilty …. Alex Oronov, my partner, my friend, my mentor, Alex was a family member of Michael Cohen. And he organized all kinds of stuff, including an introduction and a meeting for me with Michael Cohen."

[guillaumeb]

1. Polonium poisoning?

A lot of that going on around Putin.

[demmiblue]

7. I wonder if the are going to say the cause of death was a heart attack or suicide.

"... and said the stress created by the article and the subsequent press attention was too much for Oronov to bear."

[guillaumeb]

8. With no autopsy planned? That would stop that particular potential problem.

[lunasun]

4. What about Trump? He has big mouth and is crazy . He needs to worry maybe

[Initech]

3. WTF is going on in Russia?

[demmiblue]

5. I wonder what was the cause of death. n/t

[ffr]

6. Sorry to hear, but the plot thickens. This is getting seriously scary

I don't want to watch people die, but I think we all knew it was going to resort to this and get worse before it gets better.

[ffr]

9. My vote is that this would be listed as LBN.

Because it could effect all of our health and trickle down.

Seems those around tRump are dying like flies. Don't want whatever they've got to affect any of you.

[KewlKat]

10. Mr Oronov was a US citizen

Alex Oronov

Founder of Grain Alliance

Mr. Oronov has vast experience from running operations in the area as well as extensive experience from real estate sales and development in the US. He has also been successfully investing and operating the Ukrainian agriculture sector since 1994.

Mr. Oronov is a US citizen, but was born in Kharkov, Ukraine. He received a degree in Technical Engineering in Kharkov National Technical University. Later he departed for the USA, where he has lived and worked for 25 years. Mr. Oronov possesses excellent business and strategic partnership development skills, fluent in Ukrainian, Russian, and English and has a strong expertise and extensive management experience in various business sectors internationally.

[Tanuki]

12. Yes.. .he owned a residence at Trump Hollywood (Florida)and

also had a residence in Ukraine. And as noted in the OP, he was an in-law of Trump attorney Michael Cohen.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/says-who-piecing-together-the-michael-cohen-story

..."Then there was a venture into the Ukranian ethanol business. Here Cohen's where family relationships came most clearly to the fore. Michael Cohen's wife, Laura, is from Ukraine. Michael's younger brother Bryan is also married to a Ukrainian woman, Oxana Cohen. Oxana's father, Alex Oronov, is a naturalized US citizen who was born in Kharkiv, Ukraine, in 1948. He is the founder of a Ukrainian agribusiness company called Grain Alliance, which is based in Sweden.

It was Oronov's farming business in Ukraine that brought Michael and Bryan Cohen into the ethanol business. In 2006, Cohen incorporated International Ethanol of Ukraine, Ltd., along with his Bryan Cohen and Oronov, according to Delaware state records. A year later the group incorporated Ukrethanol LLC, a company which appears to be involved in, among other things, exporting used farm equipment from the U.S. to Ukraine on behalf of Grain Alliance. Cohen's only comments tied to this phase of his business career came in a January 2017 interview with Yahoo News in which Cohen said he had only been to Ukraine twice “either 2003 or 2004,” because his “brother’s father-in-law [i.e., Oronov] lives in Kiev.” Oronov is registered to vote in Florida (he maintains a residence at the Trump Hollywood in Hollywood, Florida) and appears to have a residence in Long Island, New York. He may also maintain a residence in Kiev.

It is not clear precisely how these two companies figure in the Ukrainian ethanol business. But the Kyiv Post reports that it is these two companies which are the basis of the the Cohen brothers' involvement in the Ukraine ethanol industry.".....

[MedusaX]

11. NY Funeral arrangements

He was a US citizen with a Florida address on his voter registration card....

Funeral arrangements handled by a NY funeral home...

Maybe this is why Trumpy is jumpy....