A Russian oligarch and close ally of Vladimir Putin used the services of at least four British and American law firms to contest international sanctions against him, it has been revealed.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the notorious Wagner paramilitary group and catering mogul known as "Putin's Chef", recruited western legal firms to aid him with developing a plan to counter EU and US sanctions against him.
The Intercept news organisation revealed in its latest investigation that Prigozhin enlisted the help as he faced "faced intensifying scrutiny in recent years, and as his businesses came under pressure following sanctions" in the wake of the Ukraine war.
The information was released through a leak of data and emails from over 50 Russian firms and government organisations, "in what looks to be the greatest cumulative hack of a nation-state ever."
One of those firms hacked was Capital Legal Services (CLS), a major Russian law company that represents Prigozhin, which was found to have lots of email conversations with UK firm Discreet Law.
In March, Discreet Law withdrew from representing Prigozhin. A press release said lawyers were “forced to withdraw from the court case” because of a public pressure campaign against “English lawyers who work with Russian clients.”
Bob Seely, the Conservative MP for the Isle of Wight, previously told the House of Commons that prominent legal firms were in effect offering “legalised intimidation” to oligarchs to silence their rivals. He called them “amoral lawyers."
And James Cleverly, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, said he had uncovered further firms — BCL Solicitors LLP, W Legal Limited and Peters & Peters — that "made representations to the government on behalf of Russian or Russian-linked clients in relation to the UK-Russian sanctions regime."
Other emails show communications between CLS and the UK firms Brick Court Chambers and Phillips Lewis Smith Ltd, which advised Prigozhin’s lawyers as they sought to appeal European sanctions against him.
A draft letter from Prigozhin addressed to former US President Donald Trump, as well as former Attorney General William Barr, former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, and several other U.S. officials was discovered.
At one point, Prigozhin’s representatives raised the possibility of bringing defamation claims against outlets that reported on him.
“You have been led to believe, in great part due to Mr Mueller’s accusations against me and my company, that I am of the same mind as Osama bin Laden or El Chapo, both villains that Mr Mueller has insultingly compared me to in federal court,” Prigozhin wrote, as cited by The Intercept.
UK-funded research exposed how the Kremlin used a troll factory to spread lies on social media and in comment sections of popular websites and the operation had suspected links to Prigozhin.
The news comes as Putin has aggressively ranted against pro-western Russians.
He once said an appetite for European cuisine and climates must mean people are mentally unwell.
The Intercept reports that Prigozhin’s lawyers sought to discredit the growing number of reports that connected him to the Wagner Group, which he believed to be the basis for the sanctions against him.
The Wagner Group is a network of mercenaries or a de facto private army of Russian President Putin.
There have been claims he has been seen personally recruiting prisoners - including convicted murderers - to fight in the war in Ukraine.
But the Wagner group has not only been accused of committing human rights abuses in Ukraine but also in Syria, Libya, the Central African Republic, Sudan and Mozambique.
The group’s alleged co-founder (along with Prigozhin), Dmitry Utkin, has been linked to the far right and is believed to have named the group after Hitler’s favourite composer.
Ukrainian officials have accused Wagner mercenaries of committing war crimes that include the brutal killing of civilians in Bucha.
In 2018, Prigozhin was one of the individuals and companies indicted by a federal grand jury for conspiracy in relation to election interference in 2016.
Discreet Law has been approached for comment.
