The Putin Point Man: What's Behind Steve Witkoff’s Ties to the Russian Mafia?
And who is the mysterious "mutual friend" who got Witkoff to do a favor for a Russian mobster?
CRAIG UNGER
Substack, MAR 26, 2025
Excerpt…
A billionaire real estate mogul, Witkoff’ counts the Woolworth Building, the Daily News Building, and the Park Lane Hotel among his most notable acquistions in his real estate empire. He has known Trump for decades. In 2018, Trump described Witkoff as “my pal” and a “special guy.” But that doesn’t explain how a rich golfing buddy of Trump’s with no diplomatic experience whatsoever became Trump’s chief trouble shooter at the two hottest spots in the world—Russia and Israel, where, as Special Envoy to the Middle East, he participated in negotiations that led to the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. On a more personal level, he has played an important role in one of President Trump’s boldest financial ventures by helping set up World Liberty Financial, the cryptocurrency company owned by the Trump family.
But at least one chapter of Witkoff’s life has not been explored—namely his ties to the Russian Mafia. In 2013, The Real Deal, a media company that covers real estate, reported that Witkoff submitted a recommendation for indicted Russian mobster Anatoly Golubchik several years earlier when Golubchik applied to live in a condominium building at 971 Madison Avenue.
Snip…
Similarly, at this writing, I asked the White House about Witkoff’s relationship with Golubchik and whether President Trump was “the mutual friend” in question. I also asked whether or not Witkoff is currently making money from his role in setting up World Liberty Financial, but the White House declined to answer my questions.
Now that Trump is back in power and Witkoff is his point man, their ties to the Russian Mafia are of particular interest because, as I showed in House of Trump, House of Putin, the Russian Mafia is very different from the Mafia we have seen in films like The Godfather, where it is always at war with the FBI. In Russia, the Mafia has long been a de facto state actor serving the Russian Federation in much the same way that American intelligence services serve the United States, and that many of the people connected to Trump had strong ties to the Russian FSB, the state security service that is the successor to the feared KGB.
Moreover, as I wrote in The New Republic, over the past three decades, at least 13 people with known or alleged links to Russian mobsters or oligarchs have owned, lived in, and even run criminal activities out of Trump Tower and other Trump properties. Many used his apartments and casinos to launder untold millions in dirty money. Others provided Trump with lucrative branding deals that required no investment on his part. Taken together, the flow of money from Russia provided Trump with a crucial infusion of financing that helped rescue his empire from ruin, burnish his image, and launch his career in television and politics. “They saved his bacon,” said Kenneth McCallion, a former assistant U.S. attorney in the Reagan administration who investigated ties between organized crime and Trump’s developments in the 1980s.
Source:
https://craigunger.substack.com/p/the-putin-point-man-whats-the-deal?utm_source=%2Fsearch%2FCraig%2520Unger&utm_medium=reader2
= new reply since forum marked as read