Investigative Journalists

"Does Chapo speak in tongues? “I think he has,” [Chapo’s sister] Bernarda told me. By all accounts, he has spent many hours in this church. There’s been some signature Pentecostal healing-hand work, too. “Many brothers who are pastors have laid hands on him and prayed for him, and with a contrite heart, that’s when he cries.”"

"Prison’s been hard on Harvey [Weinstein] …He’s now living as his assistants once did, in the clutches of a perverse and petty system, overseen by guards who demand utter obeisance, deference, and subjection. Imagine one of the world’s foremost consumers of the luxury-hotel suite and capacious bathroom trying to survive an infirmary dormitory with no-seat toilets. In court, his people had to shut off his iPhone for him; he’d never quite mastered the mechanics. But now there’s no phone—save the one he’s allowed to access for only an hour a day as, maintaining his innocence, he orchestrates his appeal from a room he can use only when no one’s there."

"The Hollywood Reporter had published an article about [witness for the prosecution] Kaja Sokola with the headline "Anonymous No More: Inside the Complicated Life of Harvey Weinstein’s Key Accuser." Mr. Weinstein’s publicist, Juda Engelmayer, spotted the writer, Phoebe Eaton, in the courtroom and approached to provide Mr. Weinstein’s take on it: "He said it was fantastic." "I’m not out to please him," she said. "OK, I’ll just ignore you in the courtroom," Mr. Engelmayer said, before heading out to the hallway and toward the elevator."

"Less jowly now thanks to crappy jailhouse cooking—his country-boy haircut and jaunty hunting cap retired for a CEO’s side part—Chapo looked surprisingly guapo in a business suit. (And at 5’ 6”, not nearly as diminutive as his nickname Chapo—“Shorty”—would imply.) U.S. Marshals would knot his necktie just before he entered the room because mirrors can be smashed and weaponized. A former secretary observed in court he’d never seen Chapo in a suit. Early in the trial, Chapo would absently tug at his collar. Months in, he’d grown accustomed to the yoke."

"The hair, an elegant patisserie swirl of butter cream, is as remarkable as the gingerbread slab riding the head of 's equally celebrated ex-husband. Never look a day over 28, famously admonished his then-wife. She recalls this, adding ruefully, "It's going to cost me a fortune.”"

"When it comes to siblings, Hollywood has a quirky history of power brothers, from such behind-the-desk deal-makers as the Warners, the Cohns, and the Selznicks to forces behind the camera: the Coens, the Safdies, the Sylberts, and the Russos. And then there’s Harvey and Bob Weinstein."

"“I asked Chapo why he had to kill people,” recalled one former lieutenant on the [witness] stand. “And he said, “either your mom’s going to cry or their mom’s going to cry.""

"And though she has a bad back from the competitive skiing that proved her lift ticket out of Communist Czechoslovakia, Ivana [Trump] is on her way to Aspen for the holidays—and St. Moritz after that. "I can ski backwards on one ski. And foldblinded!" she exults. "But I don't go through moguls very often." This could be an apt metaphor for her love life: She recently announced that after four months of marriage, she'd filed for separation from her fourth husband, Rossano Rubicondi, an actor-slash-model-slash-arm-charm 23 years her junior."

"Phoebe Eaton's New York Magazine look at the blue-collar vs. the blue blood Senate GOP primary in New York provides some excellent insight into John Spencer and KT McFarland and indicates the Clinton campaign may need to rent extra office space simply for the oppo research. However, it is a letter that McFarland wrote to her parents years ago that has garnered the most attention: "Shortly after she discovered [her brother] Mike had AIDS, she wrote her parents lengthy, angry, almost Gothic letters in which she outed her brother, blamed her father for his troubles as well as those of her and her other siblings, and cut off contact with her parents. 'Have you ever wondered why I have never had anything to do with Mike and have never let my daughters see him although we live only fifteen minutes away from each other?' she wrote. 'He has been a lifelong homosexual, most of his relationships brief, fleeting one-night stands.' The father's behavior had surfaced for McFarland as recovered memory. She said a shrink put her up to writing the letter; reached for comment, her mother, Edith Troia -- KT has since made up with her parents -- denied the account. 'Wouldn't that make a great book?' she said. 'Please be kind. You could be casting dark shadows on this whole race.'" Unanswered: where did Eaton get the letters [and] will [K.T. McFarland’s political consultant] Ed Rollins keep talking to the press (or, at least, to Eaton)…?"

"At trial, it became clear that in the macho, mustache-man world of drug-trafficking, Chapo had as much use for women, seducing them with saccharine forevers, then putting them to work in his stable—as buyers, as Blackberry-tapping go-betweens to preserve his anonymity on deals—involving their family members because there’s no glue stronger than blood."

"Mr. Weiner likes to describe the Mayor as a weak sister, rolling over for the Republicans when he’s not kissing up with donations. Whenever he sees the Mayor, Mr. Weiner said, it’s all reasonably cordial. After all, nothing’s personal in politics. “I think he likes me,” Mr. Weiner ventured. (The Mayor does not, say his aides.)"

"Last year, Donald [Trump] (married to ex-model Melania Knauss and father of a baby boy named Barron) announced on The View that if he weren't Ivanka's father, maybe he'd be dating her. "I think it's the human condition to be frequently embarrassed by your parents," Ivanka says, generally speaking."

"Mr. Weiner grabbed for a pair of spectacles that looked a little like [his mentor] Chuck Schumer’s. These were his driving glasses—even when he wasn’t driving. His press secretary seemed nervous about what Mr. Weiner might say in the car: Mr. Weiner is the of back-seat drivers…“My problem is, I generally know how to get there,” Mr. Weiner explained. “It’s part of the ethos of living in New York—figuring out how to do things in a better way.”"

""I wear black all the time," Ivana notes."

"Lately, friends imagine they hear Donald [Trump]'s intonations in Ivanka's surprisingly sexy voice, a voice that sounds like she gargles with Cristal. The inane locutions of her generation — those "like"s and "you know"s — have been almost banished from conversation in favor of the more lawyerly "if you will" and other such Donald-like tropes….Ivanka could tell you about the Putzmeister pump throwing concrete a thousand vertical feet atop what stands to be the tallest residential building in the world, a site she's currently supervising in Chicago and one of 33 construction sites all over the globe. Instead, she is in the living room of her Park Avenue pad, pointing out the subtle architecture of some earrings."

"People in La Tuna miss Chapo, the town’s greatest, wiliest patrón. The young women debate whether he’s finally lost his looks, having only late-period pale-and-doughy mug shots to go by. (Avoiding stepping outside where one might be seen and subsisting on takeout tacos takes a toll on the body.)"

"Stories start from the ground — from people, not power. That is where truth lives."

"A digital bridge between Nepal and the world — where facts, culture, and people are represented truthfully."

"This is not just a website. It is Nepal’s own knowledge panel — built by Nepal, for Nepal, and shared with the world."

"Journalism loses its meaning if we compromise with fear."

"For us, independence is more valuable than comfort."

"Ordinary people rely on us to be their voice, and that responsibility gives me the strength to move forward."

"In Vladimir Putin's regime, business... organized crime and intelligence... can... be used as weapons of the state. ...[O]ne company that potentially questionable Russian money flowed through was Bayrock."

"Mogilevich... probably the most powerful mobster in Russia for more than 30 years. ...According to FBI files... in... prostitution... drug running... elaborate stock fraud scandals... [etc.] [R]enowned for... . ...the "brainy don" ...[came] up with... elaborate schemes... trusted by ...mobsters to launder their money... $1.3 trillion... it would be great to have a real estate mogul who had thousands... of luxury condos you could trade... through shell companies..."

"[Jody] Kriss... alleged that Bayrock was "covertly mob-owned and operated... backed by oligarchs and money they stole from the Russian people... engaged in... financial-institution fraud, tax fraud, partnership fraud, , , , and, on occasion, real estate.""

"...35 Trump Towers ...8,000 or 10,000 units. It would be interesting to figure out ...the scale of ...[D]uring the same period, since Putin's been in power ...$1.3 trillion in flight capital from Russia... to launder."

"[H]is first trip to Russia... hoping to build a Trump Tower in Moscow... ...the first ...presidential ambitions surface. ...in '88 ...a full page ad in The New York Times and '... the same kind of foreign policy... since ...president, attacking , attacking NATO... that appears to be in Russia's interest..."

"[A] free-for-all where he's laundering massive amounts of Russian money?"

"I would argue Mogilevich... has a direct relationship to Putin... [T]hat's come out in ...WikiLeaks releases... David Bogatin, going back to 1984, was tied to the Mogilevich crime gang, and Mogilevich is tied to Putin."

"Sater's ... did not appear to be a deal breaker for Trump. "Donald is happy with me...""

"I found... 13... episodes... , the president's home, was... a [] center for operations for... a long period..."

"If you're in a relationship with the , they're the boss. You're . ...[T]hey have compromised him, and they are ...an arm of the Russian government. Russia is a ."

"In ...2013 ...police ...rounded up... suspects in... gambling rings... prosecutors called "...world's largest sports book," ...in —including the entire fifty-first floor ...[A] condo ...below one owned by Trump ...served as headquarters for a "sophisticated money-laundering scheme" that moved ...$100 million out of the former Soviet Union ...into ...the United States ...under ...protection of ..."

"The "tower full of oligarchs," ...became a model for Trump’s projects ..."

"[W]hen was he first compromised by Russia? ...1984 ...David Bogatin, who allegedly had ties to the most powerful crime gang in Russia... who doesn't... [seemingly] have [legitimate] means of making a living... meets with Donald Trump, and... buys... five luxury condominiums for more than $6 million... in ... [T]he State Attorney General Office ...ruled ...that was money laundering for the ."

"Putin's greatest achievement... weaponized organized crime... effectively a powerful foreign policy tool... [T]hey've compromised... the president of the United States..."

"The suit claimed... the real purpose... in addition to marketing... condos bearing the Trump brand, was "to launder many millions... and evade taxes.""

"[A]ccording to the FBI... [] was the key money-laundering contact for the Solntsevskaya Bratva... one of the richest criminal syndicates in the world. ...[R]unning a multibillion-dollar worldwide racket ...drug trafficking and prostitution rings ...accused of selling ...stolen ...ground-to-air missiles and armored troop carriers, to Iran. ..."He uses ...wealth and power ..." the FBI says, "...to influence governments and their economies.""

"Yeltsin... would... describe Russia as "the biggest in the world.""

"According to the FBI... Mogilevich paid a Russian judge to spring... Vyachelsav Kirillovich Ivankov, from a... . ...Ivankov was the enforcer ...torturing ...victims and boasting about ...murders ..."

"During the '80s and '90s, we... repeatedly saw... criminals... use condos and high-rises to launder money," says Jonathan Winer... "it was a way of turning dirty money into clean money... and it explained why there are so many high-rises... sold but no one... living in them."

"In 1984... David Bogatin... former pilot in the ... specialty... shooting down Americans over ... plunked... $6 million to buy... five [Trump Tower] luxury condos. ...According to ... Trump personally attended the closing... Russian mobsters were beginning to invest in high-end real estate... an ideal vehicle to launder money..."

"[T]he public record makes clear that Trump built his business empire in no small part with a lot of dirty money from a lot of dirty Russians—including the dirtiest and most feared of them all."

"Boris Yeltsin's shift to a market economy was so abrupt that... s and corrupt government officials were able to privatize and loot state-held assets in oil, , s, and banking."

"After Vladimir Putin... Russian intelligence effectively joined forces with the country’s mobsters and oligarchs..."

"According to James Henry... $1.3 trillion in illicit capital has poured out of Russia since the 1990s."

"James Moody... told Friedman. "...we found out that Ivankov] was living in a luxury condo in ." ...high-level Russian mobsters came to view the future president's properties as a home away from home."

"[U]ntold millions from the former Soviet Union... wasn’t enough to save Trump from his... failings as a businessman. He owed $4 billion to... 70 banks... [F]ortunately... his... economic crisis coincided... In 1998, Russia defaulted on $40 billion... causing the ruble to plummet and... banks to close... oligarchs and mobsters scrambling to find a safe place... [for] their money. ... ...[c]onstruction got underway in 1999 ...one-third of the units on the ... priciest floors... [were] snatched up ...by individual buyers the former Soviet Union ...or ...companies connected to Russia."

"[E]xamining... deeds, bank records, and court documents... ' concluded... Trump SoHo had "multiple ties to an alleged international money-laundering network.""

"A Senate investigation... revealed that Bogatin was a leading figure in the Russian mob in New York. His ...ties ...led straight to the top: His brother ran a $150 million stock scam with ..., whom the FBI considers the "boss of bosses" of the ... Mogilevich ...was expanding his multibillion-dollar international criminal syndicate into America."