Translated material
Three -faced Janos
As a former FSB officer received millions of dollars to launder money, and then worked for the FBI: The Guardian
Alexey Artamonov, Andrei Bogden, Yanosh Newman is the same person. Under the name of Artamonov, he served in the FSB, then earned $ 2.5 million to launder money at the bank, and after that he left for the Dominican Republic. Under the name of Bogden, he moved to the United States, where he became Yanosh Newman and collaborated with the FBI for several years. Now he was left without a contract with the Federal Bureau of Investigations - and therefore without legal grounds, to be in the States. The Guardian newspaper told the exciting story of Alexei Artamonov.
In 1996, when he was 17 years old, Alexei Artamonov entered the FSB Academy, which he calls the Higher School of the KGB. This was a logical solution: all his relatives either served in the army or worked in special services. The great -grandfather pursued the Bolsheviks under the king, his grandfather served in intelligence under Stalin, his father worked in the KGB. It was the father who determined Alexei at the FSB Academy. And at the age of 13, Artamonov visited the United States - as his father later admitted, he sent his son there to master his tongue and "recognize the enemy better."
After graduating from the academy, Alexei Artamonov entered the service in the FSB Department, which is engaged in economic crimes. He investigated cases against bankers, and also monitored foreign businessmen, collecting incriminating evidence on them. However, the career developed slowly at the FSB, and he decided to get a bank - by that time Artamonov understood where real money was being spinning. Thanks to the connections at the FSB, he received the post of head of the security service at the creditpex bank, which helped customers launder money.
According to Artamonov, one of the schemes looked like this: an company was created abroad, which allegedly provided a loan of Russian organization. This organization paid a loan - thus, the money went abroad. Artamonov received a salary of five to six thousand dollars, but the main income went from the bank commission for working with washing schemes. As a result, he earned tens of thousands of dollars a month, and once received 100 thousand dollars at once. Three years income amounted to about 2.5 million dollars. According to Artamonov, most of the money earned was spent by his wife Victoria. “If she needed to go to the store, I just gave her what she needed. 100 thousand rubles. 200 thousand rubles. I just took a pack of money and gave it, ”says a former FSB officer.
According to Artamonov, he maintained ties with the FSB officers. Employees of the special services supposedly even “transported money” of the bank. At the FSB and the police, the bank bought information about future inspections by state bodies. In addition, Artamonov used his official certificate.
However, at some point he became too greedy. When a creditpex bank decided to buy a smaller bank, Artamonov demanded 10% of the transaction (several million dollars) for himself and his team, although he had nothing to do with it. After that, a bank account was frozen. Artamonov realized that more dangerous consequences could come-and decided to escape (after a few years, in 2014, a license for money was withdrawn from the creditpesbank-the regulator found suspicious operations for 13 billion rubles only in 2013).
In June 2008, Artamonov flew to the Dominican Republic with his wife, since you can enter there without a visa. There the family began to think about what to do next. Artamonov developed a plan: to cooperate with the American special services, get new passports and money in return, move to Switzerland or Denmark. A week after arriving in the Dominican Republic, Alexei Artamonov went to the American embassy and asked for a meeting with a suitable employee. A woman came. The Russian showed her his FSB certificate, and they agreed to meet in a cafe a couple of hours later.
Two employees came to the meeting, who asked that Artamonov could inform them. He said that he was ready to provide information about corruption, the connections of the Russian authorities with criminals in Russia and the USA, as well as the roles of the FSB in the bribery system. One of the Americans gave him 2.5 thousand dollars. During June-July 2008, Artamonov met with CIA employees six times. Artamonov assures that the CIA employees promised him to pay $ 1.8 million.
One morning, an American agent took a couple to a state institution, where they were given Dominican documents in the name of Andrei and Maria Bogdenov, Serbs from Belgrade. On the morning of July 16, the family was put on a catamaran and took the Caribbean to Puerto Rico on the Caribbean. Near the island they were picked up by an American boat. The couple thought Puerto Rico was the end point of the trip, but they were put on the plane and sent to Virginia.
Until this moment, the CIA was engaged in them, but now they went on to the jurisdiction of the FBI. The day after arrival, they met with three FBI agents, who, according to Artamonov, were as if from the film “People in Black”. The FBI employees assured a couple that for one year they would receive a green card and will be able to find work in the United States. They promised to pay 300 thousand dollars (but not 1.8 million), as well as pay for cooperation at 3.5 thousand dollars per month to everyone.
After a couple of months, the family was sent to Philadelphia, and three months later they took to court in Salt Lake City, where they were assigned new names. Alexey Artamonov became Yanosh Newman. He took the name in honor of the two -faced god Janus, and the surname was formed from the phrase “New Man” (new person). In the end, in November 2008, the newly made Newman was sent to Portland, about which they had not heard anything before.
For several years in a row, the contract of cooperation with the FBI extended, although relations with the special services eventually deteriorated. "Newman" demanded to give him new passports, but the FBI pulled. The bureau began to say that Newman refuses cooperation. According to Newman, such an impression could have developed, because he refused to talk about the legal activities of the FSB and provided information only about illegal. In addition, employees of the American special services believed that not all the stories of “Janos Newman” can be believed. The Russian himself assures that the Americans doubted in cases where the information could not instantly verify.
In 2013, the FBI terminated the contract with the Russians. The couple was left without documents and constant earnings. They spent the money received from the FBI to rent an expensive apartment in the center of Portland (it turned out to be difficult to rent cheap housing, since the family did not have documents and credit history) and Victoria treatment (about 130 thousand dollars took the operation).
Newman filed a petition for the provision of political asylum, but he was refused, because, according to the American authorities, he poses a threat to the United States as a former employee of the Russian special services. Now Newman is waiting for the consideration of an appeal in which he will most likely refuse him. To earn money for lawyers, recently a Russian played an episodic role in the series "Grimm"; It goes on the TNT channel and is broadcast throughout the country. "Newman" acted as a kidnapper who should pull the woman out of the hotel; He is killed in a matter of minutes. In the credits of Newman is indicated as the nameless “Man No. 1”.
The immigration case of Newman is engaged in lawyer Michael Wilds, who specializes in the help of informants. His couple was advised by an employee of the FBI Karen, with whom Victoria became friends during his cooperation with the bureau. Lawyer Judy Snyder (also working with the Newman) said that at first she could not believe in this whole story. But then I checked the documents provided (including a contract with the FBI) - and considered it convincing.
“The biggest mistake was to trust the bureau. Frankly, I had a completely different opinion regarding their professional level and their dignity. This is a great disappointment for me, ”said Alexei Artamonov, he is Andrei Bogden, he is Yanosh Newman.
“I do not think that there was a mistake [to cooperate with the Americans]. My mistake was to leave Moscow. There is a big difference between why he left, and why I left. I left for him. I did not leave because I could not help but leave. But we cannot return, ”says Victoria.