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Valentin "Val" Broeksmit (January 14, 1976 - April 25, 2022)[1] was a whistleblower and FBI informant.[2][3]
David Enrich wrote in The New York Times that Val's "trove of corporate emails, financial materials, boardroom presentations and legal reports is credible — even if he is not".[3] Broeksmit's death in April 2022 has been the subject of conspiracy theories.[4]
Early life[edit]
Val Broeksmit was born in Ukraine in 1976 before emigrating to Chicago in 1979 with his parents, Alla and Alexander. After his parents divorced, Val lived in a foster home in Cook County. When he was nine, he moved to New Jersey after Alla met and married Bill Broeksmit.[3][5][6]
Investigations[edit]
In 2014, William S. Broeksmit, a risk specialist at Deutsche Bank who was very close to Anshu Jain and hired by Edson Mitchell to spearhead Deutsche Bank's foray into international investments and money management in the 1990s, committed suicide.[7][8][9][10] Broeksmit's adopted son Val Broeksmit found a trove of bank records in his father's email account, including minutes of board meetings, spreadsheets, and financial plans from the New York branch of the Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas (DBTCA). Welt am Sonntag and ZDF, revealed numerous irregularities including both a $10 billion money laundering scheme spearheaded by the Russia branch of Deutsche Bank at Moscow, which the New York State Department of Financial Services fined Deutsche Bank $425 million, and derivatives improprieties.[3][11][12][13][14]
Later that year, Val Broeksmit downloaded the hacked Sony files and spread them online, and suggested the hackers go after Deutsche Bank. Broeksmit made purchases with his mother's stolen American Express information.[3]
In January 2017, Glenn R. Simpson from Fusion GPS paid for copies of Broeksmit's documents.[3] In 2019, Moby introduced him to Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, which was investigating Trump's ties to Deutsche Bank. Broeksmit reportedly asked for money for the documents and was refused before being subpoenaed. Broeksmit became a cooperating witness and shared the files with the FBI. In exchange, the FBI gave Broeksmit a "special advisory title" and helped his French girlfriend obtain a US visa.[3][13][14]
In a 2020 meeting with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, agents asked Broeksmit about Barrett Brown. Broeksmit thought the agents wanted help setting Brown up, and he was almost agreed before he changed his mind, saying "I’m not going to give you Barrett Brown right now". Broeksmit later posted a recording of the meeting online.[2]
Disappearance, arrest and death[edit]
In April 2021, Val Broeksmit went missing but his Twitter account remained active. The Los Angeles Police Department said he was last seen on April 6, 2021.[14][15]
In early 2022, Broeksmit was arrested for carrying a privately made firearm. Later, employees of Brewery Artist Complex filed for a restraining order against him in April 2022 for allegedly threatening them with a homemade firearm, citing "a continuing pattern of unlawful and harassing conduct occurring over a significant period".[4] Later that month, Val Broeksmit was found dead on the campus of Wilson High School in El Sereno. It appeared Broeksmit had fallen from a tree and suffered blunt-force trauma, broken ribs, and a spinal fracture. The cause undetermined, but authorities did not suspect foul play[2][14][16] and the coroner ruled the death an accident.[1] Baseless speculation about Broeksmit's death led to QAnon and other conspiracy theorists who compared him to Vince Foster and Seth Rich.[4]
References[edit]
- ^ a b "Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner". Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner. 2022-04525. 2023-12-06. Retrieved 2024-02-20.
- ^ a b c Silverman, Jacob (2024-02-20). "The Ballad of Barrett Brown". Intelligencer. Retrieved 2024-02-20.
- ^ a b c d e f g Enrich, David (October 1, 2019). "Me and My Whistle-Blower". The New York Times.
- ^ a b c Gault, Matthew (2022-04-29). "Val Broeksmit, Deutsche Bank, and the Birth of a New Conspiracy Theory". Vice. Retrieved 2024-02-20.
- ^ Roberts, Sam (May 13, 2022). "Val Broeksmit, 46, Who Blew the Whistle on Deutsche Bank, Dies".
- ^ Flitter, Emily; Enrich, David (15 April 2019). "Deutsche Bank Is Subpoenaed for Trump Records by House Democrats". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 12 October 2021.Deutsche Bank Is Subpoenaed for Trump Records by House Democrats
- ^ "Was suicide of Deutsche Bank executive linked to Trump and Russia money-laundering?". 14 May 2017. Retrieved 12 October 2021.Was suicide of Deutsche Bank executive linked to Trump and Russia money laundering?
- ^ Laabs, Dirk (14 May 2017). "Deutsche Bank: Freitod offenbart System des verdrängten Risikos". DIE WELT (in German). Retrieved 12 October 2021.Um seine Leiche herum lagen interne Dokumente der Deutschen Bank
- ^ Jr, Landon Thomas (30 December 2016). "Deutsche Bank Flew and Fell. Some Paid a High Price". The New York Times – via NYTimes.com.
- ^ Ian Spiegelman (27 November 2019). "Former Deutsche Bank Exec Connected to Trump Loans Dies by Suicide in Malibu".Former Deutsche Bank Exec Connected to Trump Loans Dies by Suicide in Malibu
- ^ Stuart, Gwynedd (2 October 2019). "How Moby Reportedly Played a Role in an Unfolding Trump-Whistleblower Story". Retrieved 12 October 2021.How Moby Reportedly Played a Role in an Unfolding Trump-Whistleblower Story
- ^ Enrich, David (18 March 2019). "A Mar-a-Lago Weekend and an Act of God: Trump's History With Deutsche Bank". The New York Times – via NYTimes.com.
- ^ a b Porter, Tom. "The son of a late Deutsche Bank executive who had a stash of secret bank records has spoken to investigators probing Trump". Business Insider. Retrieved 2024-02-20.
- ^ a b c d "Informant who gave FBI details on Trump's dealings with Deutsche Bank found dead". The Independent. 2022-04-28. Retrieved 2024-02-20.
- ^ "Missing 45-Year-Old Male NR21113ti". LAPD Online. Retrieved 2024-02-20.
- ^ "Man Found Dead At LAUSD School Was Val Broeksmit, Who Blew Whistle On Deutsche Bank". LAist. 2022-04-27. Retrieved 2024-02-20.