On June 29, 2016, following intensive collaboration between the DNC and the Ukrainian government of Dmitro Poroshenko, the FBI signs a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU). In the words of then the FBI Acting Deputy Assistant Director Mathew S. Moon:
If, for instance, your criminal proceeding has the accordant proceedings in the US, you [NABU] can give us the numbers of the bank accounts and it will be the reason for us to issue a notice of suspicion for a person and receive the necessary information much faster.
“The person” targeted by this accord is Paul Manafort. The term “notice of suspicion” is a Freudian slip. The MoU explicitly mentions information flow in both directions, and “international money laundering,” a vaguely defined crime to which Paul Manafort later admitted. In August, NABU would publish on its website a cute Statement regarding P.Manafort’s appearance on the Party of Regions black ledger:
In response to numerous requests from mass media regarding appearance of the name of Paul Manafort on the Party of Regions ‘black ledger’ … Paul Manafort is among those names on the list of the so-called “black ledger” of the Party of Regions, which is investigated by the detectives of National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine.
To avoid rumors and speculations, the NABU is publishing copies of 19 pages, containing 22 items related to the name of Paul Manafort.
Cute, isn’t it? The pages are empty, except for lines mentioning Manafort. Notice that this so-called “black ledger” came into play only on May 27, after the DNC asked the Ukrainian government for help against Donald Trump. From a recent NABU statement:
“The Party of Regions “black ledger” — more than 800 pages of records, passed by the former First Deputy Head of the Security Service of Ukraine Viktor Trepak to the NABU on May 27, 2016. The records allegedly contain data on multiple payments from the shadow cashbox of the Party of Regions to Ukrainian top-officials and civil activists.”
The FBI knew or suspected that the “black ledger” was fake.
By the way, Matthew S. Moon was appointed by the FBI Director Comey to his high office in DC in February 2016. He moved from Los Angeles, CA. From Moon’s LinkedIn profile:
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- Section Chief
Dates Employed: Feb 2016 – Feb 2018
Location: Washington D.C. Metro Area
Senior Executuve in the Criminal Investigative Division, Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section. Was responsible for all Public Corruption, Civil Rights, International Corruption -FCPA/Kleptocracy/Antitrust, and International Human Rights investigations at the FBI.
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- Assistant Special Agent in Charge
Dates Employed: Apr 2011 – Feb 2016
Location: Greater Los Angeles Area
Oversaw all Public Corruption, Civil Rights, and White Collar Crime investigations for FBI Los Angeles.
Unrelated: the number of organic clicks from Google search in the US decreased 20% from Q1 2016 to Q1 2019. See How Much of Google’s Search Traffic is Left for Anyone But Themselves? Is it because Fake Ranking has consequences or the users behavior as intended by Google?