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New Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte tweeted support of Trump’s suggestion of bringing Russia back into the G7 (G8) https://www.voanews.com/a/4430233.html He was chosen by a coalition of pro-Russian parties, at least one of which is connected to Trump.

Italy’s new government is a coalition of M5S (Five Star Movement) and Lega (formerly Lega Nord – Northern League). “Lega leader Matteo Salvini will become deputy prime minister and minister of the interior, while M5S chief Luigi Di Maio will jointly be deputy prime minister and take over the economic development portfolio….” http://www.dw.com/en/political-novice-giuseppe-conte-sworn-in-as-italys-new-pm/a-44045876

Guido (George) Lombardi lives in Trump Tower and is reportedly a member of Trump’s Mar a Lago club. Lombardi has acted as an official representative (and advisor) for Italy’s Lega Nord party, now called Lega.

“Donald Trump gets my backing, says Italy’s Matteo Salvini: Leader of rightwing Northern League party praises US Republican presidential candidate after meeting in Philadelphia” Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Rome, Tue 26 Apr 2016 07.42 EDT, Last modified on Sun 4 Mar 2018 07.47 EST https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/26/donald-trump-gets-my-backing-says-italys-matteo-salvini

The Guardian reported in January 2017, that according to Italy’s ambassador to Nato from 2007 to 2010, Stefano Stefanini, “If there was a Five Star win, plus the Northern League [the rightwing party headed by Matteo Salvini], in addition to a pro-Russian president in France, the whole EU line on Russia would crumble,’...” See: “Italy’s Five Star Movement part of growing club of Putin sympathisers in west: M5S leader Beppe Grillo’s attitude to Russia has changed markedly as Kremlin courts anti-establishment parties“, by Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Rome Thu 5 Jan 2017 02.00 EST https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/05/five-star-movement-beppe-grillo-putin-supporters-west

Sanctions against Russia impact Italy’s oil and gas sector – partially state-owned Eni and suppliers. In 2017 the EU raised concerns that additional sanctions could “jeopardize Eni’s 50 percent stake in the Blue Stream pipeline from Russia to Turkey as well as the CPC pipeline, carrying Kazakh oil to the Black Sea, involving European groups BG Overseas Holdings, Shell and Eni….“, among other business interests named in the article. See Reuters: “EU Warns US It May Counter New Sanctions on Russia“, July 26, 2017 11:33 AM, https://www.voanews.com/a/eu-us-new-sanctions-russia/3959869.html Real sanctions would indeed impact business. That is supposed to be their purpose. Many western European countries are not really serious about sanctions against Russia. And, the EU has failed to help Italy pay for the challenges faced due to the constant influx of migrants and refugees. Italy needs help both to secure borders and to care for those who make it into Italy.

Italian Neofascist Leader’s Message to Local Business: Invest in Crimea (i.e. Yet Another “Make Putin’s Russia Great Again” Candidate)

George “Guido” Lombardi, apparently Giorgio Guido Lombardi migrated from Italy to the US in the 1970s. He lives in Trump Tower and is reportedly a member of Trump’s Mar a Lago club. Lombardi has acted as an official representative (and advisor) for Italy’s Lega Nord party, and says that he served as a consultant for Italy’s former PM Berlusconi. In December 2016, Politico reported that Lombardi calls himself a real estate investor and that he is a member of the Lega Nord (Northern League) (Vinocur, Nicholas, “Donald Trump’s European fixer…is his neighbor“. 12/15/16 Politico. eu)

A Lega Nord leader, Lorenzo Fontana, told Franco-Italian reporter Raphael Tresanini at a FN conference in late 2014 that the Lega Nord has continuous contact with Russia. He said that the Russians want to put in place the foundations of a new society and they help the forces that move in that direction. See more-link, further below.

At almost 24 minutes into the BBC Panaroma documentary, “Marine Le Pen: Who’s Funding France’s Far Right” http://youtu.be/0ClNpJYuqdE the narrator explains that Lombardi organized a fund-raising cocktail party for Marine Le Pen. Lombardi states that they had around 35 to 40 guests in his apartment at Trump Tower. Some were Americans from Wall Street, Lombardi says. Some of the people there could have easily given $1 million “without blinking an eye“. Earlier, at around 23 minutes, the narrator explained that one week before Donald Trump’s inauguration, Marine Le Pen showed up at Trump Tower. She is interviewed saying that they are looking for funding all over, and why not the United States? Lombardi is friend to the European right and friend to Donald Trump as well as his neighbor, as the narrarator further explains. Lombardi lives in same Trump Tower that Donald lives in, and is a member of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. The names of the 35 to 40 guests appear to be secret. (Update: The original BBC link is dead, this is another copy http://youtu.be/rZzywbd5dJ0 and the minutes may or may not match the original).

In striking irony, at 19 min 47 sec. during a French Presidential debate, fake French Nationalist Marine Le Pen accused Macron of selling jobs out to Italy, and yet she has sold herself to only the devil knows who, via an Italian, alongside Russia: http://www.france2.fr/emission/2017-le-debat/diffusion-du-03-05-2017-20h55

Rare information about Guido Lombardi is found in a 2002 Washington Post article, where his older wife has a 25-carat diamond ring; he alleges that he’s Count de Canevaro, and he and his wife say they are “good friends with Donald Trump“. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2002/05/15/the-reliable-source/ed7e28ce-09fd-4c49-b5e5-d9c87d8af17b

According to the New York Times, “The political operative she [Marine Le Pen] went to meet at Trump Tower, George G. Lombardi, is a businessman who has made a career as a liaison between two right-wing Italian political parties — the Northern League and Forza Italia — and like-minded people in the United States. He has also worked with the National Front since 2012…” Pictures of Lombardi with former Senate majority leader Bob Dole, and former NY Republican Senator Alfonse D’Amato, as well as a younger Trump, are found on one of his web sites, they say: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/13/world/europe/marine-le-pen-trump.html. Recall: https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2017/03/23/russian-oligarch-deripaska-tied-to-manafort-also-has-past-links-to-bob-dole/

In a more recent interview with the New York Times, Lombardi says that he was born in Geneva and moved to Rome, as a child, and that it was the 1968 protests, and popularity of communism at his university, that made him leave for America. He says that he started out in the jewelry business, then turned to real estate. He married the apparently older widow of real estate magnate Frank Lahainer, who already lived in Trump Tower, and was originally from Trieste, Italy, as was Frank Lahainer. Trieste faces Venice, on the Adriatic. See: “A Trump Tower Neighbor Is the Point Man for Europe’s Populists“. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/14/world/europe/trump-tower-neighbor-europe-populists-orban-wilders-le-pen.html (Did the New York Times confuse Geneva with Genoa (Genova), or was he born in Switzerland?)
They aren’t “populists”, they are fascists. Populists have the good of the people in mind.

Although it was apparently bought by Frank Lahainer, the 25 carat diamond, mentioned in the 2002 Washington Post article, called up a memory about the sell-off of huge diamonds by Russia in the 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Lev Leviev is believed to have helped liquidate these assets. Lev Leviev is also reportedly behind Putin’s Milan born Rabbi Berel Lazar (Lombardi’s dual compatriot: American-Italian) Lev Leviev is a major Chabad donor. Ivanka and Jared Kushner are affiliated with Chabad.

Isn’t it bizarre that Putin’s official Rabbi Lazar was born in Milan, in Lombardy Italy, and ordained Rabbi in New York City? Lazar is a member of the Chabad Ludavitch sect, who have their own book, which is not used by mainstream Judaism. Lazar is reported as having both American and Russian citizenship and his wife as having American citizenship. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berel_Lazar
The “King of Diamonds” Lev Leviev’s friendship with Putin reportedly goes back to 1992. See too: https://lostmessiahdotcom.wordpress.com/2016/04/11/east-meets-west-and-the-odd-new-york-times-expose/

In 2007, the New York Times reported: “Putin also took Leviev’s side in a dispute over the post of chief rabbi of Russia, backing Leviev’s candidate, Berel Lazar, over Adolf Shayevich, who held the position. The Kremlin’s endorsement of Lazar was a final confirmation that Leviev had achieved a typically audacious and improbable victory — putting the fundamentalist Chabad in effective control of the assimilated, mostly irreligious Jewish communities of the former Soviet Union.” “The Missionary Mogul“: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/16/magazine/16Leviev-t.html. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lev_Avnerovich_Leviev

“The LN was founded in 1991 as a federation of several regional parties of northern and central Italy, notably including Liga Veneta, Lega Lombarda, Piemont Autonomista, Uniun Ligure, Lega Emiliano-Romagnola and Alleanza Toscana.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lega_Nord. According to Lombardi’s guidolombardi .org web site (accessed in 2017) , “he has served as the official representative of Italy’s Lega Nord party (Northern League) to the United States.” The Lega Nord was part of Berlusconi’s ruling coalition in Italy. The web site also says that he’s served as a political and economic consultant for “Berlusconi and his party Popolo delle Liberta as well as the Lega Nord.” “The People of Freedom (Italian: Il Popolo della Libertà, PdL) was a centre-right political party in Italy. The PdL, launched by Silvio Berlusconi on 18 November 2007, was initially a federation of political parties, notably including Forza Italia and National Alliance, which participated as a joint election list in the 2008 general election. The federation was later transformed into a party during a party congress on 27–29 March 2009.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_People_of_Freedom. The web site north atlantic league .net calls Lombardi a “respected consultant in the U.S. and in Italy, with over 20 years of ‘hands on’ experience in restructuring and reviving small and medium-size businesses“, and shows him shaking hands with former New York Mayor and Trump support Rudy Giuliani. See various links here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Lombardi

In late 2014, at the FN’s Congress, Raphael Tresanini interviewed the second in command of the Italian Nationalist Lega Nord, Lorenzo Fontana, who is a European Deputy. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congrès_de_Lyon_(Front_national) Ca 26 min Tresanini asks Fontana how things work with Russia and if there’s still contact. Fontana responds that yes, there is continuous contact. They (the Russians) say that they want to put in place the foundations of a new society and they help the forces that move in that direction. (Spécial Investigation documentary, “Front national, l’œil de Moscou“, Nov. 2015- French only: http://youtu.be/vVyQg9Db6SY ). What is the nature of this help? The narrator points to an earlier Mediapart report about Russian loans. There have been additional reports. Around 11 million euros in loans or more to Le Pen’s FN party: https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/france/dossier/dossier-largent-russe-du-front-national. While not explained in the documentary, the agenda is not so different from that of Islamic extremists. It’s an anti-woman agenda – sadly ironic since Marine Le Pen is a woman.

Le Pen at Trump Tower:

According to the Guardian, Marine Le Pen has “been the only French political leader to back Trump in his bid for the White House. She has also made no secret of her admiration for Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin… Le Pen’s relations with Trump are less clearcut. She has said she would have voted for him if she could, and he has come close to endorsing her… In January, Le Pen was photographed drinking coffee in Trump Tower with her partner, the party’s vice-president Louis Aliot, and Guido “George” Lombardi, a businessman neighbour of Trump’s who has portrayed himself as a kind of European far-right fixer for the president.” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/29/marine-le-pen-putin-trump-axis

While very well done, the BBC Panorama documentary fails to note, however, that Chauprade, who they also interview, is very tied in with Konstantin Malofeev and his Orthodox Christian extremism. Malofeev, is reportedly behind at least some loans to Le Pen’s FN Party. They do mention, however, that Chauprade quit the party after he helped two French pilots awaiting trial on cocaine trafficking escape from the Dominican Republic: http://youtu.be/0ClNpJYuqdE Chauprade’s written a book about the “clash of civilizations” between Europe and the Islamic world. See more, including videos of Chauprade and Malofeev eating together, at Mediapart links at bottom of our blog post. Marine Le Pen’s surprise visit to the Kremlin where she met Putin is at ca 14 min: http://youtu.be/0ClNpJYuqdE. In the Spécial Investigation documentary, “Front national, l’œil de Moscou” (Nov. 2015) by Raphael Tresanini, http://youtu.be/vVyQg9Db6SY, Chauprade’s EU parliamentary seat appears to be next to Northern League (Lega Nord) member Mario Borghezio. However, the person with the blurred face sitting in Borghezio’s chair and whispering his concerns about Malofeev to Chauprade appears to be Jean-Luc Schaffhauser, who also appears in the BBC Panorama documentary. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Borghezio
Update note: Here is a link re the cocaine case, mentioning Chauprade: “Frenchman extradited over escape of ‘Air Cocaine’ pilots” 4 March 2016 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-35720128

At 20.53 min into the Special Investigation documentary, the narrator calls Chauprade the most Russian compatable member of the party. The narrator says that Chauprade went back and forth once or twice monthly between Paris and Moscow starting in 2011. On June 13, 2013 Chauprade spoke before the Russian parliament (Duma). Recall that Le Pen’s proposed Prime Minister, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, also spoke before the Duma in 2015. https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2017/05/03/did-putin-pick-french-candidate-le-pens-prime-minister/

Although he has said that he’s an economic and political consultant, and a real estate investor, how do we know who Guido Lombardi really is? Or why he left Italy in the 1970s? The more recent article suggests that it was the late 1960s. Did he give the real reasons?

While Lombardi appears to have married into real estate wealth, and to have used it to promote his, and possibly his wife’s, political agenda, one can’t help but recall that Trump’s lawyer and mentor, Roy Cohn, was a mob lawyer.

We know that both Trump and Putin have had at least indirect ties to the mafia, whether they themselves are aware of it or not. https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2017/01/21/trumps-greatest-mentor-roy-cohn-was-attorney-for-nyc-mob-families-and-red-baiting-aide-to-joe-mccarthy-wayne-barrett-rip-january-19-2017-interview/

So, as not to be remiss, here are a few things to consider about possible reasons that Lombardi could have left Italy in the 1970s, besides those he gave, which sound legitimate. Was Lombardi tied in with the KGB? Was he involved in some sort of separatist attack? Is he mafia?

KGB Italy: https://www.senato.it/service/PDF/PDFServer/BGT/301457.pdf

“The Years of Lead (Italian: Anni di piombo) is a term used for a period of social and political turmoil in Italy that lasted from the late 1960s until the early 1980s, marked by a wave of both left-wing and right-wing incidents of political terrorism.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Years_of_Lead_(Italy) Did he flee from fear, or was he involved?

Did he or his wife fund any plots? While taking over Venice, which was historically a City-State, with a tiny tank appears humorous, the Italian authorities didn’t see it that way: “Italian forces arrest Veneto separatists over alleged plot to attack Venice, Authorities release footage of ‘tank’ they say would have been deployed in St Mark’s Square on eve of European elections” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/02/italy-arrest-veneto-separatists-plot-tank

Then, of course, the most obvious and stereotypical possibility. Is Guido Lombardi linked to organized crime, as so many in Trump Tower(s) appear to have been? Is Rabbi Lazar? “Like Italy’s largest mafia organisation, the Calabrian ’Ndrangheta – and to a lesser extent Sicily’s famous Cosa Nostra – Camorristi have a long history of establishing outposts in cities well away from their southern Italian bases.” http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/mafia-war-in-milan-three-murders-in-three-days-as-camorra-linked-mafia-boss-pasquale-tatone-is-8915830.html The American mafia has long included Jewish mafia, mostly from the old Russian Empire.

There have been US mafiosi with the surname of Lombardi, as well:
“Last Remaining Fugitive in Largest Coordinated Organized Crime Takedown in the History of the FBI Surrenders FBI New York January 26, 2011 Joseph Lombardi, aka “Joe Dogs,” who was wanted for his alleged involvement in extortion and extortion conspiracy, surrendered today to the FBI in New York. Lombardi was the only remaining fugitive in last week’s largest coordinated organized crime takedown in the history of the FBI. This marks a successful conclusion to last week’s operation, as all 127 indicted members and associates of La Cosa Nostra have now been arrested.” https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/newyork/press-releases/2011/last-remaining-fugitive-in-largest-coordinated-organized-crime-takedown-in-the-history-of-the-fbi-surrenders

“On December 3, 2013, Corry Lombardi was sentenced to 70 months in prison on narcotics charges.” https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/newyork/press-releases/2013/member-of-albanian-drug-gang-called-the-wolfpack-sentenced-in-manhattan-federal-court-to-135-months-in-prison-in-connection-with-narcotics-and-firearms-offenses

“United States v. Moreno, Medrano, Wozniak, Lombardi, and Lombardi
Moreno and Medrano were charged with soliciting bribes; Wozniak and Gerald W. Lombardi were charged with offering bribes; and Medrano and the Lombardis were charged with bribery conspiracy in a three-count criminal complaint. According to the complaint affidavit, Wozniak and Gerald W. Lombardi communicated with Moreno in June 2010 about benefitting disabled veterans-owned businesses, and in September 2010, Moreno sponsored a county ordinance that gave a preference to such businesses. Later in September 2010, the FBI intercepted conversations between Moreno and Medrano about meeting with Wozniak and Gerald W. Lombardi, including one in which Medrano told Moreno that Wozniak and Gerald W. Lombardi wanted “to dangle a bigger piece of the pie in front of you.” https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/chicago/press-releases/2012/former-cook-county-commissioner-former-chicago-alderman-and-five-businessmen-charged-in-three-alleged-bribery-schemes

“TAMPA, FL—U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Kovachevich sentenced Daniel E. Lombardi (30, St. Petersburg) yesterday to 10 years in federal prison for transportation of child pornography. The court also ordered Lombardi to forfeit a laptop computer and two hard drives, which he used to facilitate the commission of the offense. Lombardi pled guilty on May 8, 2012.“. https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/tampa/press-releases/2012/st.-petersburg-man-sentenced-to-10-years-for-transportation-of-child-pornography

More on Lev Leviev
According to Politico, 8-26-16, Donald “Trump and Bayrock partnered with the Sapir Organization, led by the now-deceased Tamir Sapir and his son Alex, in the development of the Trump SoHo high-rise in Manhattan a decade ago. During the Cold War, Tamir Sapir, an émigré from the Soviet Union, sold electronics to KGB agents from a storefront in Manhattan. Alex Sapir’s business partner Rotem Rosen is a former lieutenant of the Soviet-born Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev, an oligarch with longstanding ties to Vladimir Putin who counts the Russian president as a ‘true friend.” In: “Trump’s mob-linked ex-associate gives $5,400 to campaign: The Russian-born businessman says he visited Trump Tower last month for ‘confidential’ reasons“, by BEN SCHRECKINGER 08/26/16 Politico .com – Politico .eu. We also know that Trump’s ties to Chabad Lubavitch go back to his father, Fred, probably through Bunny Lindenbaum. Trump’s daughter Ivanka and son-in-law are also members of Chabad.

Bloomberg has Rotem Rosen as President of AFI USA, with Alex Sapir (The Sapir Organization and ASRR Capital) as a board member of AFI USA. AFI USA is a subsidiary of Africa Israel Investments, Ltd., created in 2000, based in New York, and which is involved in real estate. Rotem Rosen is also listed as affiliated with Africa-Israel Investments and ASRR Capital: https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=61045588&privcapId=60980613 Africa-Israel investments was aquired by Lev Leviev in 1996: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa_Israel_Investments

According to a 2003 Forbes magazine article, Lev Leviev has known Putin since Putin’s days as Deputy Mayor of St. Petersburg. As of 2003, Leviev owned 100% of Ruis. He developed a relationship with Valery Rudakov, who ran Soviet miner Alrosa, under Gorbachev, according to Forbes. Leviev obtained access to at least part of Russia’s rough-diamond supply. The Russian government sold-off both rough and polished diamonds from Gokhran, it’s “repository of gems, gold, art and antiques“, that it had been accumulating, possibly since the mid 1950s, and estimated as worth $12 billion. “It is widely believed that Leviev became a primary means of liquidating the stockpile,” said Forbes. They quoted Richard Wake-Walker as saying that it included diamonds of 100 carats and larger. William Goldberg Diamond, a Manhattan firm “took advantage of the unparalleled deluge“. A large part of the Russian stockpile had been liquidated by 1997. Read: “Cracked De Beers” by Phyllis Berman and Lea Goldman, 9/15/2003, Forbes .com (Lev Leviev is also a serious diamond cutter-expert who broke De Beers’ monopoly.)


Russia Diamond Mine

More recently, on 28 October 2013, Alrosa “carried out the IPO. The Russian government and the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) sold a combined 14% stake (in equal shares), while Alrosa offered about 2% in treasury stock. U.S. investors were the biggest buyers of the shares, purchasing up to 60% of the stake, 24% got European investors, Russian investors accounted for about 14%. Investment funds Oppenheimer Funds Inc. and Lazard Ltd. took part in the IPO and bought over 2% of the stake. Alrosa raised $1.3 billion in share sales.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alrosa Is Rabbi Lazar kin to the Lazards? One of the brothers spelled the name Lazare: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazard

“Les casseroles de Konstantin Malofeev, oligarque russe soutien du Front national 21 FÉVRIER 2016 PAR AGATHE DUPARC Konstantin Malofeev a joué un rôle de premier plan dans le rapprochement du Front national et de la Russie. Ce philanthrope orthodoxe et homme d’affaires affiche un parcours pour le moins trouble. Mediapart a exhumé certains épisodes de sa carrière, dont le conflit qui l’a opposé en 2011 à AXA Private Equity. Les Français l’avaient alors soupçonné d’avoir siphonné des centaines de millions de dollars à son profit. L’affaire s’est terminée par un accord secret et n’a jamais été éclaircie.” https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/international/210216/les-casseroles-de-konstantin-malofeev-oligarque-russe-soutien-du-front-national

«Front national, l’œil de Moscou »: enquête sur l’alliance avec la Russie de Poutine” 2 NOVEMBRE 2015 PAR MARINE TURCHI Une enquête de « Spécial Investigation » (Canal Plus) démontre que les Le Pen sont en contact avec le milliardaire russe Konstantin Malofeev, un proche de Vladimir Poutine. Nos confrères ont enquêté à Paris, Moscou et Vienne sur la filière russe du FN. https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/france/021115/front-national-loeil-de-moscou-enquete-sur-lalliance-avec-la-russie-de-poutine

Le Pen’s Trump Tower Italian Fundraiser Tied to Lega Nord-Russia; Are Diamonds Le Pen’s Best Friend?