Welcome to Pay Dirt—exclusive reporting and research from The Daily Beast’s Lachlan Markay on corruption, campaign finance, and influence-peddling in the nation’s capital. For Beast Inside members only.
A lobbying firm run by former Trump campaign aides just registered to work on behalf of a company partially owned by Vladimir Putin’s former chief of staff and a Russian oligarch who reportedly funded a Kremlin-backed infiltration of American conservative groups ahead of the 2016 election.
The client is American Ethane Co., and Turnberry Solutions, the lobbying firm, says it will be working to secure permits for the firm to provide ethane to a Chinese aluminum producer, a deal singled out by Trump himself for praise in 2017.