DATE:
January 17, 2000
SUBJECT: Timothy L. O’Brien's
article "Doubts Raised About Source
in Bank of New York Inquiry" (January 17, 2000)
Dear Editor-in-Chief:
For 25 years I have been a journalist and
newscaster for major Russian language media, such as Radio Free
Europe-Radio Liberty, Izvestia, Moscow News and others. I investigated
and covered events relating to the Bank of New York - Russian
laundering scandal years before they appeared in the Western press.
Indeed, most of what has appeared in the Times as regards the BoNY-Russian
bank scandal in the past five months has been based on the material
which I and other members of the Russian press corps provided to Tim
O'Brien out of professional courtesy.
I note with sorrow that your Tim O'Brien was
correct when he boasted that "access to the the Times pages
to settle personal scores was a fringe benefit available to
NYT reporters." On its face O'Brien's article appears to be a
pathetic attempt to punish a former front page source for sharing
information with other reporters and to spook off members of competing
media from the source, which Tim views as "his exclusive".
Otherwise, the above referenced article is boring, uninformative,
biased, grossly inaccurate and full of reporter's own absurd
conjectures.
I have had the opportunity to witness first hand
the history of creation (a more proper word is
"manufacture") of Tim's "article" and to discuss
it with him. Tim told me as early as October 29, 1999, that he
was going to publish an article questioning the authenticity of
documents referenced in the Wall Street Journal "Grigoriev
story". ("Former
Russian Official Of World Bank Is Probed").
Tim also intimated that he intended to crucify all
those whom he suspected of being sources for the article. Tim has
chosen an attorney in a class action against the Bank of New York,
Emanuel E. Zeltser, Esq. and witnesses who gave evidence in the money
laundering proceedings involving the now defunct Russian
mob-linked Inkombank, as primary targets for his crusade.
From my communications with Tim I became aware that
Tim was neither guided by legitimate journalistic interest in covering
this story nor sought to do the World Bank a favor. Tim is incensed
because he wanted that story and he felt
that it was "stolen" from him. He now misuses the facilities
of the Times to attempt to discredit the WSJ article and people who he
believes helped his competitors write it. At the same time he attempts
to clone "the Grigoriev investigation story" by attacking
yet another employee of the World Bank who, Tim falsely alleges, had
some input in providing documents upon which the WSJ article is based.
I am on record as being the first reporter who
publicly disagreed with the tone of the Journal article. Two days
after the WSJ article appeared, I published a story in Moscow News
titled "Dangerous
Liaisons". There, I expressed my belief that the WSJ story
was heavy-handed. I also wrote that Mr. Grigoriev was railroaded by
the Western press merely for having some insignificant contacts with
Inkombank. Two days after my article appeared on MN’s front page, I
met with Tim in Mr. Zeltser’s office. I relayed to Tim that I knew
Grigoriev as an honorable man who did much in furthering Russian
economic reforms. However, when Tim sought my view as regards the
authenticity of a document referenced in the Wall Street Journal
(specifically Mr. Grigoriev’s memo to Mr. Vinogradov of Inkombank),
I told him that I knew this to be authentic because Mr. Grigoriev
personally admitted so to me and my colleagues. Indeed I recently met
with the World Bank investigators and discussed these issues at
length.
Although I explained to Tim that I believed that
this document was taken out of context and misinterpreted, and even
though he knew that I had written an article in Mr. Grigoriev’s
defense, he was infuriated by my confirmation of the authenticity of
Mr. Grigoriev’s memo. He suddenly became agitated raising his voice
above acceptable levels and acting in a most unprofessional and
uncivilized manner. To the extent that Tim’s proclamations,
intertwined with graphic language were comprehensible, I gathered that
Tim was angry because the material appeared in the Wall Street Journal
first. Tim apparently blamed Mr. Zeltser for sharing the material with
his "competitors" from the Journal even though he obviously
knew that Mr. Zeltser was not even the source of this material.
Specifically, Tim threatened to write a defamatory
article about Mr. Zeltser and other lawyers and witnesses giving
evidence against corrupt Russian bankers in civil and criminal
proceedings involving the Russian money-laundering scheme -- as
vengeance for "stealing his story". I also gathered that Tim
had no real material or credible sources to support this negative
piece. Instead, he parrots the absurd allegations of
Inkombank-Mogilevich faction whose crimes have been exposed by
evidence provided by Mr. Zeltser and other lawyers and witnesses (such
as that Mr. Zeltser, a recognized expert in Russian law, lacks proper
legal credentials).
Most disturbing is that Tim O’Brien joined forces
with private detectives hired by the former BoNY executive, Natasha
Gurfinkel-Kagalovsky, one of the primary suspects in the BoNY
laundering scandal. Together, they harassed and intimidated witnesses
for weeks -- producing an array of police complaints and pleas to the
Times editors to control their reporter. Our sources in Moscow alerted
us that Mr. Obrien’s actions are largely choreographed by members of
a group of Russian financial racketeers linked to the
Mogilevich-Vinogradov syndicate. At this time it is not entirely clear
whether Mr. O'Brien is willingly acting as the group's mouthpiece or
is cleverly exploited by its cronies in the US.
In my 25 years of reporting I have never seen a
colleague from a respectable media act this way. It also seems
incomprehensible that a responsible reporter would write a derogatory
and false piece about a man whom he had previously quoted as a source
in his front-page article ("Bank in Laundering Inquiry Courted
Russians Zealously by Timothy L. O'Brien). It is noteworthy that the
author dedicated an entire "related article" ("How
Confidentiality Ceases to Be Binding") trying to explain away
(albeit unsuccessfully) this most unethical act. Tim's excuses appear
pitiful and ludicrous reminding of an old Russian proverb
"on the head of a thief hat burns."
It is well known that before joining the Times Tim
was a reporter for the Journal and was forced to leave under
unfavorable circumstances. Nor is it a secret that Tim has recently
lost most of his sources in the law enforcement community and
international financial organizations. However this is not an excuse
for fabricating a story, which is what he essentially did. Tim O'Brien
has helped neither Mr. Grigoriev nor the World Bank. Indeed he has
done great damage to both -- let alone to the stature and credibility
of the New York Times.
Respectfully yours,
Emily
Topol
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In his bizarre January 17, 2000 article Timothy L. O'Brien wrote that
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