Felix Sater, businessman linked to Trump, claims to have been U.S. spy

A Russian-born businessman with ties to President Donald Trump claims to have been a spy working with American intelligence for more than 20 years, according to a statement his spokesman said he provided to government investigators.

Felix Sater said in the statement that he “provided extraordinary assistance to our government involving serious matters of National Security, posing tremendous risks to my safety and the safety of my family.”


Sater has been drawn into the investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, which are being spearheaded by special counsel Robert Mueller and several congressional committees, because of his apparent ties to potential Trump business deals in Russia. In emails that were reported by the Washington Post last year, Sater appeared to try to convince Trump in 2015 to develop a Trump Tower in Moscow and to visit Russia.

He also alleged that he could convince Russian President Vladimir Putin to say “great things” about Trump, the Post reported.

POLITICO Playbook newsletter Sign up today to receive the #1-rated newsletter in politics Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

But in his statement, which was first reported by Buzzfeed, Sater — who once went to prison over a bar fight and later struck a deal with the U.S. government to avoid jail time in an unrelated incident — said he had been working for U.S. agencies since the age of 31.

He said he “provided crucial intelligence information and assistance to numerous U.S. national security, intelligence and law enforcement agencies," listing a wide range of services such as providing personal satellite telephone numbers for Osama bin Laden in the 1990s.

He also claimed to have provided information on Al Qaeda after the Sept. 11, 2011 attacks and on North Korean military operatives. Buzzfeed said it was able to confirm some of these exploits; POLITICO has not.

“I was honored to have been given the opportunity to serve my country, as well as the chance to redeem myself, both of which I enthusiastically embraced,“ Sater said in the statement. “Till the day I die, I stand ready to serve my country that I love, God Bless America.“

Sater told Buzzfeed he was still involved in business and had emailed the Trump Organization in 2015 in hopes of helping with a deal. But, he told the news organization, he did not actually know Putin.

