The Ex-British Spy Behind Trump Dossier: What We Know

The Ex-British Spy Behind Trump Dossier: What We Know

THE man behind the unverified 35-page dossier on President-elect Donald Trump’s alleged ties to Russia spent years working undercover in Moscow and was partially responsible for lifting the lid on corruption at FIFA.

That’s according to intelligence officials familiar with his career who said Christopher Steele helped provide information on corruption at FIFA which “lent credence” to his reporting on Trump.

The Telegraph reports Steele met with an FBI squad that later led to dozens of indictments against US officials in their investigation of the sporting body.

“It was his work on corruption in international soccer that lent credence to his reporting on Trump’s entanglements in Russia, US officials said on Wednesday,” the paper said.

Now Steele, 52, has been unmasked as the London-based “intelligence consultant” behind the controversial 35-page dossier circulated among media and government figures for months and made public yesterday, that contains explosive and unverified allegations that Russian security officials have compromising material on Mr Trump that could be used to blackmail him.

Earlier this week Mr Steele fled his home in Surrey, south of London, and asked a neighbour to “feed his cats”, The Telegraph reports.

“He asked me to look after his cat as he would be gone for a few days,” the neighbour said.

“I’m not sure where he’s gone or how to contact him. I don’t really know much about him except to say hello.

“We’re all pretty secretive round here to be honest. All I know is he runs some sort of consultancy business.”

Mr Steele is one of two directors of London-based company Orbis Business Intelligence. His business partner Christopher Burrows refused to “confirm or deny” that the pair’s agency had produced the report, the Wall Street Journal said.

Orbis, which was founded in 2009 by former British intelligence professionals, has a “global network” of experts and “prominent business figures”, according to its website.

It says: “We provide strategic advice, mount intelligence-gathering operations and conduct complex, often cross-border investigations.”

The firm, based in Grosvenor Gardens, close to London’s up-market Belgravia area, says it “draws on extensive experience at boardroom level in government, multilateral diplomacy and international business to develop bespoke solutions for clients”.

“Our tailored approach means the directors are closely involved in the execution and detail of every project, supported by an in-house team of experienced investigators and professional intelligence analysts,” it says.

It’s understood Mr Steele was asked to prepare the dossier by a Washington-based company working on behalf of a Republican Trump-rival. It was then passed to intelligence agencies and other media outlets who also worked to verify the claims.

The document was sensationally made public this week after both President-elect Trump and US President Barack Obama had been briefed on its contents, indicating the report was being taken somewhat seriously by key intelligence agencies.

One Russian security expert told news.com.au it’s likely Donald Trump could have been a target of Russian intelligence due to his high-profile business dealings, however he said claims in the dossier are “inherently unverifiable” and information about him being in Moscow is a matter of public record.

Mr Trump has dismissed the claims as “fake news” and savaged the publications that chose to release them.

Outlets that have chosen to publish the documents have made clear the claims they contain are unverified and contain “clear errors”.

After the bombshell report was released, Mr Trump insisted Moscow had “no leverage” over him as he had “no deals, no loans, no nothing” with Russia.

Russian president Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the reports were “complete fabrication and utter nonsense” and the Russian government “does not engage in collecting compromising material”.