Rinat Akhmetshin, a Russian operative who met with Donald Trump Jr. (pictured above ) in New York City’s Trump Tower on June 9, 2016, is connected to illegal computer hacking attacks against rivals of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his associates, according to a bombshell report in The New York Times on Monday. The report also alleges that Akhmetshin, who was at the June 9 meeting attended by Trump Campaign Chair Paul Manafort and top Trump advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner, has deep and previously unreported ties to Kremlin-supported oligarchs and Russian intelligence services.

After it was reported last month that Akhmetshin had attended the meeting — set up to pass damaging information on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton from the Russian government to the Trump campaign — the Russian lobbyist denied any current ties to Russian intelligence services, though he had served as an intelligence officer in the former Soviet Union.

While the New York Times report does not directly tie Akhmetshin to the Russian cyber attacks against the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign last year, the paper’s investigation links Akhmetshin to at least two hacking attacks against business rivals when he was working for groups connected to Putin.

In other words, Trump Jr., Kushner and Manafort met with a Russian operative linked to cyber crimes of the exact type then being directed at Democrats by the Russian government in its effort to interfere in the U.S. election in — support of Trump.

Trump campaign meeting: lobbyist Rinat Akhmetshin has deepest ties to Kremlin https://t.co/UIxCxshWVM pic.twitter.com/2SVezYSU0F — Global Issues Web (@globalissuesweb) August 21, 2017

Read the complete New York Times expose on Akhmetshin, his previous hacking attacks and Russian government connections by clicking on this link. In an earlier profile of Akhmetshin, published in July, the Times described the former Soviet spy as a “master of the dark arts.”

“He has an association with a former deputy head of a Russian spy service, the FSB, and a history of working for close allies of President Vladimir V. Putin,” the Times reported in its new expose on Akhmetshin’s activities. “Twice, he has worked on legal battles for Russian tycoons whose opponents suffered sophisticated hacking attacks, arousing allegations of computer espionage.”

In one case, Akhmetshin was working for a close friend of Putin, 51-year-old Russian billionaire financier Suleiman Kerimov, who himself is under investigation in France for his alleged involvement in a widespread money laundering operation. A hacking attempt against Russian parliament member Ashot Egiazaryan was traced back to Kerimov’s company.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (l) is accused by U.S. intelligence of running a hacking campaign designed to help Donald Trump (r) win the 2016 presidential election. (Image By Evan Vucci/AP Images)

Akhmetshin claimed that he was not deeply involved in the rivalry between his client, Kerimov, and Egiazaryan. The Russian operative who met with the top Trump campaign officials has also, according to the Times‘ reporting, cultivated a close relationship with Viktor Ivanov — a former top aide to Putin and also the former deputy chief of the FSB, the Russian intelligence agency known in the Soviet era as the KGB.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller who is investigating whether the June 9 meeting between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives indicated collusion in the Russian hacking attacks against the 2016 presidential election. (Image By Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Images)

Special Counsel Robert Mueller, the former FBI director now leading the main investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election, has requested that the White House preserve any documents relating to the June 9, 2016, meeting involving Akhmetshin, which would appear to indicate that Mueller is now investigating what went on in that mysterious meeting.

[Featured Image by Carolyn Kaster/AP Images]