A research firm that pitched Donald Trump Jr a plan to help his father win the presidential election may be involved in intelligence-gathering operations on behalf of foreign governments, it has been reported.
Wikistrat, which is being probed by Robert Mueller as part of his investigation into foreign influence in the 2016 election, markets itself as a crowdsourced geopolitical research firm.
But former employees and leaked documents suggest the firm’s operations go beyond simple research and cross the line into intelligence collection.
Wikistrat also employs former Israeli intelligence officials at the top of the organisation, documents show.
Wikistrat advertises itself as a crowdsourced geopolitical research firm, but former employees say it was actually involved in intelligence gathering while leaked documents show most of its clients were foreign governments
James Kadtke, a former senior analyst for Wikistrat, told The Daily Beast that it was obvious to him from the get-go that the company was engaged in more than just research.
Speaking about his initial job interview with two Wikistrat executives, he said: ‘It was clear to me that both of these guys had intelligence backgrounds, intelligence professionals, not academics or analysts.
‘They were using their experts for tacit information going on in various parts of the world. I got the impression they were doing things outside of Wikistrat. It seemed mysterious.’
Despite his reservations Kadtke took the job and joined the firm in 2016, though working there did not clear up any of his suspicions.
In retrospect, Kadtke believes Wikistrat was more about intelligence gathering than research.
Leaked Wikistrat documents show the company uses ‘in country… informants’ and ‘on-the-ground’ data collection as part of its business model.
Speaking about the company’s founder, Israeli Joel Zamel, a second anonymous employee told The Beast: ‘Could he have done this? Yes, by all means.’
Documents leaked to The Daily Beast also reveal that 74 per cent of Wikistrat’s revenue came from clients that were foreign governments.
Zamel himself studied counterterrorism and homeland security at an elite Israeli school and has strong links to the Israeli intelligence community.
Robert Mueller has quizzed Wikistrat founder Joel Zamel over his links to the Trump campaign after it was revealed that he met Donald Trump Jr at Trump Tower before the election
He counts former head of the [Israeli] intelligence directorate, Amos Yadlin, among his personal contacts.
Meanwhile another figure at the heart of Wikistrat, Elad Schaffer, is described in company documents as a former ‘counterterrorism officer for Israeli intelligence.’
Another company document lists Shay Hershkovitz, a former ‘major in [an] elite Israeli intelligence-analysis unit,’ as chief security officer and director of analytic community.
Sources told The Beast that Zamel was a highly secretive man who kept most of Wikistrat in the dark about what the company was doing.
If anyone ever proposed taking a group photo he would leave the room, the sources said. On Wikistrat’s website, Zamel’s picture is the only one not to appear in the ‘senior management’ section.
In 2016, Zamel was one of three men who attended a meeting in Trump Tower with Donald Trump Jr in an effort to help Trump Sr win the election, the New York Times reported.
While it is not clear if the plan went ahead, Trump Jr responded approvingly and Zamel was reportedly paid up to $2million shortly thereafter.
In April, the Wall Street Journal reported that Mueller’s team had ‘met informally’ with Zamel when he was asked about his relationship with George Nader, an adviser to the United Arab Emirates who also attended the Trump Tower meeting.
Mueller’s team also asked about Zamel’s work for certain clients, the report added.
Elad Schaffer, the Wikistrat CEO who succeeded Zamel this year, did not respond to a request for comment.