“Going to the mattresses” Does Prigozhin do meatballs? “Infamous St. Petersburg 'Troll Factory' Set on Fire” “Yevgeny Prigozhin-Putin’s “cook.” U.S. indicted Prigozhin &12 other Russians- defrauding the U.S. government-interfering political process.

"The Fontanka.ru news website cited police as saying that an unknown suspect broke the agency’s ground-floor window and threw a Molotov cocktail inside at around 3 a.m. on Tuesday. 

Surveillance footage published by FAN showed flames erupting at one of the empty workstations and a female staffer stationed on the opposite end quickly exiting the office. 

“I believe this is tied to FAN’s activities,” its chief editor Yevgeny Zubarev said. “We’re most often attacked online, but these types of attacks have already taken place offline.”

 FAN said its office came under another arson attack on the eve of the 2018 presidential elections in March.

The troll farm is believed to be run by billionaire restaurateur Yevgeny Prigozhin, known as President Vladimir Putin’s “cook.” A U.S. special counsel indicted Prigozhin and 12 other Russians this year on charges of defrauding the U.S. government by interfering with its political process. 

St. Petersburg police told the RBC news website that they were looking for the culprit and planned to launch criminal proceedings."

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The Moscow Times

Infamous St. Petersburg 'Troll Factory' Set on Fire

UPDATE:

"Many expected this indictment would be the end of the “troll farm” story, since everyone involved was Russian and surely wouldn’t come to the US to face charges. But one company charged, Concord Catering, did decide to contest the indictment in US court. However, it seems that Mueller has largely handed off the matter to other prosecutors in the Justice Department."

“Never in his wildest dreams,” Pinedo’s lawyers later wrote, “could he have foreseen that providing bank account information to set up Pay Pal accounts could be used to interfere with a presidential election…” 

“In contrast to George Papadopoulos, who Mueller’s team said provided them no “substantial” assistance, the special counsel has praised Pinedo’s cooperation. Pinedo’s “prompt acceptance of responsibility saved the government significant time and resources in the investigation,” Mueller’s prosecutors later wrote. About two months after the raid, Pinedo agreed to a plea deal, pleading guilty to one count of identity fraud. 

The next day, Mueller indicted the Internet Research Agency, two other Russian companies, and 13 Russian individuals in connection with the troll farm. He alleged that they tried to interfere with the US election with social media posts, online ads, and rallies organized in the US — often to hurt Hillary Clinton’s candidacy and help Trump’s. 

Many expected this indictment would be the end of the “troll farm” story, since everyone involved was Russian and surely wouldn’t come to the US to face charges. But one company charged, Concord Catering, did decide to contest the indictment in US court. However, it seems that Mueller has largely handed off the matter to other prosecutors in the Justice Department. 

Pinedo’s sentence is the third handed down in Mueller’s probe so far — and the longest. The two previous sentences, for Papadopoulos (14 days) and Dutch lawyer Alex van der Zwaan (30 days), were both for making false statements to investigators. Pinedo, however, pleaded guilty to a different crime, identity fraud. And now it seems his bit part in the Russia probe is over.”

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Richard Pinedo sentenced in Mueller investigation

A small fry caught up in the Russia probe gets his sentence.

Andrew Prokop Oct 10, 2018, 11:15am EDT