![]() So far, it’s not clear where the funds went. Verzilina, who is now living in her native Russia, declined to talk about the case. Though the charity was supposed to disclose its revenues to the public because of the amount of funds it took in, it failed to do so. ![]() The callers left “voice messages from unknown numbers with accents that if I do not return money, I and my family will be harmed or killed,” she wrote in her statement. The Post-Gazette emailed more than two dozen of the “donors” from Hong Kong, and every email bounced back, suggesting they were fake email addresses used to trick the payment processor.Ī $19,100 “donation” to United Hearts of Mercy, flagged as fraud.Īt the end of the charity drive, the accountant, Tatiana Verzilina, said she began to get calls from people who she suspected were from criminal groups, threatening violence and demanding the money. The Miami entity was promoted on social media as a vehicle to help impoverished children but was actually a source of illicit funds for organized crime, according to a statement by a certified public accountant for the charity that was provided to the FBI.Īfter hundreds of thousands of dollars poured into the charity’s coffers two years ago, a payment processor, Stripe Inc., suspected fraud and stopped taking in money for a campaign that was supposed to help families ravaged by the pandemic. Yashchyshyn became president of a Miami charity, United Hearts of Mercy - the same name of a charity founded by Mr. ![]() Tarasenko, who was once detained in Moscow for carrying a police-style baton at a metro station in 1998, denied that he physically harmed her. “I am the victim right now, that’s all I can tell you,” she said in an interview. “Over time, Tarasenko became more controlling and aggressive over me,” she said in an affidavit. Yashchyshyn said that at one point when she tried to break from him, he repeatedly struck her. Yashchyshyn, but later filed a statement saying it was rife with fraud. Tatiana Verzilina, left, the former accountant for United Hearts of Mercy, promoted the charity with Ms. “The fact that we are asking this question is a problem.” “The question is was it a fraud or an intelligence threat,” said Charles Marino, a former Secret Service supervisor. Trump’s entourage raises concerns about ongoing security at the private club that continues to host some of the most powerful elected leaders in the country and serves as a storage site for some of the country’s closely guarded secrets. “He still has a full detail.”īut experts say her ability to mingle with members of Mr. In most cases, “they are going to do a level of screening - a hand check” for weapons, said Jonathan Wackrow, a former agent who served on President Barack Obama’s detail. Yashchyshyn’s identity when she visited the former president’s home, partly because the level of protection drops significantly when a president leaves office, said four former agents interviewed for this story. The Secret Service more than likely didn’t run background checks to determine Ms. “To maintain the operational integrity of our work, we are unable to comment specifically concerning the means, methods or resources used to conduct our protective operations,” said Steven Kopek, a special agent and spokesman, in a statement. ![]() Yashchyshyn’s visits to the former president’s home in May 2021, or any other subsequent trips. The Secret Service said it could not comment on whether the agency is investigating Ms. Yashchyshyn listens to a speech at former President Trump’s private golf club. ![]()
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