FBI promises a quarter of a million dollars for information on 'Putin's chef'

US authorities have announced their readiness to pay $250 thousand for information that will help arrest St. Petersburg businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, better known in the West as “Putin’s cook.” The entrepreneur himself called it just another “show,” but his interlocutors BBC Russian Service in the USA are confident that the American special services have received new information about the activities of the businessman and are ready to bring him to trial.

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To the news that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation had added Prigozhin to the list of “most wanted criminals” and announced a $250 thousand reward for information leading to his arrest, the businessman responded in his traditional manner. He called the news “a wanted show, like in the old cowboy days,” at the same time reporting that “American society is under an unbearable burden of problems: oligarchs and politicians are stealing the budget,” and the intelligence services are trying to distract the population from this problem by inventing “horror stories” about the Russian threat.

“The truth will be on the side of the good guys like me, and all the bad guys can do is have fun with self-PR,” the press service of the company Concord Management and Consulting, which belongs to him, quoted Prigozhin’s statement as saying. (Spelling and punctuation preserved - BBC).

In the next statement, the entrepreneur’s press service said that he could be found in St. Petersburg, Lieutenant Schmidt embankment, building 7, and asked to pay the promised $250 thousand for this information. This building houses the central office of the Concord company.

What was Prigogine accused of?

In February 2018, the US Department of Justice indicted businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, three law firms and 12 Russian citizens associated with the Internet Research Agency, which US authorities say is funded by the businessman, for conspiracy against the United States and attempted election interference.

The indictment was prepared by a team overseen by Special Attorney Robert Mueller and confirmed by a Grand Jury in the Metropolitan District of Columbia.

At the same time, the search for Yevgeny Prigozhin was announced.

In March 2020, the US Department of Justice unexpectedly asked the court to drop all charges against Concord Management and Consulting and Concord Catering. Based on this decision last summer, Prigozhin managed to get Interpol’s so-called “red notice” annulled and the businessman’s name removed from the international police organization’s wanted list.

Commenting on these decisions, the entrepreneur said that all charges against him in the United States were dropped “due to lack of evidence,” and putting him on the Interpol wanted list was a purely political decision of the American authorities.

Meanwhile, when filing a motion to dismiss the case against companies owned by Prigozhin, representatives of the prosecutor's office explained that during the hearings, methods and means used by the US special services could be disclosed, and this could damage national security.

The prosecution also emphasized that the motion to terminate the trial applies only to law firms located outside the United States. There was no talk of terminating the criminal case against Yevgeny Prigozhin and employees of the Internet Research Agency.

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Why did the FBI remember the businessman again?

In response to a request from the BBC Russian Service, an employee of the FBI's Washington office, Samantha Shero, confirmed that the published message about the payment of an award for information about the businessman was based on the 2018 allegations, but refused to clarify why the special service again remembered the case of the Russian entrepreneur.

Joseph Fitsanakis, deputy director of the European Intelligence Academy, professor at Coastal Carolina University, is confident that the reason was new evidence about Prigozhin's activities, which the FBI managed to collect, and new witnesses who agreed to testify against the businessman.

“The decision of the US Department of Justice to drop the case against Prigozhin’s companies was surprising, but it was absolutely logical from the point of view of the intelligence services: these charges could not be proven without violating the secrecy regime, without disclosing the methods and sources of the collected materials,” he explained in a conversation with the Russian Service BBC. “In all likelihood, these were people who agreed to cooperate with the American authorities, and their lives could be in danger.”

After the trial against the businessman in the United States was terminated, and then the Interpol search warrant was canceled, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who has been included in American sanctions lists since 2016, announced his intention to “travel to Germany and European countries.”

“He really defiantly left Russia, flew to EU countries,” says Joseph Fitsanakis. — In the United States they believed then that, following the example of the court, the FBI would also drop the criminal case against the Russian businessman, not wanting to violate the secrecy regime. But instead, the intelligence service put him on the wanted list again.”

According to the interlocutor of the BBC Russian Service, the reason for this could be new evidence and evidence collected against Prigozhin in the last year. But, most importantly, the witnesses who are ready to testify against the businessman are now safe.

“It appears that the evidence collected can be presented to a jury without the risk of revealing the methods of information collection,” Fitsanakis said. “In addition, the sources of such information are likely the people who agreed to cooperate with the CIA are now in the United States or somewhere outside of Russia, and the American authorities are no longer concerned about their safety.”

The former FBI officer, who asked not to be named, in turn, suggests that Prigozhin was again put on the wanted list, not only because of the history of interference in the American elections, but also because of his involvement in the activities of the so-called Wagner PMC.

“The US intelligence services have no doubt that this PMC is not only connected, but is also one of the units of Russian military intelligence,” he says. “In the last year, the Wagnerites have been especially active in Syria and Libya. Last week, another attempt was made on the life of the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Government of National Accord of Libya, Fathi Bashagha, and Washington does not rule out that this action was organized by militants of a Russian PMC. So the FBI’s new initiative against Prigozhin may also be related to this incident, which caused serious discontent in the United States.”

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Why was such an amount offered for information about Prigozhin?

The largest sums for information about those on the Most Wanted list were once offered for information about the leaders of al-Qaeda (an organization banned in Russia) Osama bin Laden, and his successor Ayman al-Zawahiri. The American authorities offered to pay $25 million for each of them.

The amount promised for information about a Russian businessman is much more modest.

“Prigozhin is included on this list as part of a counterintelligence operation, and traditionally counterintelligence officers have a smaller budget than their counterparts who deal with crimes that attract public attention in the United States,” says Joseph Fitsanakis.

Several times a month, the heads of each of the 56 FBI divisions in various states send their own lists of criminals who, in their opinion, should be included in the “most wanted” list, to headquarters in Washington.

After that, the leadership of the special service approves the final version of the list. The decision as to what the reward might be for information conducive to arrest is based on the budget of the units responsible for tracing each of the offenders. But if we are talking about an international search, then funds can be attracted from the budget of embassies and consulates abroad. In some cases, it is assumed that, in addition to financial rewards, the US authorities may offer volunteer witnesses assistance with relocation to the United States and other security measures.

“I certainly don’t think the FBI will arrest Prigozhin anytime soon,” says Joseph Fitsanakis. “But in most cases, a person who ends up on the Most Wanted list remains on it for years or decades. So this decision is a signal to Prigozhin himself and to the Russian authorities that the FBI will wait for him as long as necessary.”

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