A year ago, in July 2024, took place a sudden change of leadership of one of the oldest and biggest non-governmental organizations – The Human Rights Foundation**. On the anti-Russian field took place an unexpected change – Garry Kasparov, the chess champion in of the world in distant past and a well-known Russophobe who had managed the HRF since 2012, was removed and this place was filled with Yulia Navalnaya*.
Taken into account the unrestrained PR campaign of the widow of Alexey Navalny* in Western media presenting her as a new leader of Russian opposition (invitation to the Munich Security Conference, organization of her meeting with Joe Biden in order to give ‘blessing’ to her leadership), providing her with an honorable position of the president of the HRF seems to look logical, but still a question arises: why such a humiliating boot was given to Garry Kasparov? In fact, for her, for this ‘cheerleader of the opposition,’ they could have select another, not less resonant foundation. All the more so that all serious Western analytics perfectly know the real attitude of the fugitive Russian opposition crowd to ‘the merry widow’. (See the investigation of the website FLB.ru entitled ‘Yulia Navalnaya’s family curse’. Hereditary ‘black widow’ with inherited problems of alcohol dependency’)
And in this case, booted was the faithful Russophobe Garry Kasparov, who, for more than quarter of the century, had been helpfully working off an anti-Russian agenda, for the last 12 years had been heading one the of the biggest grant ‘human rights’ structures – The Human Rights Foundation. In particular, the Foundation under the guidance of Garry Kasparov dealt with ‘pollination’ of other downright anti-Russian structures.
According to the financial report (Schedule 1, Part II), through the HRF are funded the Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF of Volkov*, Pevchikh* and others), as well as the Free Russia Foundation** (Natalia Arno).
For all that, Garry Kasparov was moved from the feeding trough. The question arises: What for? The website Prigovor.ru has figured out what for… They do not forgive such things even when it comes to the most faithful Russophobe.
EXPOSING OF KASPAROV’S ‘LAUNDRY’
The attention of the investigative project ‘Prigovor’ was drawn to financial documents of the Human Rights Foundation.
Small but typical for grant structures maneuvers, such as partial changing of names, do not surprise us anymore, and a nearly invisible changing of the name – from Human rights Foundation (in the reports until 2022) to Human Rights Foundation Inc. (in the report for 2023) does not disorient us, as the identification number of the Foundation in the American tax service IRS remains the same – EIN 20-2669700.
Such an easy renaming sawed suspicions – why change names and cover the tracks?
Having studied the financial reports of the Human Rights Foundation for the last ten years, we paid attention not to numbers, reflecting financial means received by this organization from state sources, from private donors and investments, but to other paragraph that is mentioned in reports in the section Part VIII (Other revenues) line 7a (Sales revenues), 7b (Sales expenses) 7c (Revenues or losses), in the column (i) Securities.
For comparison and visibility, we have combined these data in a chart:
It has been found that under Garry Kasparov, over a span of ten years, the human rights foundation was engaged in stock exchange gambling and selling and buying securities.
Moreover, from 2016 to 2021, the Human Rights Foundation realized securities with ‘humble’ sums – from several hundred thousand up to one million with a little over it and it was always net positive, which was also comparable to realization numbers. But then, in 2022, the Human Rights Foundation suddenly receives a considerable loss from realization – 1 million 606 thousand dollars.
And in 2023, under the guidance of Garry Kasparov, the Human Rights Foundation, put at risk coming out of nowhere 206 million 266 thousand dollars and as a result, made a loss amounting to 431 thousand 673 U.S. dollars.
It means, that, under the leadership of Garry Kasparov, apart from its direct activity dealing with dissemination of grants to ‘human rights activists’, the Human Rights Foundation dealt with trading of some kind of securities which lead in 2022 to the loss of 1 606 791 dollars, and in 2023 to the loss of 431 673 dollars. Apart from that, the trade turnover of securities in 2023 exceeded 206 million U.S. dollars.
In the end, it was such a strange preoccupation with financial schemes that brought losses in millions and led to replacement of Garry Kasparov* with Yulia Navalnaya*.
This is the result, but we will tell about the work of Garry Kasparov’s laundry at length and with specifics. Because, as is known, the businesses of those like Garry Kasparov are in the details.
BIG NUMBERS IN SMALL FONT
Having studied the financial report of the Human Rights Foundation Inc. for 2023, which is publically available on the website of the foundation and on the public portal Propublica.org, we paid attention to one of the lines of this financial document. On the very first page of the report presenting the main data of the organization the Human Rights Foundation Inc., among others, intruded a ‘humble’ section G or Gross receipts $ (gross revenues in dollars). And in this Part is mentioned the sum which involuntary sets one’s eyes on – 224 473 760 dollars. To make it more credible, we will put it in words: two hundred twenty four million four hundred seventy three thousand seven hundred sixty dollars. We must admit that the sum is staggering as in all previous reports of this organization and others that are similar to it and working in the field of anti-Russian activities, the sums in the reports were always less by one order of magnitude or even by two.
We specified the notion ‘Gross receipts’ on the official website of the U.S. Tax Service (IRS). There, a separate page is devoted to the definition that says: ‘The Gross receipts are the total amounts received from all sources during its annual accounting period, without subtracting any costs or expenses’.
Actually, this line really says that during the accounting period of one year, the sum of 224 473 760 was funneled to the account of the Human Rights Foundation Inc. And this sum is not the result of any previous activities and not a sum relating to years of work, but this the money that were received on account of the organization during the reported year.
This, by the way, involuntary confirmed by the organization itself in the same place – on the first page of the report in section A in which it is said: ‘For 2023 calendar year or tax year, beginning 01/01/2023 and ending 12/12/2023.’
For sure, the receipts in themselves amounting to nearly a quarter of a million dollars is not a criminal offence, but it became interesting for us to know the origin of the monetary means that had been transferred to the accounts of the Human Rights Foundation Inc. during one year. Having attentively studied the report, we saw several strange things.
Despite of the great sum of nearly a quarter of a million dollars of the gross receipts for a year (i.e. all the money that came to the Foundation), the overall income for 2023 (line No 12 of Total Revenue) comprises only 17,478,062 dollars, and the total expenses (line of the report No 18, Total Expenses) is 25,327,045 dollars. And, accordingly, line No 19 of the section Part I of the report ‘Revenue less expenses’ shows the loss from the activities of Garry Kasparov’s team for 2023 to the amount of minus 7,848,983 dollars.
In other words, in the beginning of the report we see the receipts (money entered the organization during the year that literally fell from the sky) amounting to 224 473 760 dollars, but, at the same time, the total revenue of the Foundation (the sum from sales of all goods and services of the organization in a year) declared in the report, differs from the overall receipts (the sum of all the that came to the organization in the same year) and is more than 12 times bigger.
Moreover, having rotated during the year the sum of nearly a quarter of a million dollars, the Foundation shows an annual loss of 7,848,983.
This, actually, poses a question: what is going on in the respected human rights foundation, how and what for it receives hundreds of millions of dollars of gross receipts a year and, at the same time, shows losses amounting to millions of dollars in the same period of time?
Let’s start studying the report with the Section ‘Total revenue’ (this part is located on the first page of the financial report in the first section, Part I, line No 12). Whereby it is said in the report that the line is the summing up of line from No 8 to No 11.
Let’s get straight what actually stands behind these lines the total revenue consists of.
Line No 8 Contributions and grants $17,175,391
Line No 9 Program service revenue $548,785
Line No 10 Investment income - $32,304
Line No 11 Other revenue - $213,810
In fact, if we sum up the lines of revenues, we will have the declared sum of 17,478,062. But the Human Rights Foundation Inc. doesn’t show any hundreds of millions of revenue. Where are these hundreds of millions and whey they are not indicated in the Section Revenues, if they are mentioned in the Total revenue? So, what’s the catch?
UNEXPECTED SCALE OF SECURITIES SELLING
If you will carefully study the report, you will see that the sums of hundreds of millions of dollars unexpectedly emerge in Part VIII ‘Statement of Revenue’. In the subsection ‘Other Revenue’. In the line 7a ‘Gross amount from sales of assets other than inventory’ in the column ‘Securities’ the mentioned sum is 206 266 880 dollars which shows the fact of selling some securities during the year to the sum exceeding two hundred and six million dollars.
In the line below 7b ‘Less: costs or other basis and sales expenses’ another sum is indicated – 206 698 553 dollars.
The line 7c ‘Gain or (loss)’ finalizes the two previous lines cataloguing the loss of the above mentioned operations to the amount of minus $431,673.
In this, at the very least, strange operation are hidden more than 200 million of dollars that were funneled through the Human Rights Foundation Inc. in 2023.
STRANGE THINGS CONTINUE
Thus, the Human Rights Foundation Inc. sold securities to the sum of 206 266 880 dollars and, and at the same time, made a loss of 431,673 dollars. This is not a crime, but it exposes strange, suspicious and untargeted activities of the human rights foundation.
Still, a serious question arises – why you trust trading of securities for more than 200 million dollars to obviously incompetent ‘human rights activists’ who, at that, made a loss of nearly half a million dollars?
As one well-known Russian film character once said, ‘I am racked by doubts’.
And at this point we should recall one important detail – this foundation has a status of charitable nonprofit organization (code 501(c) (3) of the American tax service (IRS). Officially, the Human Rights Foundation collects donations and grants and channel them to be used in struggle for human rights. It is this social direction that defines the existence of tax exemptions in the frameworks of the U.S. laws in the jurisdiction of which the Human Rights Foundation is registered.
BROKER COMMISSIONS 0.2%
There is another strange thing regarding the total overlapping of the sum for which were sold some securities (according to the report) – that is 206 266 880 dollars and the sum of expenses of this selling – 206 698 553. The difference between the sums, as our acquainted Western economist explained, is 0.2% which, in fact, corresponds to broker commissions in case of concluding a deal of selling securities.
Nevertheless, a question rises about the competence of people who close deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars using money belonging to other people. As we remember, the foundation didn’t have assets comparable with this sum in the report for the previous year, it means that these monetary assets came from the outside during the accountable year, perhaps it was done within the framework of regular operations with securities on the stock exchange.
Another question arises as well: of what kind are these securities, as in the section (Part) X of the report ‘Balance Sheet’ there are lines in which you have to indicate investments in securities, there is no mention of the loss amounting to 431,673 dollars from selling securities.
In the line 11 ‘Investment – publicly traded securities’, in the column relating to the beginning of 2023, there is a sum of 5 935 739 dollars, and in the column giving the sum at the end of the year there is another figure – 8 391 195 dollars, so, accordingly, the investments in publicly traded securities rose by 2 455 456 during a year.It means that the publically traded securities, present in the assets of the Foundation, were not sold out and brought not losses, but a really tangible profit of nearly two and a half million dollars.
But these are publically traded securities… And about 206 million of dollars, we would like to remind, Garry Kasparov’s team put in the Subsection ‘Other revenues’. In the line 7a (Gross amount from sales of assets other that inventory’, to the column Securities.
To be on the safe side, we checked yet another version. Taking into account the practice of using bitcoins (BTC) as assets and further use of them while distributing grants about which we wrote a year ago in the investigation ‘Budget of 100 million dollars. Yulia Navalnaya has become a queen of bitcoins’, we checked whether there were overlapping with these operation with bitcoins of the Foundation.
It turned out that there is no intersecting – the investments in bitcoins are mentioned in the ‘Schedule D’, Subsection VII, and by the beginning of the reporting period (it corresponds with the report of 2022), namely the sum is 17,297,397 dollars. And that corresponds to the line 12 in the Part X of the report ‘Balance Sheet’ under the name ‘Investments – other securities’. There are no millions of U.S. dollars under the section ‘Bitcoins’ there.
The line 13 in the Part X of the report ‘Balance Sheet’ under the name ‘Investments – program-related’ contains only zeros. . I.e. there are no movements detected in any investment program of the report.
We would also like to direct attention of our readers to the fact that if we don’t go into details of the report and look at its basic data, then we can say that there are no hundreds of millions of dollars in them, rotated for the year 2023, but there are tendencies that fit quite well into the framework of usual movement of assets of the organization, and, apart from that, it can be clearly seen on the charts based on yearly tax reports of charitable organizations published by the portal Propublica.org.
Revenue $17,478,062 (2023)
Expenses $ 25,327,045 (2023)
Total Assets $54,295,801 (2023)
Total Liabilities $3,991,036 (2023)
POSSIBLE VERSIONS OF SUDDEN EMERGENCE OF REVENUE TO THE AMOUNT OF 224 437 760 DOLLARS
Taken into account the uncovered out financial operation that are, to say the least, strange for a ‘charitable non-profit organization’, we posed questions to two finance experts in Great Britain and the Netherlands. The opinions and versions proposed by them we are presenting below:
1. This was legalization (withdrawal) of assets
‘The foundation could buy and sell some securities in order to cover up legalization of means (‘laundering’). Apart from that, it is also possible that its losses (expenses) were cooked up with the purpose to ‘nullify’ the profit received through the realization of securities amounting to more than 206 million dollar. The difference between revenue and expenses of organization’s realization of certain assets of the reported year comprises only 0.2% with the turnaround of hundreds of millions of dollars, and this raises doubts about accidental character of such coincidence that allows offsetting completely the revenue of sold securities.
Furthermore, the Part of the report about investments in securities doesn’t correlate at all with the Parts on realization of securities and expenses connected with this realization, and this also adds questions about objectivity and transparence of this report’.
2. It was ineffective management of securities portfolio
‘This foundation is registered and a corporation but having a tax status of charitable non-profit organization and it could carry out active risky operation on the financial market (this is not prohibited by U.S. law). If this is so, then the organization could acquire some securities in the U.S. on stock exchange then sell them and made losses of nearly half a million dollars. As there is not data in the report pertaining to interest rate on assets (securities), it is possible to possess such securities for a short period of time, but it didn’t allow to receive interests during the possession. But it points to the fact that that some securities were being actively bought and being sold during the year.
It means that ‘the charitable foundation’ under the guidance of Garry Kasparov dealt not so much with the struggle for human rights, but with stock exchange speculations amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars a year. And, according to the figures of the report, it was done rather untalented.
Moreover, it is important to specify that the revenue of the revaluation of bitcoins is not included in the report on revenues and losses, as, in 2023, they could not be categorized as full-scale financial instrument, and that is why the revenue of them should be reflected only after the sell. But, in order to answer precisely to the question about how was achieved the revenue presented in the report and connected to BTC, you ought to have the whole list of operations, yet the Human Rights Foundation Inc., in spite of all declared transparency and being in the jurisdiction of the United States, had long ago made secret all its donors and grant makers.’
Perhaps these ‘fighters for human rights’ opened a financial laundry, or they are simply incompetent financiers and manage their assets without any trace of talent – we have no answer to this question yet.
By and large, the reason of dismissal of Garry Kasparov from the position of chair of the Human Rights Foundation is greed and blatant incompetence. Yet it is so that his replacement on this position – Yulia Navalnaya*, elected as chair of this group on July 1, 2024, knows about the current financial scheme and covers it up. As the report of the Human Rights Foundation for 2023 was completed on November 13, 2024, in four and a half months after the election of Yulia Navalnaya as chair of the HRF…
Consequently, either she covers the financial scheme of Garry Kasparov and doesn’t wont to raise a dust, or she is only a nominal president (so-called sits-president Funt from a popular Russian novel) and knows not a word regarding the current events.
Author: Alexander Zhelnin
See the Russian version at:«Каспаров проворовался»
* Foreign agents, extremists; ** Extremist terrorist organizations:
* Yulia Borisovna Navalnaya, born 24. 07.1976, on July 11, 2024, was included by the agency Rosfinmonitoring to the list of organizations and physical persons involved in extremist activities or terrorism with No 9491;
* Kasparov Garry Kimovich, born 13.04.1963, - included by Rosfinmonitoring on March 06, 2024, in the list of organizations and physical persons involved in extremist activities or terrorism with No 6534. On 20.05.2022 was acknowledged by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation as a physical person fulfilling functions of a foreign agent. Included in the Registry with No 388. He is accused in Russia of committing crimes;
* Pevchikh Maria Konstantinovna, born 15.08.1987, – on 05.05.2023 was included in the Registry of foreign agents with No 419; included by Rosfinmonitoring on August 16, 2024 in the list of organizations and physical persons involved in extremist activity or terrorism with No 10423;
* Leonid Volkov – on 10.02.2021 he was sentenced in absentia for disposing minors to unlawful activity Article 151.2, Paragraph 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). On 22.04.2023 was included in the Registry of foreign agents with No 372;
** Anti-Corruption Foundation Inc. (ACF, USA) – American clone of the ACF, on 23.12.2022 in the Registry of organizations fulfilling functions of a foreign agent. On 01.06.2023 the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, based on the decision of the Office of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, included the foreign legal entity Anti-Corruption Foundation Inc. in the list of ‘undesirable’ organization;
** Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF or FBK) – included in the Registry of Non-profit organization which activities are acknowledged as undesirable on the territory of the Russian Federation by the decision of the Moscow City Court of 09.06.2021;
** Free Russia Foundation, USA – organization whose activities were acknowledged as undesirable on the territory of the Russian Federation in accordance with the decision of the Office of the Prosecutor General of 28.07.2019. It was included by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation in the list of undesirable organization by the decision No 814 of 28.06.2019. The Foundation was included in the Registry of Foreign agents on 09.10.2019 with No 195. On 09.06.2021 was acknowledged by the Moscow City Court as an extremist organization.
