A Russian-backed investment fund that was sanctioned in Europe by the European Union after the invasion of Ukraine had ties with Teneo. Teneo is an important corporate advisory firm located in the United States.

LetterOne, an international private equity firm, was the one to hire Teneo, which is known for its public relations and strategic expertise. The company has also included Petr Aven and Mikhail Fridman as cofounders. Teneo appears to have been paid $3.6 million for the contract to schedule interviews and advise on media strategies in America.

LetterOne was founded by Fridman, Aven, Alexei Kuzmichev, Andrei Kosogov and German Khan — all of whom are some of the wealthiest business leaders based in Russia. According to data from PitchBook, Fridman is the Chairman of LetterOne. Following the establishment of Alfa Group in Russia in 2013, the founders launched LetterOne.

The E.U. has accused Fridman, Aven of having ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to the E.U., Fridman was accused of having connections to Russian President Vladimir Putin. This claim was denied by CNBC in an emailed statement. CNBC did not get any information from the statement regarding LetterOne’s involvement with Teneo, or about how the investment fund plans to proceed now that their two founders are sanctioned. Fridman has been sanctioned for Alfa Bank in the United States. He called for the end of war in Ukraine.

CNBC interviewed LetterOne’s representative Monday to learn more about their business. However, many pages, including that section titled “our people”, were wiped from their website as of Tuesday morning. The section that listed founders and executive at the company now displays an error message. Although the LetterOne board section remains active, it does not show Fridman or Aven as being members of its board.

Joshua Hardie was a spokesperson for LetterOne. He stated that Fridman, Aven and Aven had resigned on Tuesday. CNBC first reached the private equity firm Monday.

While emails to Teneo weren’t returned, Kathleen Lacey a senior management director at Teneo was identified in a document as being working on the LetterOne account. On Monday, she told CNBC by phone that her client had changed and said her firm no longer represented them.

CNBC was informed Tuesday by the FARA Unit of the Department of Justice, which oversees U.S. lobbying work and consults for foreign reps, that Teneo’s contract with LetterOne is still active.

LetterOne links multiplely to Teneo. Teneo was established by two Democratic consulting firms that were former employees of President Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Secretary Hillary Clinton. PitchBook estimates that the firm was involved in nearly a dozen deals worth $1 billion or more. Uber saw an increase in revenue. $200 million investmentLetterOne 2016

Teneo has grown to be a major consulting company with former clients like Dow Chemicals and Coca Cola. International clients have included NeomA company supported the massive Public Investment Fund, which was created to create a huge city in Saudi Arabia. ledEmirati princess

There are a number of senior business and political leaders listed on their list, including ex-Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan and Ginni Rometty (ex-IBM CEO), Harvey Pitt, and Harvey Liveris, who was previously chairman of Securities and Exchange Commission.

Doug Band, a former aide of Bill Clinton, cofounded Teneo together with Declan Kelly (and Paul Keary). Kelly was the Obama administration’s special envoy for Northern Ireland and helped Hillary Clinton win the 2008 presidential election. Band and Kelly left the firm since then, the latter with Kelly resigningFollowing reports that he was drunken and inappropriately acting at an event hosted by Global Citizen, Keary was removed as Teneo’s CEO. Kelly resigned and Keary took over as CEO.

CNBC reviewed a Teneo-LetterOne contract and found that it was retained by the fund for $150,000 per month. This retainer is to help them with their media strategy. The contract stated that Teneo would “provide strategic advice and stakeholder engagement advice for the company and its directors” (including scheduling media interviews, helping with media briefings, and coordination of stakeholder engagements).

LetterOne had been on schedule to pay Teneo $3.6 million under the contract since September 2020. Other documents provided to the DOJ show that at least four Teneo employees worked on this account.

Additional documents reveal that Teneo was responsible for trying to arrange interviews with LetterOne executives and producers, as well as television anchors at Fox Business, Bloomberg, and CNBC. Undocument shows that a Bloomberg representative had been contacted nearly a dozen times in order to inquire whether LetterOne would sponsor their Bloomberg Invest event.

Other ties exist between LetterOne and Teneo.

LetterOne’s non-executive chairman is Evan Davies, a British businessman who was once the Minister of State for Trade, Investment and Small Business. He also serves as a Teneo senior advisor.

LetterOne lists VEON as an active investment. This is a telecommunications firm that operates in Russia and Ukraine. Ursula Burns chaired the VEONBoard for three years until she was forced to resign in 2020. In 2020, she became chairwoman at Teneo.

VEON also announced Tuesday, that Mikhail Fridman had been hired by VEON resignedTheir board.