Day: September 8, 2025

Is Vladimir Gusinsky a prime suspect in ordering the murder of Mikhail Lesin, and what is the FBI doing about it? – Google Search
google.com/search?q=Is+Vladi…
Reports that Vladimir Gusinsky was a suspect in the death of Mikhail Lesin are unsubstantiated. A year-long investigation by U.S. authorities concluded that Lesin’s death was an accident, and the FBI is not pursuing any murder charges in relation to the case. [1, 2, 3, 4] 
Investigation findings on Lesin’s death
In October 2016, a year after Lesin’s death, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Metropolitan Police Department concluded that his death was an accident. The Chief Medical Examiner found that Lesin died from blunt force injuries to his head, neck, torso, and extremities, caused by falls while acutely intoxicated. Evidence, including video footage and witness interviews, indicated he sustained these injuries while alone in his hotel room in Washington, D.C., after days of heavy drinking. The FBI assisted in the investigation, which was closed following the accidental death ruling. [1, 4, 5, 6] 
Gusinsky’s unrelated conflict with Lesin
While not a suspect in Lesin’s death, Vladimir Gusinsky had a public conflict with Lesin in the early 2000s. As Minister of the Press, Lesin pressured Gusinsky to sell his media company, Media-Most, to Gazprom-Media. [7, 8, 9] 
Speculation surrounding Lesin’s death
Despite the official ruling, some speculation persists due to Lesin’s status as a former powerful Kremlin insider and the circumstances of his death. Some reports suggested Lesin may have been cooperating with the FBI, and questions have been raised about the medical findings. However, the U.S. government has not indicated Lesin’s death was anything other than an accident due to intoxication. [4, 10, 11] 

AI responses may include mistakes.

[1] justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/…] buzzfeednews.com/article/jas…] politico.com/story/2016/10/p…] justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/…] justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/…] nytimes.com/2016/10/29/us/mi…] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhai…] bbc.com/news/world-europe-35…] rferl.org/a/russia-gusinsky-…] theguardian.com/us-news/2019…] buzzfeednews.com/article/jas…
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AI Mode
Is Vladimir Gusinsky a prime suspect in ordering the murder of Mikhail Lesin, and what is the FBI doing about it?
. The FBI assisted a local investigation into Lesin’s death, which was officially ruled an accident.Despite a history of conflict between Vladimir Gusinsky and Mikhail Lesin, no credible evidence or official law enforcement statement identifies Gusinsky as a suspect in Lesin’s death
Investigation into Lesin’s death
The official cause of death was ruled an accident. After an investigation assisted by the FBI, the Metropolitan Police Department, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Chief Medical Examiner for Washington, D.C., ruled Lesin’s death an accident in October 2016. The determination was based on video footage and witness interviews indicating Lesin fell alone in his hotel room after days of heavy alcohol consumption.
Initial findings showed blunt force trauma. Lesin died in a Washington, D.C. hotel room in November 2015. An initial medical examiner’s report found he had died from blunt force injuries to his head, neck, torso, and limbs.
Speculation of foul play persists. Some intelligence and law enforcement officials reportedly believe Lesin was beaten to death, possibly by Russian agents, before a meeting with the Department of Justice. A report by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele also alleged that Russian agents intended to beat Lesin but went too far.
Gusinsky and Lesin’s relationship
While Gusinsky was not named a suspect, his professional history with Lesin was contentious.
Forced sale of media assets. In the early 2000s, Lesin, then Russia’s Press Minister under Vladimir Putin, was instrumental in seizing Gusinsky’s independent media empire, Media-Most.
Intimidation and arrest. As part of the Kremlin’s efforts to silence Gusinsky’s media criticism, Lesin offered Gusinsky his freedom from trumped-up charges in exchange for turning over his media assets to state-controlled Gazprom-Media.
The FBI’s involvement
The FBI’s role was part of a completed local investigation. There is no public record of an ongoing murder investigation.
No ongoing criminal case against Gusinsky. While Gusinsky has faced legal scrutiny for money laundering and other financial misconduct in the U.S., his run-ins with the FBI and U.S. Justice Department are unrelated to Lesin’s death.
FBI assisted a closed investigation. The FBI assisted the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia with the investigation into Lesin’s death, which has since been closed.
Conflicting information from unofficial sources. Reports citing anonymous intelligence officials and Christopher Steele suggest that the FBI and U.S. Justice Department had an interest in speaking with Lesin about his alleged money laundering and his time in the Kremlin’s inner circle. These sources claim the official finding of accidental death may not reflect the full story, but law enforcement has not publicly acted on those theories.
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Gemini – Version A
Choice A
No Evidence to Suggest Vladimir Gusinsky is a Prime Suspect in Mikhail Lesin’s Death; Official Investigation Closed
There is no publicly available information to suggest that Russian media mogul Vladimir Gusinsky is a prime suspect in the 2015 death of former Russian press minister, Mikhail Lesin. The official investigation into Lesin’s death, which was conducted by the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia with assistance from the FBI, concluded that his death was accidental.

Mikhail Lesin was found dead in his hotel room in Washington, D.C., on November 5, 2015. Initially, the cause of death was reported by family members as a heart attack. However, a lengthy investigation by U.S. authorities determined the cause to be blunt force injuries to the head, neck, torso, and extremities. In October 2016, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia announced that the investigation was closed and the manner of death was ruled an accident, with acute ethanol intoxication as a contributing cause. The official report concluded that Lesin sustained the injuries from falls while alone in his hotel room.

It is a matter of public record that Lesin and Gusinsky had a contentious history. In the early 2000s, Lesin, as the press minister, was a key figure in the Russian government’s takeover of Gusinsky’s independent media empire, NTV. This led to Gusinsky’s brief imprisonment and eventual exile from Russia.

Despite this history, there have been no official statements or credible news reports naming Vladimir Gusinsky as a suspect in Mikhail Lesin’s death.

While a January 2025 report from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) mentioned that the FBI had questioned some of Gusinsky’s associates about Mikhail Lesin in connection with a separate investigation, the same report explicitly stated that “As of right now, there is no indication Gusinsky himself is under criminal investigation” and that he “has never been charged or officially named as a suspect by law enforcement” in relation to Lesin’s death.

A leaked report by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, which was prepared for the FBI, alleged that Lesin was bludgeoned to death by men working for an oligarch close to Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, this report did not name Gusinsky as the oligarch involved.

In summary, the official investigation into Mikhail Lesin’s death has been closed and ruled an accident. There is no evidence in the public domain to support the claim that Vladimir Gusinsky is a prime suspect in the case. The FBI’s involvement in the initial investigation concluded with the official finding of an accidental death.
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Gemini Version B
Choice B
No Official Designation of Vladimir Gusinsky as Prime Suspect in Mikhail Lesin’s Death; FBI Investigation Closed
There are no credible sources or official statements that identify Russian media oligarch Vladimir Gusinsky as a prime suspect in the death of former Russian press minister Mikhail Lesin. The official investigation into Lesin’s death, which occurred in Washington D.C. in November 2015, has been closed.

Mikhail Lesin’s death was officially ruled an accident by the Washington D.C. Chief Medical Examiner. The cause of death was determined to be blunt force injuries to the head, with contributing factors of injuries to the neck, torso, and extremities, which were sustained during falls due to acute ethanol intoxication.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) assisted the Metropolitan Police Department in the investigation. The FBI’s involvement primarily consisted of a review of surveillance footage from the hotel where Lesin’s body was found. With the official cause of death determined to be accidental, the investigation was concluded.

While there is a documented history of significant professional conflict between Gusinsky and Lesin, this has not translated into any official accusation of Gusinsky’s involvement in Lesin’s death. Lesin was instrumental in the Russian government’s takeover of Gusinsky’s independent television network, NTV, in the early 2000s. More recently, reports indicate that the FBI has questioned individuals about Mikhail Lesin in the course of a separate investigation involving Vladimir Gusinsky. However, an RFE/RL report from January 2025 explicitly states, “To date, Gusinsky has never been charged or officially named as a suspect by law enforcement” in connection with Lesin’s death.

It is important to note that despite the official findings, speculation and theories about the circumstances of Lesin’s death persist. A leaked report by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele alleged that Lesin was bludgeoned to death. However, this claim has not been publicly substantiated or confirmed by official investigations.

In summary, Vladimir Gusinsky is not a prime suspect in the death of Mikhail Lesin, and the FBI is not actively investigating Lesin’s death, as the case is officially closed.
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newsandtimes.org/0001-select…
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nytimes.com/2016/04/03/us/mi…

Mikhail Lesin’s Strange Death in U.S. Follows a Fall From Russia’s Elite – NYTimes

Sunday April 3rd, 2016 at  AM
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He returned, though, after Mr. Putin assumed the presidency for a third term. In October 2013, he took over Gazprom Media, the subsidiary of the energy giant that through a complicated ownership structure is controlled by one of Mr. Putin’s confidants, Yuri V. Kovalchuk, the main shareholder of Bank Rossiya. Mr. Kovalchuk and Bank Rossiya each face sanctions by the United States for their ties to Mr. Putin. Within two months, Mr. Lesin oversaw the acquisition of Prof-Media, a subsidiary of one of Russia’s richest industrialist, Vladimir O. Potanin. Prof-Media owned television networks like MTV Russia, as well as radio stations and magazines. The deal, reported to be worth $600 million at the time, was seen as the Kremlin’s effort to bring even more independent media outlets under state political and financial control. “There is a danger that Lesin will use his administrative resources not only to serve the interests of his bosses, but also to settle old scores,” a columnist, Yulia Latynina, wrote in The Moscow Times in December 2013. Mr. Lesin did clash with the remaining vestiges of independent news media. Aleksei A. Venediktov, the editor of the radio station Ekho Moskvy, which is partly owned by Gazprom Media but ostensibly independent, said Mr. Lesin had invited him to dinner at one of Moscow’s fanciest restaurants and pressed him to dismiss several journalists who appeared on the air or on the station’s website, including Ms. Latynina. Mr. Venediktov successfully resisted. Many attributed his departure from Gazprom Media to the fight with Ekho Moskvy, but Mr. Venediktov said he believed that Mr. Lesin’s abrasive character and his handling of the acquisition of Prof-Media had brought him into conflict with Mr. Kovalchuk. “Lesin made enemies of all the heads of the federal TV channels, all the heads of advertising agencies and all media owners with his policies,” Mr. Venediktov wrote in an email.
Acquisitions in Los Angeles

Mr. Lesin’s return to an influential position atop Gazprom Media renewed attention on his own wealth. In July 2014, Aleksei A. Navalny, the opposition leader whose Foundation for the Fight Against Corruption has become one of the most potent opposition organizations, published records that showed Mr. Lesin’s acquisition of several expensive homes in and near Los Angeles to be seemingly beyond the means of a government minister for much of the previous 15 years. Three years earlier, Mr. Lesin had incorporated a company in California, called Dastel, primarily to buy real estate. According to a deposition in a lawsuit involving his son, given by the corporation’s only officer, Ilya Tsipis, “various members of the extended Lesin family” lived in the properties the company bought. A second company, HFC Management, was incorporated the same year in the name of his daughter, Ekaterina, and another, called Dastel Holdings, was formed in 2013. The three companies bought two homes in Beverly Hills, at a cost of $13.8 million and $5.6 million, and another in Brentwood for $9 million. Mr. Lesin’s son, Anton, began to make his mark in Hollywood not long after. The son, who Anglicized his name to Lessine, and a partner, Sasha Shapiro, formed a film-financing company called Media Content Capital. And in 2012, they acquired a controlling stake in QED International, a film production and distribution company founded in 2002 by Bill Block, for $25 million. The company has since produced a series of major movies such as “Fading Gigolo,” with John Turturro and Woody Allen; “Fury,” with Brad Pitt; and, most recently, “Dirty Grandpa” with Robert De Niro and Zac Efron. The revelations about Mr. Lesin’s investments in Los Angeles came at a time of heightened animosity toward the West as a result of the war in Ukraine. With senior Russian officials and businessmen facing sanctions by the United States and Europe, Mr. Putin intensified his warnings that businessmen should keep or return their fortunes to Russia. Mr. Navalny’s disclosures also had an impact in Washington. Vladimir V. Kara-Murza, a prominent journalist and opposition activist in Russia, said he passed on documents about Mr. Lesin’s properties to members of Congress as part of a campaign to persuade the United States to impose sanctions against more officials. Senator Roger Wicker, Republican of Mississippi, publicly called on the Justice Department to investigate what he said was suspicion of wrongdoing under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and questioned Mr. Lesin’s ties to Mr. Kovalchuk, whom the Department of Treasury identified as “the personal banker for senior officials,” including Mr. Putin. More than four months later, an assistant attorney general, Peter J. Kadzik, replied that the matter had been referred to the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and the F.B.I. Then nothing happened. A law enforcement official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said the referral was a formality, suggesting that no investigation followed. Julie Davidson, the director of the Kleptocracy Initiative at the Hudson Institute in Washington, a research organization that works to expose the investment of ill-gotten gains by foreign officials, expressed puzzlement that the allegations against Mr. Lesin did not appear to have prompted an investigation. “There is no question that the U.S. has become a relatively comfortable haven for questionable fortunes,” she said. Although no evidence has surfaced that implicated Mr. Lesin in any wrongdoing, the scrutiny appeared to have an effect in Russia. Mr. Navalny publicized the Justice Department’s reply to Senator Wicker on his website on Dec. 14, 2014, mocking Mr. Lesin as a “patriot of California real estate.” Within days, Mr. Lesin departed Gazprom Media, citing personal reasons.
Love and Litigation

In 2015, he retreated from public view. He regularly traveled to the United States on a tourist visa, visiting four times in the first 10 months of the year, usually to Los Angeles, according to a record of his travel disclosed by Mr. Navalny and confirmed by the United States Customs and Border Protection service. Mr. Lesin arrived one last time in Los Angeles on Oct. 21, only two weeks before his death. Mr. Lesin, previously twice married, began a new relationship with a woman, Viktoria Rakhimbayeva, a model from Siberia, Mr. Aven said. “He really was in love,” he said. On Sept. 25, she gave birth to a daughter, Mr. Venediktov told his radio audience on Ekho Moskvy after Mr. Lesin’s death. “When I learned of his death, my first thought was about the baby, actually,” Mr. Venediktov said. “This is a question of sympathy because, well, he’s dead and gone, but the girl with the baby — how is she?” Even though he dropped from public view, his troubles at Gazprom Media followed him to the United States and were raised in 2015 in a lawsuit involving his son’s production company. In late 2014, Mr. Block reached an agreement to depart QED International, leaving the entire company to Mr. Lessine and Mr. Shapiro. Last April, they sued Mr. Block for trademark infringement and unfair competition, accusing him of undercutting the company. Mr. Block’s lawyer, Marty Singer, said in a statement at the time that Mr. Lesin was one of the company’s principals and said the lawsuit stemmed from a shortage of cash caused by Mr. Lesin’s departure from Gazprom Media and the reports of an investigation by the Justice Department. The lawsuit was settled — with no terms disclosed — on the day Mr. Lesin’s body was found.
Final Days

Little is known about the last days of Mr. Lesin’s life. One of his friends and former business partners, Sergei A. Vasilyev, told the newspaper Kommersant that Mr. Lesin had met friends from Russia who lived in Washington and was drinking heavily on the night of Nov. 2, a Monday. Mr. Vasilyev, as well as Mr. Aven and others who knew him, said Mr. Lesin was known as a heavy drinker who would sometimes behave recklessly when intoxicated. “The only thing I can tell you is that when Misha has failures,” Mr. Vasilyev said, referring to Mr. Lesin familiarly by the diminutive form of Mikhail, “there were instances where he fell and caused involuntary injury to himself, including quite heavily.” The autopsy did not name the cause of the blunt trauma, leaving an open question whether it was a beating, a fall or a vehicle accident. According to Mr. Vasilyev’s account, which he said was based on information from the Foreign Ministry, Mr. Lesin went to a liquor store on the morning of Nov. 3 — the day of the dinner he was to attend — and returned with alcohol to the hotel where he was staying, the Dupont Circle Hotel. It was that day when, Mr. Aven said, he called and sent a text message, but received no response. Mr. Lesin was visited in his room on the night of Nov. 4 by a security guard who, finding him drunk, tried to help him into bed, Mr. Vasilyev said, but Mr. Lesin resisted. The next morning he was found dead in his room by a cleaner. “How it is possible he did not call a doctor, the police, anyone?” Mr. Vasilyev said of the security guard. “I do not understand.” A sales representative at the hotel said no one there would comment on his death. The medical examiner tested for alcohol in his blood, as a matter of routine. A spokeswoman would not discuss the details of those tests, citing privacy, but alcohol was not listed as a contributing factor in his death, only the trauma. The police here continue to treat Mr. Lesin’s as a natural death, though the criminal division is in charge of the investigation. Neither the F.B.I. nor the Justice Department has taken a role in the investigation, according to officials from both agencies, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an unresolved case, suggesting that it was being investigated as an untimely death but not a federal crime. One of the officials said a security video showed Mr. Lesin returning to his hotel in a disheveled state, suggesting he had been in an accident or altercation the night of Nov. 4. In addition to the blunt trauma to the head, Mr. Lesin’s body had bruises on the neck, torso, arms and legs, but the cause of those was not clear. The handling of the inquiry has raised questions in Russia. The medical examiner’s office completes most autopsies within 90 days, but Mr. Lesin’s took longer, as officials carried out a rigorous series of toxicological tests for poisons to be certain to rule out that sort of foul play. (The joint statement by the office and the Metropolitan Police also misstated Mr. Lesin’s age, which was 57, not 59.) In March, Russia’s prosecutor general asked the Justice Department for more information about the case, according to an embassy spokesman, Yuri Y. Melnik, but according to him and a spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry, neither the police nor federal officials have provided answers. In the febrile, largely virtual world where opposition to Mr. Putin thrives, Mr. Lesin’s mere presence in the United States has provoked conspiracy theories. One version held by Mr. Putin’s critics claimed he was silenced before he could cooperate with federal authorities investigating corruption. Another theory suggested, fantastically, that he might not be dead at all but in witness protection. Officials here dismiss these as ludicrous. (A final notation of his departure in December was a clerical record closing out his travel record, a spokesman for the customs service said, not evidence he had departed the country, as was reported widely in Russia.) The uncertainties are partly why theories about Mr. Lesin’s death have not fully subsided. Many still suspect a crime, carried out by enemies in Moscow, but Mr. Aven scoffed at that, saying they had met in Moscow only weeks before they were to meet in Washington. “If anything was done to him,” he said, “why would anybody do it here?” Continue reading the main story
Topic: Lesin – from 3.11.16
lesin – Google SearchMikhail Y. Lesin – Google SearchMikhail Lesin: The Fall of the Putin Propaganda CzarEx-Putin aide reportedly may have been attacked outside hotel | Fox NewsDeath of former Putin aide: conspiracy theories abound back home in Russia | World news | The GuardianBlunt Force: Key Facts About The Mysterious Death Of Ex-Putin Adviser Mikhail LesinNew twist in D.C. death of a former Putin aide fuels Moscow conspiracy theories – The Washington PostMystery Deepens Over Death of Former Putin Ally Mikhail Lesin – The New York TimesEx-aide to Putin died of blunt force trauma at D.C. hotel, medical examiner says – The Washington PostFormer Putin press minister died of blow to head in Washington hotel | World news | The GuardianFormer Russian press minister died in U.S. of blunt force injuries | ReutersEx-Putin aide Mikhail Lesin died of ‘blow to the head’ – BBC NewsAutopsy: Ex-Putin aide’s death caused by blunt force trauma | TheHillVladimir Putin’s ally Mikhail Lesin found dead in mysterious circumstances | Daily Mail OnlinePutin’s Media Man Lesin Died of Blunt Force Head Trauma – Report | News | The Moscow TimesForbesFresh Intelligence: Putin Aide’s Mysterious End — NYMagВ Кремле прокомментировали сообщения о том, что Лесина могли убитьЗагадку смерти Лесина прояснили в отеле, где он скончался – Происшествия – МКСМИ назвали травмы на теле Лесина результатом «ссоры» :: Общество :: РБКWas Putin’s Media Chief Ready to Snitch Before He Dropped Dead? – The Daily BeastДруг Лесина рассказал о его последних днях в ВашингтонеСудмедэксперт: описание травм Лесина не позволяет говорить об убийстве | РИА НовостиНавальный сообщил о пересечении границы США по паспорту Лесина после его смерти – Газета.Ru | НовостиPutin propaganda chief who ‘died’ of brutal injuries in Washington, DC hotel room ‘flew out of LA 40 days after he died in suspicious circumstances in Washington’ | Daily Mail OnlineWashington,DC Police Leading Investigation Into Lesin’s Death – FBI

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