Anti-Putin businessman who previously owned Ivanka and Jared’s DC home ‘dies in mysterious circumstances’ in capital – as his wife furiously DENIES he killed himself
- Dan Rapoport, 52, found dead in Washington DC according to Russian media
- Yuniya Pugacheva, former Tatler editor, claimed he killed himself and sent his dog into a nearby park with money and a suicide note
- Widow Alena confirmed the death, saying her husband is ‘no longer with us’, but disputed he killed himself and said no note had been found
- Mr Rapoport lived and worked in Russia for decades and had criticised Putin
A Latvian-American businessman who made his money in Russia before becoming a critic of Putin has been found dead in the US, Russian media has claimed.
Dan Rapoport, an investment banker, is said to have killed himself in Washington DC in recent days – with the former editor of Russian Tatler magazine claiming Tuesday that his dog was found in a nearby park with money and a suicide note.
But widow Alena, a Ukrainian virologist, has denied he killed himself – saying ‘there was no note, no suicide’.
She claimed that an investigation has been launched into his death, but there does not appear to have been an announcement in America that one is underway.
Mr Rapoport lived in DC between 2012 – when he arrived from Russia amid protests again Putin – and 2016, when he moved to Kyiv and sold his house to Ivanka and Jared Trump following Donald Trump’s election win.
Dan Rapoport (left and right), a Latvian-American businessman who made his money in Russia, has been found dead in Washington DC at the age of 52
It was in Kyiv that Mr Rapoport met and married Alena – his second wife – and had a daughter with her.
He appears to have left Kyiv earlier this year after the war with Russia broke out and was spending some time in the US, though it is unclear where he was based.
News of Mr Rapoport’s passing first broke Tuesday on the Telegram channel of Yuniya Pugacheva, the former editor of Russian Tatler.
Pugacheva said the financial executive had ‘committed suicide in Washington DC’ before giving details about the dog and the suicide note.
She also claimed to have seen Mr Rapoport back in May at London’s swanky Connaught Bar, alleging that he was there ‘in the company of young girls’.
‘They say that his wife left him,’ she added.
But, speaking to Russian newswire RBC, Alena disputed the majority of that account.
She did confirm his death, telling the site: ‘To our great regret, the husband and father of our daughter is no more.’
But, she added: ‘There were no notes, no suicide, no trip to London, no split.’
Alena did not say when exactly her husband had died or provide an alternative cause of death, but said investigations are being carried out.
‘We were due to meet, he had appointments and plans,’ she added.
‘Dan evacuated us from Kyiv and returned there to help my country. Next we were supposed to meet in the USA.’
Aside from his support for Navalny – who is currently jailed in Russia and was moved to solitary confinement in recent days – Mr Rapoport was staunchly pro-Ukrainian.
In 2018, investigative website Bellingcat outed him as the man behind ‘David Jewberg’ – a ‘Pentagon analyst’ and expert on Ukraine-Russia relations who was frequently quoted by the media in both countries.
Typical ‘Jewberg’ posts slammed Putin, criticised the war in Ukraine he began in 2014, and lobbied the US to take a tougher stance against him.
In fact, ‘Jewberg’ turned out to be fictitious with the account actually run by Mr Rapoport with support from a circle of friends.
In 2017, Sergei Tkachenko – a business partner of Mr Rapoport who co-owned his Moscow nightclub – also died suddenly, and was reported to have killed himself.
Mr Rapoport was born in Latvia when it was part of the Soviet Union and moved to America with his family in 1980 after they were given political asylum.
Mr Rapoport was a critic of Putin (left) and supported arch-nemesis Alexei Navalny (right, in jail) and it is thought he left Russia due to his political activities
Mr Rapoport was also exposed as the man behind ‘David Jewberg’, an anti-Russia ‘Pentagon official’ who turned out to be a false persona (pictured, an image used to create the persona)
He graduated from the University of Houston in 1991 – the same year the Union fell apart – and then returned to Russia to work in finance and banking.
Mr Rapoport became a well-known face in post-Soviet Moscow thanks to his ownership of the popular nightclub Soho Rooms.
But around 2011 he became involved in opposition politics amid a wave of protests against what were widely believed to be fraudulent elections.
He returned to the US in 2012 with wife Irina – a former model – and their two children, and remained in the city until 2016.
Following divorce from his first wife, he sold his house to the Trumps for $5.5million in December of that year and departed for Kyiv where he set up another investment firm and again got involved in politics.
He met and married Alena, but fled the city when Putin re-invaded Ukraine in February this year.
Mr Rapoport relocated his family outside of the country, according to Alena, and was spending time in the US while trying to get them brought over.
It is not clear whether he was permanently based in the US at that time.
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