Mystery surrounding death of anti-Putin Latvian-American businessman who ‘jumped to his death from DC apartment’ as it’s revealed his partner died dangling from a window in Moscow in 2017
- Dan Rapoport, 52, was found dead on August 14th outside 2400 M Apartments
- Three years ago, his business partner Sergey Tkachenko died in Moscow
- Tkachenko was seen dangling from an apartment in Moscow
- Police at the time said he was trying to scare his partner and fell by accident
- Tkachebko and Rapoport ran the Moscow nightclub Soho Rooms together
- Rapoport was found dead in the street outside his DC apartment
- He had his phone, a headphone, $2,620 in cash and a keychain with lanyard on him at the time of the fall
- Earlier, he had sent his dog, Boy, free with a ‘suicide note and cash’ stuck to him
- His widow says he did not kill himself and that there was no note
- He was a vocal Putin critic who opposed the war in Ukraine and who had recently been complaining to friends about being stiffed out of $10,000 by Russians
The Russian business partner of an anti-Putin Latvian investor found dead in Washington DC this week – apparently after jumping to his death from an apartment building – also died by falling from a high rise building three years ago.
Dan Rapoport, 52, was found dead outside 2400 M Apartments on August 14th. The Latvian-born businessman previously lived in the US with his first wife, but had been in Kyiv until war broke out with his second wife.
His death this week shocked family and friends. Rapoport was a vocal Putin critic who condemned the war and obsessively posted on social media about it. He had been telling friends in recent months that he was stiffed out of $10,000 by Russian venture capitalists, and was asking for their help to ’embarrass’ them.
Before his death, he sent his Ukrainian rescue dog Boy into a park with a suicide note and cash somehow strapped to its collar. His wife, Alena, denies the police assertion that he killed himself.
Rapoport’s death bears eerie similarities to that of his business partner, Sergey Tkachenko, who died in Moscow in 2017. Tkachenko was filmed dangling from the window of an apartment building, clutching on for his life, before losing his grip and falling to his death.
Sergey Tkachenko died in Moscow in 2017. He is shown, seconds from death, hanging from the ledge of an apartment window. He ran the Soho Rooms nightclub with Dan Rapoport, who was found dead this week in Washington DC
Russian media claimed at the time that Tkachenko had been trying to scare his partner inside the apartment by dangling from the window, but then fell
The scene outside the Moscow apartment building after Tkachenko fell to his death
Sergye Tkachenko (left) and Dan Rapoport (right) together ran the iconic Moscow nightclub, the Soho Rooms. Both are now dead, dying five years apart, after mysterious falls from tall buildings
Russian media at the time claimed it was a horrible accident and that he had simply been trying to scare his girlfriend.
The pair ran the iconic Moscow nightclub, Soho Rooms, together.
Their deaths add to a long list of Putin-linked men who have met their ends in dubious suicides.
Others include the Sergey Protosenya, who was found dead in his Spanish villa with his wife and his daughter having been stabbed to death. He was hanging from a tree in the backyard.
That same month, Vladislav Avayev, a former Russian banking executive, was found shot dead.
Rapoport’s death stirs up sinister memories of the 1941 ‘suicide’ of Walter Krivitsky, a Soviet spy who was said to have jumped to his death in DC.
‘He was always surrounded by girls’: Rapoport ran the Soho Rooms bar in Moscow and had quite the ladies man reputation
Krivitsky had notoriously said in close circles: ‘Any fool can commit a murder but it takes a true artist to stage a natural death or suicide.’
He was then found dead in DC, and it has long been suspected that he was killed by the Kremlin.
In the last year, there have been multiple mystery deaths among some of Putin’s closest allies and associates.
In April, Sergei Protosenya was found dead in his Spanish villa with his wife and his daughter having been stabbed to death. He was hanging from a tree in the backyard.
That same month, Vladislav Avayev, a former Russian banking executive, was found shot dead.
Rapoport’s dog, Boy, was said to have carried ‘cash and a suicide note’ into a park after he set it free before his death. Those details were reported by former Tatler editor Yuniya Pugacheva on Telegram
The eight-floor apartment building that Rapoport jumped to his death from, according to police
These are the items found on Rapaport or near his body on August 14, DailyMail.com can reveal
Dan Rapoport was found dead outside the apartment building in DC where police say he was living. He fell to his death on August 14th
Rapoport had been asking friends to support him in his criticism of an unknown Russian VC firm which he said had ripped him off in the months before he died
Haunting final FB post: Rapoport posted this photo of Marilyn Brando as Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now three days before his death. Kurtz becomes obsessed and possessed by war who goes rogue during the Vietnam War
Rapoport, 52, was found outside 2400 M Apartments on August 14th shortly before 6pm. His body was discovered in the street along with his cracked cellphone, $2,620 cash, a keyring with a lanyard and a cracked white headphone.
Rapoport, a businessman who ran the iconic Soho Rooms nightclub in Moscow, lived in DC from 2012 until 2016 with his first wife, Irina.
Until this year, he had been living in Kyiv with his second wife, Ukrainian virologist Alena, and their young daughter. When was broke out in February, he sent them to Denmark and he returned to the US, planning to bring them over.
In recent months however, he’d been spotted in London ‘surrounded by girls’ in The Connaught Hotel, and he’d been telling international friends about being stiffed out of a $10,000 payment by a Russian VC firm.
It was initially reported by former Russian Tatler editor Yuniya Pugacheva this week, citing sources close to him, that he killed himself after setting his dog, Boy, free carrying a suicide note and cash.
DC Metropolitan police tell DailyMail.com an investigation is ongoing but they do not suspect any foul play. They area waiting a medical examiner’s report.
His widow, Alena, says he did not kill himself and that Pugacheva’s sources are off.
Three days before his death, Rapoport posted a haunting image on Facebook of Marilyn Brando as Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now with the words: ‘The horror, the horror.’
He had become obsessed with the war in Ukraine and Putin’s Army, and had always been an outspoken critic of the regime.
In a message to a friend on Facebook in April, he wrote to a friend: ‘I need a small favor. I just posted on FB about a Russian VC firm trying to screw me for $10k.
‘I would really appreciate if you could like and/or comment on it. I don’t expect to get paid, but I want to maximize their public embarrassment.’
The list of items discovered on or near his body after he died prompts more questions.
It includes not just the phone, keyring, headphone and cash, but also a pair of glasses, an unspecified piece of metal, orange flip flops, a black hat and a Florida’s driver’s license.
Rapoport was outspoken in his criticism of Putin and the war in Ukraine, where his wife is from and where he had been living until the conflict broke out.
He evacuated his wife and planned to bring them to the US.
Rapoport’s widow Alena insists he did not kill himself and that they had plans to build their lives in America. She and their young daughter fled Ukraine for Denmark when war broke out, and were waiting for him to bring them to the US when he died. It’s unclear where she is now
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.
It was in Kyiv that Mr Rapoport met and married his second wife – and had a daughter with her.
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 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.
Rapoport sold his house for$5.5million to Jared and Ivanka Trump in 2016 after her father won the election
Mr Rapoport lived in Washington DC from 2012 – when he returned from Russia – until 2016 when he moved to Kyiv and sold his house to Ivanka and Jared Trump (pictured outside)
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.’
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. 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 – 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.
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)
In fact, ‘Jewberg’ turned out to be fictitious with the account actually run by Rapoport with support from a circle of friends.
In 2017, Sergei Tkachenko – a business partner of Rapoport who co-owned his Moscow nightclub – also died suddenly, and was reported to have killed himself.
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.
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.
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.
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