US ambassador and his former employer deny accusation of Hungarian government press that he worked for Russian oligarch

Hungarian government media has accused US Ambassador David Pressman of having helped one of Russia's richest oligarchs, Mikhail Prokhorov evade sanctions before his appointment as ambassador, while working as a lawyer.

Telex managed to reach both Pressman and his former place of work, law firm Jenner & Block. Jenner & Block issued a statement strongly denying that Pressman or any other member of the firm's staff had ever worked for Russian oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov. The ambassador has also said that he has never worked for a Russian oligarch.

In an unauthored article published in Magyar Nemzet last Thursday, entitled "David Pressman may have helped Russian oligarch evade sanctions", it was reported that while Pressman criticizes the Hungarian government for not supporting sanctions against Russia, it is likely that while working as a lawyer, prior to his appointment as ambassador to Hungary, Pressman helped Russian oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov evade sanctions.

Magyar Nemzet's accusations have been circulated throughout the government press in recent days. They have been reported in Origo, Mandiner, Index, Pesti Srácok, Metropol and county papers. Even the public media paid special attention to the topic.

The Moscow correspondent and the oligarch

Before US President Joe Biden appointed him as US ambassador to Budapest, between June 2020 and his appointment in 2022, David Pressman worked as a lawyer at the law firm Jenner & Block.

His declaration of assets, published before his appointment, shows that during his two years at the firm he earned more than $1 million, and had a diverse client list. One of his clients was a certain Ellen Pinchuk.

Pinchuk made her name as the Moscow correspondent for Canada's CTV and Bloomberg, and even interviewed Vladimir Putin in 2006 and in 2009. Soon afterwards, she turned up as a spokesperson and PR officer, working for Russian oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov, and later became a manager at Mikhailov and Partners, a Moscow PR firm owned by one of the billionaire's advisers.

With a fortune of $11 billion, Mikhail Prokhorov is the 153rd richest man in the world and the 11th richest in Russia, according to Forbes. In 2010, the Russian billionaire bought the NBA team New Jersey Nets (now Brooklyn Nets). It was then that Pinchuk was first referred to as Prokhorov's publicist and confidant. She had been tasked with building the billionaire's image in the US.

In 2012, the oligarch ran as an independent candidate against Vladimir Putin in the Russian presidential election. His campaign was organised by Mikhailov and Partners. In the end, Prokhorov came in third with 8% of the vote.

In a portrait of him at the time, the BBC reported that it was widely believed in Russia that Prokhorov was actually running as Putin's puppet. After the 2012 election, Prokhorov quit politics and in 2019, he sold the Brooklyn Nets.

According to Magyar Nemzet, the dots are all connected

After the Russian-Ukrainian war broke out, the US and the European Union imposed sanctions on several Russian oligarchs, but Prokhorov has been spared for the time being. The billionaire also took up Israeli citizenship in 2022, presumably to evade further sanctions.

According to Magyar Nemzet, "it can therefore hardly be a coincidence that in the period right before the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war, while working as an associate at a law firm that deals with sanctions law at a high level, one of Pressman's clients happened to be Prokhorov's confidante".

In a later article, they wrote that they believed that "Prokhorov entrusting Ellen Pinchuk, a discreet, trusted old friend and confidante with helping him avoid sanctions was an obvious choice, given that she moves with ease both in the West and in Russia.”

However, the pro-government paper provides no evidence that Pressman actually helped Prokhorov evade sanctions, or whether his work as Pinchuk's lawyer had anything at all to do with Prokhorov.

It is not entirely clear how long Pinchuk was Pressman's client. All that is known is that it was during the two-year period between 2020 and 2022, while Pressman worked at Jenner & Block.

The last time Pinchuk was mentioned as a spokesperson for Prokhorov in the media was in July 2020, although since then she has been a senior executive at Mikhailov and Partners.

Pressman and the law firm categorically deny the allegations

We have sent questions about the case to both David Pressman and Jenner & Block.

The US ambassador told Telex, “The government and their media propagandists may have a hard time understanding this, as their own life choices may have been different, but I have never worked for nor have I ever been paid a single ruble by a Russian oligarch, ever.”

A press officer at the US embassy later also reiterated to us that "nothing Ambassador Pressman has done in his career has involved Mikhail Prokhorov or sanctions against him.”

We were also able to reach the law firm Jenner & Block. Lee Wolosky, Co-Chair of Jenner & Block's Litigation Department told us:

"Our work in this matter was purely a family law matter involving no one other than the client’s immediate family. We have never worked on any matter for Mikhail Prokhorov, related to sanctions or otherwise".