WASHINGTON – A grand jury has reportedly charged a Maryland man withbribing Russian officials in a strategic deal that was authorized by formerSecretary of State Hillary Clinton and gave Russia control over a big chunkof America’s uranium.
The 2010 deal between Russia’s Rosatom and Canadian mining company UraniumOne allowed Russia to gradually take over “one-fifth of all uraniumproduction capacity in the United States,” according to a report by The NewYork Times.
Because of the strategic nature of uranium, the deal had to be signed offby several federal government agencies, including the State Department,which was run by Hillary Clinton at the time.
The US Department of Justice first announced the 11-count indictmentagainst Mark Lambert on Thursday, accusing the “former co-president of aMaryland-based transportation company that provides services for thetransportation of nuclear materials to customers in the United States andabroad” of having links to a bribery scheme involving the Uranium One deal.
In their indictment, prosecutors accused Lambert of covering up his illegalpayments by using code words such as “lucky figures”, “lucky numbers” and“cake.” Lambert was accused of bribing people at TENEX, a subsidiary ofRussia’s State Atomic Energy Corp.
According to the Times, Canadian records showed that Uranium One chairman’sfamily foundation had donated a total of $2.35 million to the ClintonFoundation during Russia’s gradual takeover of the mines between 2009 and2013.
Shortly after the deal, Hillary’s husband, former President Bill Clinton,gave a speech in Russia for a hefty $500,000 paid by a Russian investmentbank that promoted Uranium One stock at the time, the daily noted.
Faced with mounting pressure amid Special Counsel Robert Mueller’sinvestigation into President Donald Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia,Republicans have been increasingly calling for a similar probe intoClinton’s Uranium One ties.
Trump has also accused Clinton— his Democratic rival in last year’spresidential election— and the Democratic National Convention (DNC), ofpaying hundreds of thousands of dollars to Washington-based intelligencefirm Fusion GPS to put together the so-called “Russian dossier” whichcontains alleged evidence about him.