The Russia Mafia is part and parcel of Russian intelligence. Russia is a mafia state. That is not a metaphor. Putin is head of the Mafia. So the fact that they have deep ties to Donald Trump is deeply disturbing. Trump conducted FIVE completely private meetings and conferences with Putin, and has gone to great lengths to prevent literally anyone, even people in his administration, from learning what was discussed.
According to an ex-KGB spy...Russia has been cultivating Trump as an asset for 40 years.
Trump was first compromised by the Russians in the 80s. In 1984, the Russian Mafia began to use Trump real estate to launder money.
In 1984, David Bogatin — a convicted Russian mobster and close ally of Semion Mogilevich, a major Russian mob boss — met with Trump in Trump Tower right after it opened. Bogatin bought five condos from Trump at that meeting. Those condos were later seized by the government, which claimed they were used to launder money for the Russian mob.
“During the ’80s and ’90s, we in the U.S. government repeatedly saw a pattern by which criminals would use condos and high-rises to launder money,” says Jonathan Winer, a deputy assistant secretary of state for international law enforcement in the Clinton administration. “It didn’t matter that you paid too much, because the real estate values would rise, and it was a way of turning dirty money into clean money. It was done very systematically, and it explained why there are so many high-rises where the units were sold but no one is living in them.”
When Trump Tower was built, as David Cay Johnston reports in The Making of Donald Trump, it was only the second high-rise in New York that accepted anonymous buyers.
In 1987, the Soviet ambassador to the United Nations, Yuri Dubinin, arranged for Trump and his then-wife, Ivana, to enjoy an all-expense-paid trip to Moscow to consider business prospects.
A short while later he made his first call for the dismantling of the NATO alliance. Which would benefit Russia.
At the beginning of 1990 Donald Trump owed a combined $4 billion to more than 70 banks, with $800 million personally guaranteed by his own assets, according to Alan Pomerantz, a lawyer whose team led negotiations between Trump and 72 banks to restructure Trump’s loans. Pomerantz was hired by Citibank.
Interview with Pomerantz
Trump agreed to pay the bond lenders 14% interest, roughly 50% more than he had projected, to raise $675 million. It was the biggest gamble of his career. Trump could not keep pace with his debts. Six months later, the Taj defaulted on interest payments to bondholders as his finances went into a tailspin.
In July 1991, Trump’s Taj Mahal filed for bankruptcy.
So he bankrupted a casino? What about Ru...
The Trump Taj Mahal casino broke anti-money laundering rules 106 times in its first year and a half of operation in the early 1990s, according to the IRS in a 1998 settlement agreement.
The casino repeatedly failed to properly report gamblers who cashed out $10,000 or more in a single day, the government said."The violations date back to a time when the Taj Mahal was the preferred gambling spot for Russian mobsters living in Brooklyn, according to federal investigators who tracked organized crime in New York City. They also occurred at a time when the Taj Mahal casino was short on cash and on the verge of bankruptcy."
....ssia
So by the mid 1990s Trump was then at a low point of his career. He defaulted on his debts to a number of large Wall Street banks and was overleveraged. Two of his businesses had declared bankruptcy, the Trump Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City and the Plaza Hotel in New York, and the money pit that was the Trump Shuttle went out of business in 1992. Trump companies would ultimately declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy two more times.
Trump was $4 billion in debt after his Atlantic City casinos went bankrupt. No U.S. bank would touch him. Then foreign money began flowing in through Deutsche Bank.
The extremely controversial Deutsche Bank. The Nazi financing, Auschwitz building, law violating, customer misleading, international currency markets manipulating, interest rate rigging, Iran & others sanctions violating, Russian money laundering, salvation of Donald J. Trump.
The agreeing to a $7.2 billion settlement with with the U.S. Department of Justice over its sale and pooling of toxic mortgage securities and causing the 2008 financial crisis bank.
The appears to have facilitated more than half of the $2 trillion of suspicious transactions that were flagged to the U.S. government over nearly two decades bank.
The embroiled in a $20b money-laundering operation, dubbed the Global Laundromat. The launders money for Russian criminals with links to the Kremlin, the old KGB and its main successor, the FSB bank.
That bank.
Three minute video detailing Trump's debts and relationship with Deutsche Bank
In 1998, Russia defaulted on $40 billion in debt, causing the ruble to plummet and Russian banks to close. The ensuing financial panic sent the country’s oligarchs and mobsters scrambling to find a safe place to put their money. That October, just two months after the Russian economy went into a tailspin, Trump broke ground on his biggest project yet.
Directly across the street from the United Nations building.
Russian Linked-Deutsche Bank arranged to lend hundreds of millions of dollars to finance Trump’s construction of a skyscraper next to the United Nations.
Construction got underway in 1999.
Units on the tower’s priciest floors were quickly snatched up by individual buyers from the former Soviet Union, or by limited liability companies connected to Russia. “We had big buyers from Russia and Ukraine and Kazakhstan,” sales agent Debra Stotts told Bloomberg. After Trump World Tower opened, Sotheby’s International Realty teamed up with a Russian real estate company to make a big sales push for the property in Russia. The “tower full of oligarchs,” as Bloomberg called it, became a model for Trump’s projects going forward. All he needed to do, it seemed, was slap the Trump name on a big building, and high-dollar customers from Russia and the former Soviet republics were guaranteed to come rushing in.
New York City real estate broker Dolly Lenz told USA TODAY she sold about 65 condos in Trump World at 845 U.N. Plaza in Manhattan to Russian investors, many of whom sought personal meetings with Trump for his business expertise.
“I had contacts in Moscow looking to invest in the United States,” Lenz said. “They all wanted to meet Donald. They became very friendly.”Lots of Russian and Eastern European Friends. Investing lots of money. And not only in New York.
Miami is known as a hotspot of the ultra-wealthy looking to launder their money from overseas. Thousands of Russians have moved to Sunny Isles. Hundreds of ultra-wealthy former Soviet citizens bought Trump properties in South Florida. People with really disturbing histories investing millions and millions of dollars. Igor Zorin offers a story with all the weirdness modern Miami has to offer: Russian cash, a motorcycle club named after Russia’s powerful special forces and a condo tower branded by Donald Trump.
Thanks to its heavy Russian presence, Sunny Isles has acquired the nickname “Little Moscow.”
From an interview with a Miami based Siberian-born realtor... “Miami is a brand,” she told me as we sat on a sofa in the building’s huge foyer. “People from all over the world want property here.” Developers were only putting up luxury properties because they “know that the crisis has not affected people with money,”
Most of her clients are Russian—there are now three direct flights per week between Moscow and Miami—and increasing numbers are moving to Florida after spending a few years in London first. “It’s a money center, and it’s a lot easier to get your money there than directly to the US, because of laws and tax issues,” she said. “But after your money has been in London for a while, you can move it to other places more easily.”
In the 2000s, Trump turned to licensing deals and trademarks, collecting a fee from other companies using the Trump name. This has allowed Trump to distance himself from properties or projects that have failed or encountered legal trouble and provided a convenient workaround to help launch projects, especially in Russia and former Soviet states, which bear Trump’s name but otherwise little relation to his general business.
Enter Bayrock Group, a development company and key Trump real estate partner during the 2000s. Bayrock partnered with Trump in 2005 and invested an incredible amount of money into the Trump organization under the legal guise of licensing his name and property management. Bayrock was run by two investors:
Felix Sater, a Russian-born mobster who served a year in prison for stabbing a man in the face with a margarita glass during a bar fight, pleaded guilty to racketeering as part of a mafia-driven "pump-and-dump" stock fraud and then escaped jail time by becoming a highly valued government informant. He was an important figure at Bayrock, notably with the Trump SoHo hotel-condominium in New York City, and has said under oath that he represented Trump in Russia and subsequently billed himself as a senior Trump advisor, with an office in Trump Tower. He is a convict who became a govt cooperator for the FBI and other agencies. He grew up with Micahel Cohen --Trump's disbarred former "fixer" attorney. Cohen's family owned El Caribe, which was a mob hangout for the Russian Mafia in Brooklyn. Cohen had ties to Ukrainian oligarchs through his in-laws and his brother's in-laws. Felix Sater's father had ties to the Russian mob.
Tevfik Arif, a Kazakhstan-born former "Soviet official" who drew on bottomless sources of money from the former Soviet republic. Arif graduated from the Moscow Institute of Trade and Economics and worked as a Soviet trade and commerce official for 17 years before moving to New York and founding Bayrock. In 2002, after meeting Trump, he moved Bayrock’s offices to Trump Tower, where he and his staff of Russian émigrés set up shop on the twenty-fourth floor.
Arif was offering him a 20 to 25 percent cut on his overseas projects, he said, not to mention management fees. Trump said in the deposition that Bayrock’s Tevfik Arif “brought the people up from Moscow to meet with me,”and that he was teaming with Bayrock on other planned ventures in Moscow. The only Russians who are likely have the resources and political connections to sponsor such ambitious international deals are the corrupt oligarchs.
In 2005, Trump told The Miami Herald “The name has brought a cachet to certain areas that wouldn’t have had it,” Dezer said Trump’s name put Sunny Isles Beach on the map as a classy destination — and the Trump-branded condo units sold “10 to 20 percent higher than any of our competitors, and at a faster pace.”“We didn’t have any foreclosures or anything, despite the crisis.”
In a 2007 deposition that was part of his unsuccessful defamation lawsuit against reporter Timothy O’Brien Trump testified "that Bayrock was working their international contacts to complete Trump/Bayrock deals in Russia, Ukraine, and Poland. He testified that “Bayrock knew the investors” and that “this was going to be the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Moscow, Kiev, Istanbul, et cetera, and Warsaw, Poland.”
In 2008, Donald Trump Jr. gave the following statement to the “Bridging U.S. and Emerging Markets Real Estate” conference in Manhattan: “[I]n terms of high-end product influx into the United States, Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets; say in Dubai, and certainly with our project in SoHo and anywhere in New York. We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.”
In July 2008, Trump sold a mansion in Palm Beach for $95 million to Dmitry Rybolovlev, a Russian oligarch. Trump had purchased it four years earlier for $41.35 million. The sale price was nearly $54 million more than Trump had paid for the property. This was the height of the recession when all other property had plummeted in value. Must be nice to have so many Russian oligarchs interested in giving you money.
In 2013, Trump went to Russia for the Miss Universe pageant “financed in part by the development company of a Russian billionaire Aras Agalarov.… a Putin ally who is sometimes called the ‘Trump of Russia’ because of his tendency to put his own name on his buildings.” He met with many oligarchs. Timeline of events. Flight records show how long he was there.
Video interview in Moscow where Trump says "...China wanted it this year. And Russia wanted it very badly." I bet they did.
Also in 2013, Federal agents busted an “ultraexclusive, high-stakes, illegal poker ring” run by Russian gangsters out of Trump Tower. They operated card games, illegal gambling websites, and a global sports book and laundered more than $100 million. A condo directly below one owned by Trump reportedly served as HQ for a “sophisticated money-laundering scheme” connected to Semion Mogilevich.
In 2014, Eric Trump told golf reporter James Dodson that the Trump Organization was able to expand during the financial crisis because “We don’t rely on American banks. We have all the funding we need out of Russia. I said, 'Really?' And he said, 'Oh, yeah. We’ve got some guys that really, really love golf, and they’re really invested in our programmes. We just go there all the time.’”
A 2015 racketeering case against Bayrock, Sater, and Arif, and others, alleged that: “for most of its existence it [Bayrock] was substantially and covertly mob-owned and operated,” engaging “in a pattern of continuous, related crimes, including mail, wire, and bank fraud; tax evasion; money laundering; conspiracy; bribery; extortion; and embezzlement.” Although the lawsuit does not allege complicity by Trump, it claims that Bayrock exploited its joint ventures with Trump as a conduit for laundering money and evading taxes. The lawsuit cites as a “Concrete example of their crime, Trump SoHo, [which] stands 454 feet tall at Spring and Varick, where it also stands monument to spectacularly corrupt money-laundering and tax evasion.”
In 2016, the Trump Presidential Campaign was helped by Russia.
(I don't have the presidential term sourced yet. I'll post an update when I do. I'm sure you probably remember most of them...sigh. TY to the main posters here. Obviously I'm standing on your shoulders having taken a lot of the information or articles from here).

Disclaimer: This article my article. You are reading it first, as I didn't post it anywhere else.
Summary

• Game developer with $450 million in revenue with $110M net profit valued at Price to Sales (P/S) ~4.2.
• Company seems reasonably valued, operating in growing mobile games market.
• Risk-reward ratio at current price is outstanding due to SPAC-merger rules with the cash NAV set at $10.

Kismet Acquisition One (KSMT) to Combine with Nexters Global in $1.9Bn Deal

Not much information about this company, so I started writing my own research on the company. Here is the investor presentation:
https://nexters.com/images/inv_info/Nexters_Investor_Presentation.pdf
If want to understand the valuation of the company, the risk/reward, and the potential I need to answer the following questions:

1. What is Nexters Global?
2. SPAC is a safe bet?
3. Comparison with its competitors?
4. $1.9B is cheap or expensive?

Let's begin!

1. What is Nexters Global?

Nexters Global is a fast-growing mobile game development company with $450 million gross revenue* (2020), 85 million total game installs, 5.4 Million monthly active users, with 10x growth of revenue in the last 2 years. Already profitable with $110 million net profit in 2020.
The management has more than 10 years of experience in creating games. Located in Cyprus (Europe) with roots in Russia (a very strong IT region). They are well known for being in Game Development since early 2005 in the epicenter of the web, social and mobile game development.
https://preview.redd.it/juhbhhuwhmg61.png?width=640&format=png&auto=webp&s=529a0e927aa3bc3205430d97204d3d625f36fc8d
Since the launch, the company has proven that it can develop, publish and use marketing to scale its games. With 37% of its revenue coming from the US/Canada, 23% from Europe, 19% from Asia it is already an international company.
\In the investor presentation Nexters Global states 310 million net revenue, as at the* sec.gov reports it is more common (example) to use the gross revenue for gaming companies as their base metrics. That's why here and below I’m using gross revenue. Please see the spreadsheet below with a comparison to other companies.
Further plans are:
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https://preview.redd.it/t9kdphd0img61.png?width=994&format=png&auto=webp&s=b70e92455e253033e99a91b17b0a1f85012e1e5b

• To increase the revenue of existing games (basically, double the revenue in 3 years).
• Launch new titles in 2021: 3 new games announced
• Working on the sequel of their best selling game "Hero Wars 2".
• Use cash to acquire other game developers with great games to amplify revenues using their expertise and marketing/production capabilities to make global hits.

2. SPAC is a safe bet?

There are so many SPACs, that we should be very selective on what we choose to buy. To do that we need to check if the business is real.
There are different kind of risky SPAC’s on the market:

• Without product
• Without revenue
• Without an addressable market
• Without proof that they can scale

We need to verify that Nexters Global is not on that list. Let’s have a look at the company:
The product? Web, Social, Mobile Games.
To check if their numbers are real simply open the game page in App Store and Google Play store.
Android Apps by NEXTERS GLOBAL LTD on Google Play
‎Nexters Global LTD Apps on the App Store
The top game has more than 50,000,000 installs with more than a million positive reviews and an average rating of 4.6. With other games/stores combined, it correlates with the company's stated 85 million installs.
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https://preview.redd.it/jwh51gm2img61.png?width=735&format=png&auto=webp&s=428ec2dc85a4a6c1d51c67aa8fa1f7876edd3dab
I like that I can see the numbers myself, and also can "touch" the product and how it works. it increases my confidence in owning the stock.
Actually, I have been playing their top-grossing game Hero Wars for several months last year. And I loved it... loved it so much that I’ve spent around ~1000 dollars within 3 months. And I’ve seen players that spent much much more than me (higher ranked, had much more power and ranks). And there were so many players that they had to add new servers each week, or even daily.
The first impression is that I really like the product. I see how it works.
The revenue. It's huge.
In the SPAC world, there are companies that can’t make revenue but predict that their revenue will go up 10-20-50x times in 3-5 years. Usually, such companies are SCAM as they mislead investors with revenue that will never happen.
On another side, Nexters Global has already $450 million in revenue with a $110M profit. And the growth rate is +177% YoY. And even the slowdown in growth means the actual increase in revenue substantially, just by the magic of the compound growth.
I like the numbers very much here.
The addressable market
How big is the addressable market? The World’s 2.7 Billion Gamers Spent $175 Billion on Games in 2020; The Market Will Surpass $200 Billion by 2023. So Nexters Global is well-positioned in expanding market.
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https://preview.redd.it/tf41au04img61.png?width=888&format=png&auto=webp&s=7547a1d3c2c8da43554a655d9b32bb4aaf4f2d97
Revenue geography shows that it is also diversified well. The company has proven that it can generate revenue all around the world, not just in its local market. That is very important in order to calculate the valuation of the company.
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https://preview.redd.it/sxq08qg5img61.png?width=362&format=png&auto=webp&s=ed9b771d632268efb31d96d57c831d61d8caf12f
But how long Nexters can generate revenue?
Unlike the traditional PC gaming, where the peak of sales occurs after the launch of the game and then shrinks a lot, in the online mobile game market - games get updates each month/quarter to engage customers and make them stay in the game longer.
Games with great engagement + marketing resources can stay on top charts for many years.
You just reinvest part of your revenue into marketing to earn even more. It works for games with high revenue per player (ARPPU).
Nexters Presentation: $106 - Average net bookings per paying user(2) (Q4’20)
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https://preview.redd.it/jsqcmby6img61.png?width=666&format=png&auto=webp&s=f96f6ef490ee2b16cf6ca01e8508df578bfdd302
Percentage of paying users increases. Average net booking increases.
With the 6% of paying users and $106 net payment - it is quite easy to calculate that you earn $6.36 from any user that downloads the app, so you can spend on advertisement a lot of money and you will earn even more.
When you have 277% revenue growth in 2019, 177% in 2020 it won’t just stop growing. Next year double-digit growth of revenue is highly probable.
From a statistical behavior the growth slowdown to zero is very unlikely. If we take examples of other super-hit games from Supercell (Clash of Clans) and Playrix (Gardenscapes).
Example: Playrix did continue to grow since 2016 explosive revenue withadding +41% YoY growth in 2018 +35% in 2019.
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https://preview.redd.it/so9ijp08img61.png?width=667&format=png&auto=webp&s=6f6acbdf41374f89c045bb07c4b4e5f7dc235bf9
Another example: Supercell's revenue continued to grow at least 2 years after the revenue explosion before slowing down.
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https://preview.redd.it/tjjuf159img61.png?width=855&format=png&auto=webp&s=01116616d83bbeeb34bbe98da012d22c3964f5d5
The growth
Great games could continue to grow. Nexters Global estimates their net revenue to reach $562 million dollars. That equals to ~$802 million gross revenue in 2023. And the company is valued at just 1.9B now. Re-think that.📷
This chart also shows that they project only +10.5% YoY growth in revenue in its current games after this year's gain. Which I think is too conservative considering the examples above. I understand that they’ve chosen the strategy not to mislead investors and should stay conservative, but I think they will easily beat their own estimates and 20-25% growth is much more realistic.
The good thing is that we can track their performance in terms of downloads and revenue in stores. We can stay ahead and know the data earlier than official numbers come out, which brings another level of transparency for investors.

Kismet Acquisition One Corp company

The company is led by CEO and Director Ivan Tavrin, the founder and Principal of investment firm Kismet Capital Group. Tavrin previously served as the CEO of PJSC MegaFon, Russia's second largest telecommunications operator, and before that, he founded UTH Russia, one of the largest independent media broadcasting groups in Russia.
Kismet Acquisition Two plans to target the internet and technology sectors operating in Europe, including Russia, as well as businesses established by founders with Russian origins.
Credit Suisse, BofA Securities and LionTree Advisors served as financial and capital markets advisors to Kismet Acquisition One Corp.
Advisors look good to me. The CEO's background and experience too. Additionally, he was one of the shareholders in the recently launched Russian IPO "OZON" marketplace. Which is now +120% up.
The only thing that sounds scary here is the word “Russia” everywhere. Is there an unwanted geopolitical risk? From the legal point of view, every entity is registered under British Law jurisdictions (Cyprus, BVI). So, basically, there shouldn't be any problems.
Well... they would better be in the US as many investors don’t like foreign companies. But there are great examples of super successful Supercell and Rovio that were NON-US too. And we know that the Russian Tech-sector is high qualified (Google Founder - Sergey Brin, Pavel Durov - Telegram, Vitalik Buterin - Etherium, and even Russian Hackers is a “meme”).
And as I said before their business looks crystal clear, anybody can check their metrics so they can’t fraud the data, unlike, for example, Luckin Coffee did in China. Therefore, this kind of risk is eliminated.

3. Comparison with its competitors?

Let's talk about numbers. I’ve tried to compare the game developer to its direct competitors. I've selected only companies with major mobile game-driven revenue.
Here is the full spreadsheet access: Nexters Global Comparison
I’ve marked the concerning metric with yellow and red, Good metric with green, Superb one with dark-green color.
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https://preview.redd.it/tmsosbtaimg61.png?width=1079&format=png&auto=webp&s=2b50cd7a1a54115bb496849c43b3611094fc6309
Please take time to read the numbers and come back after.
Update! With the latest news that Electronic Arts buys GLU Mobile with +39% premium from the market - the sector is officially undervalued.
Thoughts on Nexters Global

• Nexters is big enough in terms of revenue
• The MAU (Monthly Average Users) is not very big. While you can consider that as a “minus” that's actually the sign of a young company, with the opportunity to attract more users “cheaper” (with high efficiency). When you already big and you have hundreds of million players, you have to spend more and more money on user acquisition.
• No diversification. That’s a red flag. Hearing of 3 titles coming next year + Hero Wars 2 to be developed. And the idea of acquisition of small developers with excellent games to amplify their revenue 10-100 times promoting it around the World is the Next goal for Nexters. This will bring diversification.
• Remember that Supercell (also a European company, HQ in Finland) with its only best selling game was sold to Tencent at a $10.5 billion valuation. This "Hero Wars" game is currently following its path (in terms of growth numbers & revenue).
• Games are high gross margin projects. I assume this gross margin from the cost of revenue is: AppStore/Google Play 30% commission + spending on maintaining the Servers. That brings me to the industry average of 65%
• Marketing spending numbers are rational (20-40% zone), in order to stay profitable and to maintain modest growth.
• It's already a large scalable company. No “company growth issues” seen through this data. Sign of good management here.
• Unusually high net income seeing here. Assumption: Research & Development costs /Administrative spending / Sales and Marketing is much lower compared to other US companies. Probably they benefit from HQ being outside of the US. That should affect the company multiplicators (P/E) positive.
• With not very high US Market penetration - the opportunity still there.
• Game reviews/rating is essential in mobile games: The higher-rated games = the cheaper is the cost of user acquisition. The longer players stay in-game. The “4.5” rating tells me that customers of this company are very satisfied.
• Fascinating growth. Very young company. The slowdown in growth is expected but compound growth is still very probable.
• Estimated Compound Annual Growth (CAGR) is 25%. Which would bring the company ~$802 million revenue in 2023.
• Is the company valued right? It's more profitable in comparison to its competitors, its double-triple digit growth company with all signs of the trend to continue.
• The company is honest with its estimates and setting very realistic numbers. Other SPACs prefer to predict 10,20,50x revenue in the future even without proving they can scale. This company is doubling-tripling every year and shows estimates of 25% annual growth each year.

I ended up with numbers: P/S = 4.19, P/E = 17.27. This valuation seems just right with current earnings and the sector, but not with the future growth. As there is a Hot trend in gaming and with outstanding YoY growth could be worth much much more.

4. $1.9B is cheap or expensive?

The current price of $KSMT (“GDEV”) is $10.15 which represents a $1.9B valuation. Before the deal is completed the price cannot be valued less than $10 due to SPAC rules. So there is simply no downside risk at this point..
But can it go up? What is fair valuation? Is there a risk of a selloff from shareholders? How rich the valuation can be in terms of P/E (Price to Sales ratio)?
First, let's find out the risk of insider selling:
Here is the sec report: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1814824/000121390021005589/ea134294ex99-1_kismet.htm
The Transaction is expected to deliver up to $150 million in cash to the Company’s balance sheet before advisor fees and/or redemptions by Kismet Acquisition One Corp. current shareholders, with proceeds expected to be used for general working capital purposes and potential acquisitions. Existing shareholders of Nexters will receive a cash payment of up to $150 million pro-rata to their pre-money shareholdings, and will roll approximately 92% of their holdings into the combined company while agreeing to a 12 month lock-up (subject to certain exceptions). In addition, the founders and the management will receive 20.0 million Earn-Out shares over 3 years (with 50% of the Earn-Out released at $13.50 VWAP and 50% released at $17.00 VWAP), also subject to a 12 month lock-up. The Transaction will be funded by approximately $250 million held in trust by Kismet Acquisition One Corp., subject to any redemptions, as well as the additional $50 million investment by the SPAC Sponsor, Kismet Capital Group, via an affiliate.
The investors will have a 12-month lock-up on selling + they get benefits on reaching the valuation 35% and 70% higher from the current price. This means that there will be no insider selling in the near term, which is very positive signal.
Acquisitions
Nexters Global plans to use proceeds in M&A (buying small game development studios with great projects that just don’t have enough cash, expertise, or right developer team) to benefit from its situation in order to launch great games worldwide.
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https://preview.redd.it/xhypgzqfimg61.png?width=1000&format=png&auto=webp&s=642c03fecbb851984527c46774beb0ecc44eba0a
It is a common mistake to assume that great games can be run by small studios or individuals, as in 2020 you need at least a couple of million dollars spent on marketing to understand if the project is worth it, or not. Small developers can’t afford it. On the other side, Nexters can benefit from it really well.
If they are successful in that, we could see 10+ new titles in the future. That could diversify its game portfolio, making this company a safe bet for Hedge funds and other market players, driving future growth.
“Hero Wars 2” game announcement.
Hero Wars is the top-grossing game, which generates most of the revenue. With “Hero Wars 2” announcement the company can benefit a lot..
Usually, game sequels can do very well, as they are easier to promote, finding their “fan base” from the beginning. This could create a new source of income, work as a diversification, launch the new cycle of the revenue stream for many years ahead.
Partnership with Playrix founders
Here is another thing that I want to focus on:
Bukhman brothers acquired a 43% stake in Nexters in 2018
They are founders of “Playrix” - a private mobile game developer company, currently valued at $7B(valued in Q1 2020). Now more likely ~11B as their revenue increased 1.5 times during 2020.
Please read these articles in Bloomberg and Forbes first:

1. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-29/billionaire-gaming-brothers-emerge-as-tencent-s-biggest-rival
2. https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ru&tl=en&u=https://www.forbes.ru/milliardery/410509-nash-rost-ne-svyazan-napryamuyu-s-lokdaunom-milliarder-igor-buhman-o-tom-chto

Summary from the articles:
Cashing out (selling out to Tencent or Activision Blizzard) is not interesting right now. We are growing every year. Game industry multiplicators of public companies were priced wrong . This year has changed it. And this trend will continue as top games can grow for many many years, reengaging users with updates.
Playrix is not interested in IPO's at this valuation. They want to wait until the market changes and start pricing gaming companies at different valuations, not the 4-5 year revenues, but maybe more like Tech companies are valued now (P/S 20-30 instead of 4-5)?
I can assume that Playrix founders are interested in the long-term success of Nexters Global SPAC-merger in order to change how markets price the gaming companies as they want to bring Playrix to an IPO in the future. They want to wait until the market starts pricing gaming companies at different valuations, not the 4-5 year revenues, but maybe more like Tech companies are valued now (P/S 20-30 instead of 4-5)?
So, for the Bukhman brothers who own 43% shares, Nexters Global is a long-term play company. They don’t want/need to cash out.
I also think that at some point, Tencent could just buy 20-30% of the company through the open market (buying shares). Why? Because it is common for Tencent to buy a stake in gaming companies that earn a lot of cash and priced at these valuations.
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https://preview.redd.it/uphpbubcimg61.png?width=804&format=png&auto=webp&s=4f35889049fa9302786bf65d1b83f02a92d71eef
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Summary

In my personal opinion, this is a great company with a bright future.
Valuation seems reasonable and there is a big upside if any of those happens:

• Company starts to actively search for acquisition targets (we will see from press-releases)
• Company launches "Hero Wars 2" title
• The company beats its own low guidance estimates (which I think the most probable)
• Company launches more titles which enter “Top ranks” in AppStore/Google Play store.
• Aggressive Tencent/Other major Gaming Holdings buying.

At this exact moment, the fair valuation of the company will move to $3-4 billion dollar. (+100% upside).
At this right moment of the time as the price is near $10 there is literally no risk in a pre-merger state, as SPAC can’t go below $10 price by its concept.
Disclosure: At the moment of writing this article I do have a position in $KSMT, that is not more than 10% of my entire portfolio. I do not plan to sell at any nearest time in future. Stocks are risk assets and this is not investment advice.

NEW INFO 5 Results from share redemption are posted. Less than .2% redeemed. Very bullish as investors are showing extreme confidence in the future of PLBY.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/playboy-mountain-crest-acquisition-corp-120000721.html
NEW INFO 4 Definitive Agreement to purchase 100% of Lovers brand stores announced 2/1.
https://www.streetinsider.com/Corporate+News/Playboy+%28MCAC%29+Confirms+Deal+to+Acquire+Lovers/17892359.html
NEW INFO 3 I bought more on the dip today. 5081 total. Price rose AH to $12.38 (2.15%)
NEW INFO 2 Here is the full webinar.
https://icrinc.zoom.us/rec/play/9GWKdmOYumjWfZuufW3QXpe_FW_g--qeNbg6PnTjTMbnNTgLmCbWjeRFpQga1iPc-elpGap8dnDv8Zww.yD7DjUwuPmapeEdP?continueMode=true&tk=lEYc4F_FkKlgsmCIs6w0gtGHT2kbgVGbUju3cIRBSjk.DQIAAAAV8NK49xZWdldRM2xNSFNQcTBmcE00UzM3bXh3AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA&uuid=WN_GKWqbHkeSyuWetJmLFkj4g&_x_zm_rtaid=kR45-uuqRE-L65AxLjpbQw.1611967079119.2c054e3d3f8d8e63339273d9175939ed&_x_zm_rhtaid=866
NEW INFO 1 Live merger webinar with PLBY and MCAC on Friday January 29, 2021 at 12:00 NOON EST link below
https://mcacquisition.com/investor-relations/press-release-details/2021/Playboy-Enterprises-Inc.-and-Mountain-Crest-Acquisition-Corp-Participate-in-SPACInsider-ICR-Webinar-on-January-29th-at-12pm-ET/default.aspx
Playboy going public: Porn, Gambling, and Cannabis
!!!WARNING READING AHEAD!!! TL;DR at the end. It will take some time to sort through all the links and read/watch everything, but you should.
In the next couple weeks, Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp is taking Playboy public. The existing ticker MCAC will become PLBY. Special purpose acquisition companies have taken private companies public in recent months with great success. I believe this will be no exception. Notably, Playboy is profitable and has skyrocketing revenue going into a transformational growth phase.
Porn - First and foremost, let's talk about porn. I know what you guys are thinking. “Porno mags are dead. Why would I want to invest in something like that? I can get porn for free online.” Guess what? You are absolutely right. And that’s exactly why Playboy doesn’t do that anymore. That’s right, they eliminated their print division. And yet they somehow STILL make money from porn that people (see: boomers) pay for on their website through PlayboyTV, Playboy Plus, and iPlayboy. Here’s the thing: Playboy has international, multi-generational name recognition from porn. They have content available in 180 countries. It will be the only publicly traded adult entertainment (porn) company. But that is not where this company is going. It will help support them along the way. You can see every Playboy magazine through iPlayboy if you’re interested. NSFW links below:
https://www.playboy.com/
https://www.playboytv.com/
https://www.playboyplus.com/
https://www.iplayboy.com/
Gambling - Some of you might recognize the Playboy brand from gambling trips to places like Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Cancun, London or Macau. They’ve been in the gambling biz for decades through their casinos, clubs, and licensed gaming products. They see the writing on the wall. COVID is accelerating the transition to digital, application based GAMBLING. That’s right. What we are doing on Robinhood with risky options is gambling, and the only reason regulators might give a shit anymore is because we are making too much money. There may be some restrictions put in place, but gambling from your phone on your couch is not going anywhere. More and more states are allowing things like Draftkings, poker, state ‘lottery” apps, hell - even political betting. Michigan and Virginia just ok’d gambling apps. They won’t be the last. This is all from your couch and any 18 year old with a cracked iphone can access it. Wouldn’t it be cool if Playboy was going to do something like that? They’re already working on it. As per CEO Ben Kohn who we will get to later, “...the company’s casino-style digital gaming products with Scientific Games and Microgaming continue to see significant global growth.” Honestly, I stopped researching Scientific Games' sports betting segment when I saw the word ‘omni-channel’. That told me all I needed to know about it’s success.
“Our SG Sports™ platform is an enhanced, omni-channel solution for online, self-service and retail fixed odds sports betting – from soccer to tennis, basketball, football, baseball, hockey, motor sports, racing and more.”
https://www.scientificgames.com/
https://www.microgaming.co.uk/
“This latter segment has become increasingly enticing for Playboy, and it said last week that it is considering new tie-ups that could include gaming operators like PointsBet and 888Holdings.”
https://calvinayre.com/2020/10/05/business/playboys-gaming-ops-could-get-a-boost-from-spac-purchase/
As per their SEC filing:
“Significant consumer engagement and spend with Playboy-branded gaming properties around the world, including with leading partners such as Microgaming, Scientific Games, and Caesar’s Entertainment, steers our investment in digital gaming, sports betting and other digital offerings to further support our commercial strategy to expand consumer spend with minimal marginal cost, and gain consumer data to inform go-to-market plans across categories.”
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921005986/tm2034213-12_defm14a.htm#tMDAA1
They are expanding into more areas of gaming/gambling, working with international players in the digital gaming/gambling arena, and a Playboy sportsbook is on the horizon.
https://www.playboy.com/read/the-pleasure-of-playing-with-yourself-mobile-gaming-in-the-covid-era
Cannabis - If you’ve ever read through a Playboy magazine, you know they’ve had a positive relationship with cannabis for many years. As of September 2020, Playboy has made a major shift into the cannabis space. Too good to be true you say? Check their website. Playboy currently sells a range of CBD products. This is a good sign. Federal hemp products, which these most likely are, can be mailed across state lines and most importantly for a company like Playboy, can operate through a traditional banking institution. CBD products are usually the first step towards the cannabis space for large companies. Playboy didn’t make these products themselves meaning they are working with a processor in the cannabis industry. Another good sign for future expansion. What else do they have for sale? Pipes, grinders, ashtrays, rolling trays, joint holders. Hmm. Ok. So it looks like they want to sell some shit. They probably don’t have an active interest in cannabis right? Think again:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/javierhasse/2020/09/24/playboy-gets-serious-about-cannabis-law-reform-advocacy-with-new-partnership-grants/?sh=62f044a65cea
“Taking yet another step into the cannabis space, Playboy will be announcing later on Thursday (September, 2020) that it is launching a cannabis law reform and advocacy campaign in partnership with National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), Last Prisoner Project, Marijuana Policy Project, the Veterans Cannabis Project, and the Eaze Momentum Program.”
“According to information procured exclusively, the three-pronged campaign will focus on calling for federal legalization. The program also includes the creation of a mentorship plan, through which the Playboy Foundation will support entrepreneurs from groups that are underrepresented in the industry.” Remember that CEO Kohn from earlier? He wrote this recently:
https://medium.com/naked-open-letters-from-playboy/congress-must-pass-the-more-act-c867c35239ae
Seems like he really wants weed to be legal? Hmm wonder why? The writing's on the wall my friends. Playboy wants into the cannabis industry, they are making steps towards this end, and we have favorable conditions for legislative progress.
Don’t think branding your own cannabis line is profitable or worthwhile? Tell me why these 41 celebrity millionaires and billionaires are dummies. I’ll wait.
https://www.celebstoner.com/news/celebstoner-news/2019/07/12/top-celebrity-cannabis-brands/
Confirmation: I hear you. “This all seems pretty speculative. It would be wildly profitable if they pull this shift off. But how do we really know?” Watch this whole video:
https://finance.yahoo.com/video/playboy-ceo-telling-story-female-154907068.html
Man - this interview just gets my juices flowing. And highlights one of my favorite reasons for this play. They have so many different business avenues from which a catalyst could appear. I think paying attention, holding shares, and options on these staggered announcements over the next year is the way I am going to go about it. "There's definitely been a shift to direct-to-consumer," he (Kohn) said. "About 50 percent of our revenue today is direct-to-consumer, and that will continue to grow going forward.” “Kohn touted Playboy's portfolio of both digital and consumer products, with casino-style gaming, in particular, serving a crucial role under the company's new business model. Playboy also has its sights on the emerging cannabis market, from CBD products to marijuana products geared toward sexual health and pleasure.” "If THC does become legal in the United States, we have developed certain strains to enhance your sex life that we will launch," Kohn said. https://cheddar.com/media/playboy-goes-public-health-gaming-lifestyle-focus Oh? The CEO actually said it? Ok then. “We have developed certain strains…” They’re already working with growers on strains and genetics? Ok. There are several legal cannabis markets for those products right now, international and stateside. I expect Playboy licensed hemp and THC pre-rolls by EOY. Something like this: https://www.etsy.com/listing/842996758/10-playboy-pre-roll-tubes-limited?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=pre+roll+playboy&ref=sr_gallery-1-2&organic_search_click=1 Maintaining cannabis operations can be costly and a regulatory headache. Playboy’s licensing strategy allows them to pick successful, established partners and sidestep traditional barriers to entry. You know what I like about these new markets? They’re expanding. Worldwide. And they are going to be a bigger deal than they already are with or without Playboy. Who thinks weed and gambling are going away? Too many people like that stuff. These are easy markets. And Playboy is early enough to carve out their spot in each. Fuck it, read this too: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimosman/2020/10/20/playboy-could-be-the-king-of-spacs-here-are-three-picks/?sh=2e13dcaa3e05
Numbers: You want numbers? I got numbers. As per the company’s most recent SEC filing:
“For the year ended December 31, 2019, and the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s historical consolidated revenue was $78.1 million and $101.3 million, respectively, historical consolidated net income (loss) was $(23.6) million and $(4.8) million, respectively, and Adjusted EBITDA was $13.1 million and $21.8 million, respectively.”
“In the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s Licensing segment contributed $44.2 million in revenue and $31.1 million in net income.”
“In the ninth months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s Direct-to-Consumer segment contributed $40.2 million in revenue and net income of $0.1 million.”
“In the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s Digital Subscriptions and Content segment contributed $15.4 million in revenue and net income of $7.4 million.”
They are profitable across all three of their current business segments.
“Playboy’s return to the public markets presents a transformed, streamlined and high-growth business. The Company has over $400 million in cash flows contracted through 2029, sexual wellness products available for sale online and in over 10,000 major retail stores in the US, and a growing variety of clothing and branded lifestyle and digital gaming products.”
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921005986/tm2034213-12_defm14a.htm#tSHCF
Growth: Playboy has massive growth in China and massive growth potential in India. “In China, where Playboy has spent more than 25 years building its business, our licensees have an enormous footprint of nearly 2,500 brick and mortar stores and 1,000 ecommerce stores selling high quality, Playboy-branded men’s casual wear, shoes/footwear, sleepwear, swimwear, formal suits, leather & non-leather goods, sweaters, active wear, and accessories. We have achieved significant growth in China licensing revenues over the past several years in partnership with strong licensees and high-quality manufacturers, and we are planning for increased growth through updates to our men’s fashion lines and expansion into adjacent categories in men’s skincare and grooming, sexual wellness, and women’s fashion, a category where recent launches have been well received.” The men’s market in China is about the same size as the entire population of the United States and European Union combined. Playboy is a leading brand in this market. They are expanding into the women’s market too. Did you know CBD toothpaste is huge in China? China loves CBD products and has hemp fields that dwarf those in the US. If Playboy expands their CBD line China it will be huge. Did you know the gambling money in Macau absolutely puts Las Vegas to shame? Technically, it's illegal on the mainland, but in reality, there is a lot of gambling going on in China. https://www.forbes.com/sites/javierhasse/2020/10/19/magic-johnson-and-uncle-buds-cbd-brand-enter-china-via-tmall-partnership/?sh=271776ca411e “In India, Playboy today has a presence through select apparel licensees and hospitality establishments. Consumer research suggests significant growth opportunities in the territory with Playboy’s brand and categories of focus.” “Playboy Enterprises has announced the expansion of its global consumer products business into India as part of a partnership with Jay Jay Iconic Brands, a leading fashion and lifestyle Company in India.” “The Indian market today is dominated by consumers under the age of 35, who represent more than 65 percent of the country’s total population and are driving India’s significant online shopping growth. The Playboy brand’s core values of playfulness and exploration resonate strongly with the expressed desires of today’s younger millennial consumers. For us, Playboy was the perfect fit.” “The Playboy international portfolio has been flourishing for more than 25 years in several South Asian markets such as China and Japan. In particular, it has strategically targeted the millennial and gen-Z audiences across categories such as apparel, footwear, home textiles, eyewear and watches.” https://www.licenseglobal.com/industry-news/playboy-expands-global-footprint-india It looks like they gave COVID the heisman in terms of net damage sustained: “Although Playboy has not suffered any material adverse consequences to date from the COVID-19 pandemic, the business has been impacted both negatively and positively. The remote working and stay-at-home orders resulted in the closure of the London Playboy Club and retail stores of Playboy’s licensees, decreasing licensing revenues in the second quarter, as well as causing supply chain disruption and less efficient product development thereby slowing the launch of new products. However, these negative impacts were offset by an increase in Yandy’s direct-to-consumer sales, which have benefited in part from overall increases in online retail sales so far during the pandemic.” Looks like the positives are long term (Yandy acquisition) and the negatives are temporary (stay-at-home orders).
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921006093/tm213766-1_defa14a.htm
This speaks to their ability to maintain a financially solvent company throughout the transition phase to the aforementioned areas. They’d say some fancy shit like “expanded business model to encompass four key revenue streams: Sexual Wellness, Style & Apparel, Gaming & Lifestyle, and Beauty & Grooming.” I hear “we’re just biding our time with these trinkets until those dollar dollar bill y’all markets are fully up and running.” But the truth is these existing revenue streams are profitable, scalable, and rapidly expanding Playboy’s e-commerce segment around the world.
"Even in the face of COVID this year, we've been able to grow EBITDA over 100 percent and revenue over 68 percent, and I expect that to accelerate going into 2021," he said. “Playboy is accelerating its growth in company-owned and branded consumer products in attractive and expanding markets in which it has a proven history of brand affinity and consumer spend.”
Also in the SEC filing, the Time Frame:
“As we detailed in the definitive proxy statement, the SPAC stockholder meeting to vote on the transaction has been set for February 9th, and, subject to stockholder approval and satisfaction of the other closing conditions, we expect to complete the merger and begin trading on NASDAQ under ticker PLBY shortly thereafter,” concluded Kohn.
The Players: Suhail “The Whale” Rizvi (HMFIC), Ben “The Bridge” Kohn (CEO), “lil” Suying Liu & “Big” Dong Liu (Young-gun China gang). I encourage you to look these folks up. The real OG here is Suhail Rizvi. He’s from India originally and Chairman of the Board for the new PLBY company. He was an early investor in Twitter, Square, Facebook and others. His firm, Rizvi Traverse, currently invests in Instacart, Pinterest, Snapchat, Playboy, and SpaceX. Maybe you’ve heard of them. “Rizvi, who owns a sprawling three-home compound in Greenwich, Connecticut, and a 1.65-acre estate in Palm Beach, Florida, near Bill Gates and Michael Bloomberg, moved to Iowa Falls when he was five. His father was a professor of psychology at Iowa. Along with his older brother Ashraf, a hedge fund manager, Rizvi graduated from Wharton business school.” “Suhail Rizvi: the 47-year-old 'unsocial' social media baron: When Twitter goes public in the coming weeks (2013), one of the biggest winners will be a 47-year-old financier who guards his secrecy so zealously that he employs a person to take down his Wikipedia entry and scrub his photos from the internet. In IPO, Twitter seeks to be 'anti-FB'” “Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia looks like a big Twitter winner. So do the moneyed clients of Jamie Dimon. But as you’ve-got-to-be-joking wealth washed over Twitter on Thursday — a company that didn’t exist eight years ago was worth $31.7 billion after its first day on the stock market — the non-boldface name of the moment is Suhail R. Rizvi. Mr. Rizvi, 47, runs a private investment company that is the largest outside investor in Twitter with a 15.6 percent stake worth $3.8 billion at the end of trading on Thursday (November, 2013). Using a web of connections in the tech industry and in finance, as well as a hearty dose of good timing, he brought many prominent names in at the ground floor, including the Saudi prince and some of JPMorgan’s wealthiest clients.” https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/08/technology/at-twitter-working-behind-the-scenes-toward-a-billion-dollar-payday.html Y’all like that Arab money? How about a dude that can call up Saudi Princes and convince them to spend? Funniest shit about I read about him: “Rizvi was able to buy only $100 million in Facebook shortly before its IPO, thus limiting his returns, according to people with knowledge of the matter.” Poor guy :(
He should be fine with the 16 million PLBY shares he's going to have though :)
Shuhail also has experience in the entertainment industry. He’s invested in companies like SESAC, ICM, and Summit Entertainment. He’s got Hollywood connections to blast this stuff post-merger. And he’s at least partially responsible for that whole Twilight thing. I’m team Edward btw.
I really like what Suhail has done so far. He’s lurked in the shadows while Kohn is consolidating the company, trimming the fat, making Playboy profitable, and aiming the ship at modern growing markets.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-twitter-ipo-rizvi-insight/insight-little-known-hollywood-investor-poised-to-score-with-twitter-ipo-idUSBRE9920VW20131003
Ben “The Bridge” Kohn is an interesting guy. He’s the connection between Rizvi Traverse and Playboy. He’s both CEO of Playboy and was previously Managing Partner at Rizvi Traverse. Ben seems to be the voice of the Playboy-Rizvi partnership, which makes sense with Suhail’s privacy concerns. Kohn said this:
“Today is a very big day for all of us at Playboy and for all our partners globally. I stepped into the CEO role at Playboy in 2017 because I saw the biggest opportunity of my career. Playboy is a brand and platform that could not be replicated today. It has massive global reach, with more than $3B of global consumer spend and products sold in over 180 countries. Our mission – to create a culture where all people can pursue pleasure – is rooted in our 67-year history and creates a clear focus for our business and role we play in people’s lives, providing them with the products, services and experiences that create a lifestyle of pleasure. We are taking this step into the public markets because the committed capital will enable us to accelerate our product development and go-to-market strategies and to more rapidly build our direct to consumer capabilities,” said Ben Kohn, CEO of Playboy.
“Playboy today is a highly profitable commerce business with a total addressable market projected in the trillions of dollars,” Mr. Kohn continued, “We are actively selling into the Sexual Wellness consumer category, projected to be approximately $400 billion in size by 2024, where our recently launched intimacy products have rolled out to more than 10,000 stores at major US retailers in the United States. Combined with our owned & operated ecommerce Sexual Wellness initiatives, the category will contribute more than 40% of our revenue this year. In our Apparel and Beauty categories, our collaborations with high-end fashion brands including Missguided and PacSun are projected to achieve over $50M in retail sales across the US and UK this year, our leading men’s apparel lines in China expanded to nearly 2500 brick and mortar stores and almost 1000 digital stores, and our new men’s and women’s fragrance line recently launched in Europe. In Gaming, our casino-style digital gaming products with Scientific Games and Microgaming continue to see significant global growth. Our product strategy is informed by years of consumer data as we actively expand from a purely licensing model into owning and operating key high-growth product lines focused on driving profitability and consumer lifetime value. We are thrilled about the future of Playboy. Our foundation has been set to drive further growth and margin, and with the committed capital from this transaction and our more than $180M in NOLs, we will take advantage of the opportunity in front of us, building to our goal of $100M of adjusted EBITDA in 2025.”
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201001005404/en/Playboy-to-Become-a-Public-Company
Also, according to their Form 4s, “Big” Dong Liu and “lil” Suying Liu just loaded up with shares last week. These guys are brothers and seem like the Chinese market connection. They are only 32 & 35 years old. I don’t even know what that means, but it's provocative.
https://www.secform4.com/insider-trading/1832415.htm
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mountain-crest-acquisition-corp-ii-002600994.html
Y’all like that China money?
“Mr. Liu has been the Chief Financial Officer of Dongguan Zhishang Photoelectric Technology Co., Ltd., a regional designer, manufacturer and distributor of LED lights serving commercial customers throughout Southern China since November 2016, at which time he led a syndicate of investments into the firm. Mr. Liu has since overseen the financials of Dongguan Zhishang as well as provided strategic guidance to its board of directors, advising on operational efficiency and cash flow performance. From March 2010 to October 2016, Mr. Liu was the Head of Finance at Feidiao Electrical Group Co., Ltd., a leading Chinese manufacturer of electrical outlets headquartered in Shanghai and with businesses in the greater China region as well as Europe.”
Dr. Suying Liu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp., commented, “Playboy is a unique and compelling investment opportunity, with one of the world’s largest and most recognized brands, its proven consumer affinity and spend, and its enormous future growth potential in its four product segments and new and existing geographic regions. I am thrilled to be partnering with Ben and his exceptional team to bring his vision to fruition.”
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201001005404/en/Playboy-to-Become-a-Public-Company
These guys are good. They have a proven track record of success across multiple industries. Connections and money run deep with all of these guys. I don’t think they’re in the game to lose.
I was going to write a couple more paragraphs about why you should have a look at this but really the best thing you can do is read this SEC filing from a couple days ago. It explains the situation in far better detail. Specifically, look to page 137 and read through their strategy. Also, look at their ownership percentages and compensation plans including the stock options and their prices. The financials look great, revenue is up 90% Q3, and it looks like a bright future.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921005986/tm2034213-12_defm14a.htm#tSHCF
I’m hesitant to attach this because his position seems short term, but I’m going to with a warning because he does hit on some good points (two are below his link) and he’s got a sizable position in this thing (500k+ on margin, I think). I don’t know this guy but he did look at the same publicly available info and make roughly the same prediction, albeit without the in depth gambling or cannabis mention. You can also search reddit for ‘MCAC’ and very few relevant results come up and none of them even come close to really looking at this thing.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gOvAd6lebs452hFlWWbxVjQ3VMsjGBkbJeXRwDwIJfM/edit?usp=sharing
“Also, before you people start making claims that Playboy is a “boomer” company, STOP RIGHT THERE. This is not a good argument. Simply put. The only thing that matters is Playboy’s name recognition, not their archaic business model which doesn’t even exist anymore as they have completely repurposed their business.”
“Imagine not buying $MCAC at a 400M valuation lol. Streetwear department is worth 1B alone imo.”
Considering the ridiculous Chinese growth as a lifestyle brand, he’s not wrong.
Current Cultural Significance and Meme Value: A year ago I wouldn’t have included this section but the events from the last several weeks (even going back to tsla) have proven that a company’s ability to meme and/or gain social network popularity can have an effect. Tik-tok, Snapchat, Twitch, Reddit, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter. They all have Playboy stuff on them. Kids in middle and highschool know what Playboy is but will likely never see or touch one of the magazines in person. They’ll have a Playboy hoodie though. Crazy huh? A lot like GME, PLBY would hugely benefit from meme-value stock interest to drive engagement towards their new business model while also building strategic coffers. This interest may not directly and/or significantly move the stock price but can generate significant interest from larger players who will.
Bull Case: The year is 2025. Playboy is now the world leader pleasure brand. They began by offering Playboy licensed gaming products, including gambling products, direct to consumers through existing names. By 2022, demand has skyrocketed and Playboy has designed and released their own gambling platforms. In 2025, they are also a leading cannabis brand in the United States and Canada with proprietary strains and products geared towards sexual wellness. Cannabis was legalized in the US in 2023 when President Biden got glaucoma but had success with cannabis treatment. He personally pushes for cannabis legalization as he steps out of office after his first term. Playboy has also grown their brand in China and India to multi-billion per year markets. The stock goes up from 11ish to 100ish and everyone makes big gains buying somewhere along the way.
Bear Case: The United States does a complete 180 on marijuana and gambling. President Biden overdoses on marijuana in the Lincoln bedroom when his FDs go tits up and he loses a ton of money in his sports book app after the Fighting Blue Hens narrowly lose the National Championship to Bama. Playboy is unable to expand their cannabis and gambling brands but still does well with their worldwide lifestyle brand. They gain and lose some interest in China and India but the markets are too large to ignore them completely. The stock goes up from 11ish to 13ish and everyone makes 15-20% gains.
TL;DR: Successful technology/e-commerce investment firm took over Playboy to turn it into a porn, online gambling/gaming, sports book, cannabis company, worldwide lifestyle brand that promotes sexual wellness, vetern access, women-ownership, minority-ownership, and “pleasure for all”. Does a successful online team reinventing an antiquated physical copy giant sound familiar? No options yet, shares only for now. $11.38 per share at time of writing. My guess? $20 by the end of February. $50 by EOY. This is not financial advice. I am not qualified to give financial advice. I’m just sayin’ I would personally use a Playboy sports book app while smoking a Playboy strain specific joint and it would be cool if they did that. Do your own research. You’d probably want to start here:
WARNING - POTENTIALLY NSFW - SEXY MODELS AHEAD - no actual nudity though
https://s26.q4cdn.com/895475556/files/doc_presentations/Playboy-Craig-Hallum-Conference-Investor-Presentation-11_17_20-compressed.pdf
Or here:
https://www.mcacquisition.com/investor-relations/default.aspx
Jimmy Chill: “Get into any SPAC at $10 or $11 and you are going to make money.”
STL;DR: Buy MCAC. MCAC > PLBY couple weeks. Rocketship. Moon.
Position: 5000 shares. I will buy short, medium, and long-dated calls once available.

ATNF (180 Life sciences) Super low floater massive potential under the radar Gem with a "DREAM TEAM All STAR MANAGEMENT" THE BEST OF THE BEST IN BIOPHARMA WORLD WITH AN IMPECCABLE SECOND TO NONE RECORD. Will run many multiples from here in due time.
👉🏻👉🏻 ATNF (180 Life Sciences) Under the radar gem is an understatement. Potentially and very likely will soar 40X or more the current stock price ($4.60 at time of writing). ATNF is in phase 3 the last phase of a potential $7.5 Billion Early Dupuytren's therapy just in the US and UK. Worldwide its probably around $20 Billion or more. There is NO current treatment and NO competition for Early Dupuytren's therapy. Phase 2 exceeded all primary endpoints with a 95% chance this therapy gets FDA approval with the proven track record of this All Star Management Team. Multiple other therapies in pipeline also with a much larger market with projected revenues over $150 Billion worldwide. Co-Founded by Prof. Raphael Mechoulam "THE GODFATHER Of CANNABIS RESEARCH" (1 of 6 Super Stars of Management) Best known for discovering the Endocannabinoid system and isolating the two primary compounds, CBD and THC. 180 Life sciences Synthetic CBD Analogs therapies would potentially replace or very least upheaval the addictive OPIOID drug market. ATNF has a Tiny 1 million share true float with over $150 Billion in potential pipeline therapies on the number #1 cause of all autoimmune diseases in the world (Inflammation) and Chronic Pain Therapies with the absolute Best Minds in the world. All Star Dream Team Management created drugs and companies that sold well over $100 Billion. This could easily run 40X or more the current stock price ($4.60 at time of writing) They are fully funded with grants (Only the best of the best with proven track records 1% ers get grants) and cash on hand (NO Dilution) for 3 years as per CEO in last presentation on January 11th 2021. Management owns 50% of the outstanding shares and 72% of outstanding shares are locked up for 12 months. Management are NOT taking salaries. Market cap is tiny around $85 million. 180 Life sciences is an applicant and licensee of growing patent portfolio for three major drug platforms in the areas of inflammation, fibrosis and pain. The patent portfolio covers 16 patent families with 42 patents issues and 32 pending in several important jurisdictions including the US, Canada, Europe, Australia, Japan and China. The 74 Incredible Patent portfolio alone is worth 8X the current stock price with more patents to be added as they are processed.
👉🏻👉🏻VANGUARD filed 2 separate 13G’s on February 10th 2021 taking a 13% stake of the outstanding shares.
👉🏻👉🏻PT:$200.00 - $300.00 within a 1-2 year time frame if it happens sooner so be it. Not a pie in the sky number but very realistic and highly probable.
👉🏻Synthetic CBD Analogs (SCAs) for Pain and Inflammation•Safe and non-psychoactive• Formulated to offer improved oral bioavailability Rigorously tested in clinical trials for inflammatory pain (efficacy and dosing)•Granted market approval by FDA, EMA and others•👉🏻A real alternative to unregulated consumption of medical cannabis or OTC CBD (no clinical evidence, not FDA approved, unreliable composition, unpredictable dosing and safety)
👉🏻Need: 125 Million Americans have chronic inflammatory conditions, 61 million have more than one. Over 400 Million worldwide suffer from persistent pain, often associated with inflammatory diseases. 180 Life sciences is focused on providing effective therapies. Developing three families of novel drugs addressing significant market opportunities in inflammation, fibrosis and pain:
👉🏻👉🏻Anti-TNF for inflammation driven Fibrosis
👉🏻👉🏻Synthetic CBD analogs (SCAs) for inflammation and Pain (Synthetic CBD analogs are man-made derivatives of cannabidiol (CBD). These compounds have anti-inflammatory, analgesic and anxiolytic properties, making it a potential treatment for arthritic conditions. This program is led by Professor Marc Feldmann with key players Professor Raphael Mechoulam , who discovered tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabinol, the main compounds in cannabis, and led pioneering research into the endocannabinoid system and also Gallily and Domb
👉🏻👉🏻a7nAChR nicotinic agonist for inflammation Numerous near-term inflection points for anti-TNF programs:
👉🏻First Clinical program fully enrolled in phase 2b/3 trial
👉🏻Two additional clinical programs projected to start 2H 2021 👉🏻First two anti-TNF clinical trials funded by UK grants and modest 180LS investment
👉🏻Very efficient cash flow model
👉🏻👉🏻Strong IP portfolio with a long lifespan, providing coverage up to 2039
https://180lifesciences.com/team/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/javierhasse/2020/07/12/dr-mechoulam/?sh=669086286a45
https://merryjane.com/news/godfather-of-cannabis-isolated-a-new-weed-compound-that-has-profound-medical-value
https://www.networknewswire.com/banking-on-the-next-blockbuster-drug/
180 Life Sciences Corp. (180 Profile) since the founders have significant expertise in developing new therapeutics that were sold to big pharma for billions. They are renowned for development of some of the largest-selling drugs to ever come to market. Now they aim to do it again with a pipeline of drug candidates in sequential stages of development that address large untapped markets. The founding scientists at 180 Life Sciences discovered the anti-TNF drug class that led to Remicade, the fourth all-time best-selling drug in the world. Presently owned by Johnson and Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), Remicade has exceeded $90 billion in total sales since approval. AbbVie Inc. (NYSE: ABBV) licensed the anti-TNF patents from these scientists for use with Humira, the second best-selling drug in the world, with lifetime sales of $137 billion. Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) owns the seventh best seller, Enbrel, that treats psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis and has generated over $81 billion in lifetime sales. Novartis AG (NYSE: NVS) owns the world’s 12th best-selling drug, Diovan, which treats high blood pressure and heart failure and has over $60 billion in lifetime sales.
180 Life Sciences is led by Dr. James Woody:
👉🏻Dr. James N. Woody CEO•Discovered Remicade at Centocor•Founded Avidiaand Proteolix, which were sold to Amgen•GP of LatterellVenture Partners•25+ years of pharmaceutical research and management experience•General Manager of Roche Biosciences (Former Syntex) Chief Executive Officer Jim Woody has more than 25 years of pharmaceutical research and management expertise He currently serves as Chairman of Oncomed Pharmaceuticals, where he was previously a founder and CEO; he is also a General Partner at Latterell Venture Partners, a venture capital group focusing on early-stage healthcare companies He has served in a variety of health and management roles including as President of Roche Bioscience, and CSO and Senior Vice President of RD for Centocor. At Centocor, Jim was part of the team that discovered Remicade, ($5.03 Billion in sales in 2019)used to treat arthritis and which is now one of the best-selling drugs in the world. He served as Commanding Officer and Director at the US Naval Medical Research and Development Command in Bethesda, Maryland trained in pediatric immunology at Duke University and Boston Children’s Hospital (Harvard) He further holds a PhD in Immunology from the University of London, and has co-authored more than 140 publications.
👉🏻Prof Sir Marc Feldmann Co-Chairman•Pioneer of anti-TNF therapy, world’s biggest drug class ($40 billion) Anti-TNF discovery eventually led to Centocor’s acquisition by Johnson and Johnson for $4.9 Billion •7 International awards for Biomedical Innovation, including Crafoordand Lasker Awards Co-Chairman Professor Sir Marc Feldmann, AC FAA FRS FRCP Fmedsci is a pre-eminent immunologist, and an Emeritus professor at the University of Oxford. At the Kennedy in Insitute in London in the 1980's, he identified TNF as a target in the treatment of arthritis. With his research partner, Prof Sir Ravinder Maini they led clinical trails of monocional antiTNF antibody in treatment resistant rheumatoid arthritis, which Centercor had generated and now called Infliximab, which Johnson and Johnson sells as Remicade. Remicade was the main driver of the $4.9 Billion acquisition of Centocor by Johnson and Johnson . Since its approval of Remicade has sold over $50 Billion worldwide, and remains Johnson and Johnson biggest selling drug. Feldmann and Maini are credited for the generation of anti-TNFs as the worlds biggest drug class since 2013, with global sales of $36 to $40 Billion in recent years. Sir Marc is intimately involved in the development of 2 of the 3 projects being developed by 180 Life Sciences, new uses of anti-TNF and synthetic cannabidiol analogues. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and a foreign Member of the National Academy of Sciences, USA.This major impact on medical therapy led to his receiving a knighthood and also the Australian equivalent, Companion of the order of Australia. Sir Marc Feldmann is a fellow of the Royal Society, Australian Academy of sciences and a Foreign Member of the National Academy of Sciences, USA.
👉🏻Prof Lawrence Steinman Co-Chairman Discovered role of integrins, led to Natalizumab, highly effective treatment for MS and IBD•Tysabri sold to Royalty Pharam in 2017 for $3.25 Billion Member of National Academy of Sciences, 4 International awards for Biomedical Innovation including Charcot Prize; founder of Centocor Prof Lawrence Steinman is currently is the George A. Zimmermann Endowed Chair in Neurology department at Stanford University. Professor Steinman has overseen success in the pharmaceuticals industry; he was on the board of Centocor, sold to Johnson and Johnson for $4.9 Billion and was founder of Neurocrine Biosciences(NASDAQ:NBIX) which went public in 1997. Neurocrine Biosciences, a NASDAQ-listed company with an approximately $8.6 billion market cap. He served on the Board of Centocor and currently serves as an advisor to Atreca. Prof. Steinman received a B.A. from Dartmouth College and M.D. from Harvard Medical School, and is a Member of the National Academy of Sciences, USA.
👉🏻Dr Jonathan Rothbard Chief Scientific Officer•Stanford University, broad experience in small molecule development•Founder of 5 biotech companies; Amylin sold to AstraZeneca and Bristol Myer Squibb for $7 Billion in 2012. Chief Scientific Officer Dr Jonathan Rothbard works in the neurology department at Stanford University Dr. Rothbard headed the mocecular Immunology Labortory at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in London in 1990, where he first worked with Professor Sir Marc Feldmann Dr Rothbard has been involved at the high level with start-up pharmaceuticals discovery; in 1987 he founded Amylin in San Diego and has also founded start-ups CellGate and Immulogic Amylin was sold in 2012 to Brstol-Myers Squibb for $7 billion.
👉🏻Prof Raphael Mechoulam CO-Founder, 180 LS•Godfather of cannabinoid chemistry.Labeled as "THE GOD FATHER" of cannabis research, having worked on the chemistry with credited for the discovery of CBD and THC, pharmacology and clinical effects of natural products, including cannabis for over 50 years. He isolated numerous cannabinoids, including the active constituent of cannabis, delta9-THC, and elucidated its structure and CBD. This also paved the way to his discovery of 2AG and anandamide, both endogenous cannabinoids in late 1990s. He has published over 400 papers in esteemed scientific journals and be awarded several notable prizes including the Israeli Prize in Exact Sciences in 2000, NIDA discovery award in 2011, 2012 Rothschild Prize in Chemical Sciences and Physical Sciences, and Lifetime achievement award at CannaMed in 2016. Nominated for the NOBEL PRIZE Currently his work focuses on generating novel cannabinoids and anandamide-like compounds which are being developed as drugs.
👉🏻Prof Jagdeep Nanchahal Chairman of Clinical Advisory Board•Surgeon-scientist, Leading 2b/3 trial funded by WellcomeTrust and UKDept. of health•Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons; discovered new treatments for fibrosis. Professor Nanchahal is a surgeon at the University of Oxford, focused on defining the molecular mechanisms of common diseases such as fibrosis He has pioneered the treatment of fibrosis of the hand(Dupuytren's disease).
👉🏻Word from the CEO James Woody:' TAKES TIME TO GET WORD OUT'": Noting that the company has only been public since November 9th, James Woody acknowledged there hasn't been"a lot of time for analysts to come on board." I think the most important points are that we have a phenomenal team of people, and our projects are also quite exciting.It just takes time to get the word out," he added. (From an exclusive interview with the The Fly).
CEO James Woody: “My goal and the goal of the other members of management is to build stockholder value by developing world leading products to solve unmet medical needs. As management and insiders currently own over 50% of the Company, we believe our goals are directly aligned with the stockholders of the Company. Many members of our management team have not taken a salary to date. The good news for stockholders is that my team and I have done this before. We are a team who have developed not one but many blockbuster drugs.”
Many people ask why this dropped from 11-2 back in November here’s the answer:
(From a knowledgeable investor on Stocktwits) First you have to understand how SPACs work to get this price movement. The SPAC manager has ZERO to do with the management of ATNF and ZERO to do with operations or any other aspect of the company
1) This was a very old SPAC that started in 2017 and took forever and ever to complete merger 2) Because of the delays, lots of shareholders “Redeemed” their shares (You can do this in SPACs) 3) This gave a false impression the company might not be good 4)This SPAC had 12 million rights that’s automatically converted into 1.2 million shares after the merger. 5) Most of the right holders bought them between .10 and .30 ( which equates to $1 to $3 in price) 6) After merger, most of the right holder dumped their shares to lock in profit rather then wait for the common to go up 7) Hence the big drop from $11 to $2 8) The fundamentals of this company are world class. So, it’s just a matter of time before it’s true value is reflected in the share price 9) THE END.

I stumbled onto a post elsewhere by someone who did a good job of connecting the dots in regard to what is happening in the world right now. While this may not be new info to many of you, you may find it's good to share because it references links from sources most people would trust.
--
Written by Teresa Tannahill, from Cardigan, UK
Some of you want to know why they’re taking down the NHS and the economy. Destroying so many lives. Here is the explanation
This is a British perspective, but since all western governments are marching to the same drum, I think it applies to Europe and all of the English speaking countries, as well as some developing nations.
This is NOT conspiracy theory. It’s geopolitics, economics and a little science. Everything is referenced in the links.
Last year the United Nations and the World Economic Forum signed a deal to accelerate the sustainable development goals of UN Agenda 21 and Agenda 2030:
https://www.weforum.org/press/2019/06/world-economic-forum-and-un-sign-strategic-partnership-framework/
They moved astonishingly quickly to capitalise on the uncannily timed pandemic by calling for a “Great Reset”.
https://youtu.be/u5pxhSnDr4U
https://youtu.be/8rAiTDQ-NVY
The Great Reset is actually UN Agenda 21 repackaged. Agenda 21 was also the inspiration for the contentious “Green New Deal” that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez failed to get through US Congress in 2019.
You’ll see more about the Great Reset on the TV in the coming weeks. The UN hope to have most of the heavy lifting done by 2030, as detailed in their Agenda 2030 milestone document.
The climate change lobby have been warning us about the need for this for years:
https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/science-environment-48964736
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/18/world-has-six-months-to-avert-climate-crisis-says-energy-expert
These are some of the scientists that inform the UN. Within 2 weeks of the last UK Extinction Rebellion protest in 2019, the UK government and the EU declared an official climate emergency. More than half of UK local authorities followed suit. At least 27 countries (or jurisdictions within countries) have signed up to this.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-politics-48126677
https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/28/eu-parliament-declares-climate-emergency
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_emergency_declaration
The United Nations have been pushing for a One World Government ever since they were formed after WWII. They want open borders between Canada, the US and South America. The European Union was another crucial part of their plan. It was their attempt at a United States of Europe. Instead, it became an economic disaster zone. The EU managed to completely trash their currency in just over a decade. Record unemployment and record debt. Brexit was the final straw. It was clear that other countries wanted to follow Britain’s lead. Frexit, Grexit, Italexit, Gexit, etc. The EU was on the brink of collapse. Eighty years of painstaking manipulation towards what they call a “New World Order” was swirling down the drain. Brexit forced their hand.
The Elite behind the UN often wield their power in the guise of philanthropy. They do it openly.
Ten years ago, the Rockefeller Foundation produced this document exploring ways to increase their ‘philanthropic’ power over the world. To bring about a New World Order and a One World Government. Sceptics refer to it as the “Lockstep” document.
http://www.nommeraadio.ee/meedia/pdf/RRS/Rockefeller%20Foundation.pdf
Examine pages 1-2. And pages 18-19. Does it look familiar? We’re in Lockstep.
There are many influential people shilling for the NWO and global governance right now, including ex PMs Gordon Brown, Tony Blair and Prince Charles. Bill Gates called for a One World Government in 2015 in a major German newspaper.
https://amp.theguardian.com/politics/2020/ma26/gordon-brown-calls-for-global-government-to-tackle-coronavirus
https://www.sueddeutsche.de/wirtschaft/bill-gates-im-interview-den-taeglichen-tod-nehmen-wir-nicht-wahr-1.2324164
Banks are operating skeleton services and the disappearance of branches and cash machines from the high street has accelerated during the lockdowns. They’re also pushing for a new global currency, probably using blockchain technology. This will allow the banks to adopt negative interest rates and punish account holders for saving. Prominent economist Jim Rickards thinks that this may be as early as the first quarter next year.
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2020/may/16/cash-could-be-the-latest-victim-of-coronavirus-and-may-never-recover
https://www.forbes.com/sites/suzannerowankellehe2020/10/11/coronavirus-can-remain-on-paper-currency-for-28-days-per-study/
The furlough schemes appear to be leading towards a Universal Basic Income for those whose jobs are unlikely to come back. This will make an even bigger proportion of the population dependent on the State.
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/universal-basic-income-coronavirus-pandemic-nhs-liberal-democrats-b404498.html
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/leeds-becomes-largest-city-uk-call-universal-basic-income-pilot-b468654.html
The COVID-19 contact tracing app on your phone can be easily morphed into a cashless Chinese-style social credit system similar to this:
https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-18/china-social-credit-a-model-citizen-in-a-digital-dictatorship/10200278
At the moment, the tracking software is “voluntary”, but the API is now part of your smartphone operating system. It probably won’t be long before you won’t be able to switch it off. The UK government has already introduced a QR Code COVID-secure pass system, which came into effect two days before the London anti-lockdown protest on the 26th September. It has recently come to light that personal data from the app is being shared with police forces. Furthermore, police are being asked not to download the app onto their work phones. Possible explanations are that they anticipate a lot of close contact with the public, or are concerned about the false positive phenomenon.
The Coronavirus Act 2020 allows for DNA to be retained for longer, but it does not say why. Incidentally, they have made it a lot easier to section and forcibly medicate an individual, due to emergency changes to the Mental Health Act 1983. These changes have not yet been implemented in England, but they are in force in Wales.
The 5G network and Elon Musk’s StarLink satellite network will greatly enhance the surveillance capacity for the Chinese style Social Credit System, which might explain why rollout is being accelerated. It also explains why UK networks have been given 7 years to remove suspect Huawei equipment from their networks. Whatever is happening, it will be all over, long before that.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/venues-required-to-enforce-rule-of-6-nhs-qr-code-posters-and-contact-logs
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/jul/14/huawei-to-be-stripped-of-role-in-uk-5g-network-by-2027-dowden-confirms
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/elon-musk-space-laser-starlink-internet-spacex-a9705986.html
There are already SMART cities in China where you are tracked everywhere you go. Facial recognition cameras and a cashless society enable this. If you jaywalk, buy too much alcohol, criticise the government on social media, or don’t behave yourself, they dock your social credit.
Your ‘privileges’, like going shopping or getting on a train, are taken away. You’re effectively trapped. The police can stop and search citizens anywhere. They can even look on your phone. There are plenty of news items archived on YouTube concerning this. In some Chinese cities, you only have to switch your phone off for 2 hours and the police are banging on your door.
The pessimistic view? The next UK lockdown won’t end unless we submit to compulsory tracking, testing and vaccination. Dissenters won’t be allowed to leave the house to work or travel or shop. We’re on the brink of a house arrest prison system and it will only take a year or two to implement.
I am deeply concerned about any rushed vaccine. Pharmaceutical companies are being granted full indemnity from legal action over injury caused. The 2009 swine flu vaccine was an utter disaster. The UK government has recently lost the battle to pay compensation for the brain injury caused by it.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/amphtml/shaunlintern/these-nhs-staff-were-told-the-swine-flu-vaccine-was-safe
https://theguardian.com/science/2017/feb/09/ministers-lose-fight-to-stop-payouts-in-swine-flu-jab-narcolepsy-cases
There are concerns about the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines currently being developed. Despite this, the vaccine development programs have scarcely missed a beat.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/19/health/astrazeneca-vaccine-safety-blueprints.html
https://www.rt.com/news/500987-astrazeneca-vaccine-neurological-condition/
https://www.rt.com/news/501221-astrazeneca-vaccine-neurological-condition/
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-09-astrazeneca-covid-vaccine-trial.amp
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/09/20/human-trials-oxford-vaccine-hold-us-spinal-cord-disease-fears
https://www.ft.com/content/588cebbc-cbae-45ba-8b9a-e8ad2760c0ed
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8391769/amp/AstraZeneca-manufacturing-Covid-vaccine-three-countries.html
https://www.itv.com/news/wales/2020-09-21/health-minister-would-not-rule-out-introducing-mandatory-coronavirus-vaccine-scheme-in-wales
https://metro.co.uk/2020/10/03/every-adult-in-uk-could-be-vaccinated-for-coronavirus-by-easter-13365637
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8875931/Coronavirus-vaccine-weeks-NHS-workers.html
Chilling indeed. Especially when you consider that the government is already consulting legal experts on the mandatory vaccines.
https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/9253/pdf/
The argument appears to use the precedent set by the lockdowns themselves.
The expert argue that if you can force people into lockdown to protect others, you can forcibly inject them too.
The Mental Health Act 1983 can also be used to force vaccination. If someone is judged to be a risk to others by refusing vaccination, then it would be possible to section them under the MHA 1983 and forcibly inject them. Consent will not be required.
We’re going down a very dark road indeed.
If you sit down and read all 351 pages of Agenda 21, plus its ancillary documents, you will find that it’s all about complete control and inventory of everything on the planet. Animal, mineral and vegetable. Including humans.
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/outcomedocuments/agenda21
That could be partially what the vaccine is about. The virus would be a means to that end. I don’t know what it will contain, but it almost certainly won’t be immunisation against any coronavirus. There has never been a successful vaccine for a coronavirus. They are too slippery, meaning they mutate too much. There is talk of eventually utilising the quantum dot tattoo technology that Bill Gates has developed. Google ID2020 to find out more.
https://newatlas.com/medical/quantum-dot-tattoos-patient-vaccine-history/
The UN claims that there are a billion undocumented humans on this planet. And that global population is ultimately heading for nearly 11 billion. This appears to really bother Bill Gates. See his TED Talks.
As mentioned, UN Agenda 2030 is the next major milestone of Agenda 21.
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/21252030%20Agenda%20for%20Sustainable%20Development%20web.pdf
The required changes are enormous. Yet we are seeing them all around us. Most of these changes have accelerated since the pandemic.
It can be argued that the measures “they’re” taking to “protect us” from the virus are indistinguishable from many of the stated goals of UN Agenda 21 and Agenda 2030.
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/21252030%20Agenda%20for%20Sustainable%20Development%20web.pdf
While we’ve been kept under house arrest, they’ve been shutting down fossil fuel power stations, oil rigs, pedestrianising city centres, disabling our food supply chain, forcing farmers to cull ‘greenhouse gas emitting’ livestock and let ‘unsustainable irrigated’ crops rot. Suppressing effective COVID-19 treatments.
https://theguardian.com/business/2020/jun/04/coronavirus-crisis-collapse-fossil-fuels-demand
https://www.carbonbrief.org/iea-coronavirus-accelerating-closure-of-ageing-fossil-fuelled-power-plants
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-livestock-insight-idUSKCN2292YS
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/ap29/millions-of-farm-animals-culled-as-us-food-supply-chain-chokes-up-coronavirus
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/03/covid-19-surgisphere-who-world-health-organization-hydroxychloroquine
The evidence is all around us. Virtually every major town and city in the UK has had permanent changes to road layout to allow for social distancing. Pedestrianisation and cycle ways. One way systems. Cities are becoming very car-unfriendly. Glasgow has lost a third of its parking spaces overnight. Google ‘social distancing centre traffic’. If there’s a vaccine coming, why are these changes permanent?
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-52921978
And here is Boris Johnson promising to rewild a third of the country by 2030.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/09/27/boris-johnson-commits-restoring-nature-30-per-cent-britain-2030/
Here’s another surprise change, no petrol or diesel cars after 2030.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8754911/Government-plans-bring-forward-ban-fossil-fuel-vehicles-2040-2030.html
Notice the dates. This aligns with the goals of UN Agenda 2030.
This is only the tip of the iceberg. One of the goals of Agenda 21 is to end private property ownership and all farming of animals by 2050.
https://twitter.com/wef/status/799632174043561984 (My note, not Teresa's: This Tweet by the World Economic forum was removed after it gained notoriety. I believe it was the "It's 2030. I own nothing, have no privacy, and I've never been happier" video. Forbes has the article in its original form before WEF changed the title to evade negative response:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/worldeconomicforum/2016/11/10/shopping-i-cant-really-remember-what-that-is-or-how-differently-well-live-in-2030/?sh=28a692f81735 )
To recap, we can expect a cashless society, negative interest rates, social credit system, mass surveillance, mandatory vaccines, ID2020, AI, restriction of movement, health passports, rationing of food and energy, confiscation of private property, banning of private motor vehicles and crippling taxation.
Eventually? Depopulation and rewilding of the planet.
I’ve got references for everything I haven’t referenced here. I’ve been studying geopolitics since 2008 and tracking the WEC and UN’s machinations since January.
We’re being frogmarched into a dystopian technocracy. An Orwellian future. It was always going to happen, it’s just happening faster than I thought. I can only conclude that the technology needed to implement it was ready after all.
They’re even hinting at transhumanism and the “Fourth Industrial Revolution”. These topics are covered in the Great Reset videos and literature. We’re living a bloody science fiction novel. These videos examines how we got here, and where we’re going.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebiUd-Wb6NM&feature=youtu.be
( EDIT: another link removed because this domain isn't allowed on Reddit )
We really are in deep trouble. The world is being steered by a megalomaniac madman, Klaus Schwab, and he has the full power of the United Nations at his disposal. This is not speculation, this is fact.
The lockdowns aren’t about a virus. The virus was the excuse for the lockdowns. The whole purpose of the lockdowns is to destroy our economy and take away our freedoms. They’re implementing a hard Agenda 21, a “Great Reset” with the slogan, “Build Back Better” Only Britain won’t be better. Far from it. We will become like communist China. This man believes that China is our future.
Teresa
-- all words by Teresa except my note about the removed links

For many years now, I’ve been making a time capsule to document BTS’ growth from 2015 onwards. You can see all the old time capsules on this wiki page!
Without further ado, here’s BTS’ 2020 time capsule, enclosed December 26, 2020 at 12:30PM EST to be opened sometime between December 21, 2021, and December 31, 2021 (Ideally at approx the same time again ;)).

BTS

• There are seven members.
• BTS is under Big Hit Entertainment.
• Big Hit went public on the stock market, raising $840 million during the IPO, making it South Korea’s largest IPO in three years. The company is valued ~$7.5 billion. BTS hold $108 million in shares, or $15.4 million per group member. Musicians like BTS owning part of their recording company is a rarity. Bang PD’s net worth is ~$2.8 billion.

Music

• Most recent work: BE, the group's 5th Full Album
• Music show wins: Through Dynamite promotions, BTS won 27 awards on music shows, which is the most music show wins of all time (beating Boy with Luv), and gave BTS the most music show wins in history, at 123 (+counting!)
• Achievements: BTS broke a bunch of records with BE; here’s a full list. Most notably: - BE was BTS’ 5th album to debut at #1 on the Billboard 200 - Dynamite was their first #1 song on the Hot 100 and was #1 for 3 weeks (non-consecutive) - Life Goes On debuted at #1 on the Hot 100, making it BTS’ 3rd #1 debut this year (along with Dynamite and Savage Love Remix; fastest in 42 years with the BeeGees) and the first Korean language song to ever hit #1. First and only group to ever have two #1 debuts - All 7 songs from BE have charted on the Hot 100 - BTS becomes the first group in history (and ninth act overall) to simultaneously hit #1 on the Artist 100, Hot 100 and Billboard 200 -There are so many more you guys I can’t even keep track -BTS also released Map of the Soul: 7 before BE, the groups 4th full album. BE shattered most of these records, but you can see the list here
• Solo: - Agust D released his second mixtape titled “D-2”. You can see the full list of records here - JK - Still With You - Jin - Abyss - Jimin - Christmas Love - V - Sweet Night (Itaewon Class OST)
• Certifications: - MOTS: 7 is the only 2020-released RIAA certified Platinum Pop album this year - IDOL and Love Yourself: Answer have been certified Platinum, as has Map of the Soul: 7 by the RIAA - ARIA (Australia) and New Zealand certified Dynamite as platinum - Dynamite was certified Gold in many countries where it was the first time for BTS (Spain, Denmark, Italy, etc…) - Their Japanese album, ~ Map of the Soul 7: THE JOURNEY ~ has been certified triple platinum by RIAJ, the first Korean boy group in Japan to do this. It is also now the best selling Korean boy group album in Japan in history, surpassing TVXQ’s 2010 record - Dynamite was certified Platinum streaming by RIAJ, making BTS the first Korean act and second int’l act to do so, in just 3 months (the fastest song to do so)
• Collaborations: BTS has collaborated with multiple big-name artists this year, such as: - Jawsh 685 x Jason Derulo (Savage Love Remix) - MAX (Blueberry Eyes, Burn It) - Lauv (Who) - Younha (Winter Flower) - NiiHWA (28) - Kim Jong Wan (Dear My Friend) - IU (Eight) - Troye Sivan (Louder than Bombs) - Sia (ON) - Peakboy (Snow Flower by V)
• Charting: "Spring Day" becomes the first and only song in Melon history to spend 200 consecutive weeks charting inside Melon Top 100!

Awards

• 34th Golden Disk Awards: Best digital song (Bonsang), Digital music Daesang, Physical album daesang
• Seoul Music Awards: Best Album Award for Map of the Soul: Persona, Bonsang
• Billboard Music Awards: Top social artist
• MTV VMAs: Best choreography (ON), Best K-pop (ON), Best Pop (ON), Best Group
• American Music Awards: Favorite Duo or Group - Pop/rock, Top Social Artist
• Melon Music Awards: BTS won all 3 daesangs again this year, as well as many other awards
• MAMA: BTS again won every daesang, as well as many other awards
• TMA: BTS wins Daesang and other awards at The Fact music awards
• WSJ: BTS won the 2020 Wall Street Journal Music Innovator award
• BTS won Asia Society's 2020 Asia Game Changers Award
• BTS received the James A. Van Fleet Award from the KoreaSociety for promoting US-South Korean relations, which received some backlash in China

Additionally:

• BTS performed at the Grammys along with Lil Nas X in a remix stage of “Old Town Road” at the 62nd GRAMMY awards, and presented “Best R&B artist”
• BTS was nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for 'Dynamite' at the 63rd GRAMMY Awards

General News

Map of the Soul World TouConcerts

• Their worldwide tour was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
• BTS held “BANG BANG CON” livestream in April for fans, playing old concert DVDs for 2 days
• BTS also held BANG BANG CON: The Live in June, performing new songs live, which broke a record by having 756K viewers of the paid concert
• BTS held a 2-day online concert, titled “Map of the Soul ON:E” in October, which 993,000 viewers from 191 countries viewed, breaking Bangbangcon’s record

Charity (new this year!)

• BTS donated $1 million dollars to #BlackLivesMatter in June, leading fans to #MatchAMillion in donations to #BLM in just over a day (including the sub’s own!)
• BTS and BigHit donate $1M to Live Nation's Crew Nation campaign to help concert crew workers affected by the coronavirus
• J-Hope donated 100 million won to the Green Umbrella Children's Foundation to assist vulnerable children, especially those who are struggling due to the Coronavirus pandemic
• RM donated 100M won to the MMCA foundation to foster a culture of reading art books and increasing artistic sensibility in youth, and received an award from the Arts Council of Korea for his donation to the MMCA
• The newly established BTS Jimin scholarship will provide a total of $92k ($33k in 2021) for three years to help foster outstanding talented students in the arts sector in South Jeolla Province, using donations by BTS member Jimin
• Suga donated 100 million won to Hope Bridge to help support those affected by the Coronavirus outbreak
• Jimin donated 100 million won to Jeonnam Future Education Foundation to aid students with outstanding abilities and talents in need
• As of March 6th 3PM KST, Korean ARMY donated approx. 505,500,000 won (aprox. 423,900 USD) for COVID-19 relief in 9 days (and I-ARMY started donating to their own countries’ relief fund!)
• BTS Microphone set raised $83,200 in auction for Musicares charity
• UNICEF Korea announced that @BTS_twt’s LOVE MYSELF Campaign won the 2020 UNICEF Inspire Award in Best Integrated Campaigns and Events category.
• BTS Fans are donating to public radio stations after NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert
• Magic Breakfast: @BTS_ARMY have donated enough to provide over 14,000 Magic Breakfasts for disadvantaged children.
• not to mention all the projects run by OIAA and other fandom collectives, like the /bangtan projects team, and all the donations BTS has done that haven’t been reported!

Other

• BTS launched a worldwide art project called “CONNECT, BTS” which aimed to connect five cities and 22 artists, each of whom contributes their unique philosophy and imagination to it. This project aimed to redefine the relationship between art and music, the material and immaterial, artists and their audiences, artists and artists, and theory and practice.
• BTS had a worldwide theatre release of Break the Silence: The Movie
• BTS appeared on Good Morning America, James Corden (Carpool Karaoke), Jimmy Fallon (had their own “BTS Week!”), The Today Show, Big Hit and Mnet’s reality show I-LAND, NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert, and Fortnite
• TIME named BTS as Entertainer of the Year 2020
• BTS’ Spotify Wrapped for this year!
• South Korea’s National Assembly passed a revision of South Korea’s Military Service Act​, colloquially called “The BTS law”. The revised law lets top K-pop stars like Jin postpone their ​military ​service until they turn 30
• The Beatles and BTS are the only groups to sell 1 million album units in 2020
• The Harvard Business review wrote an academic paper on Big Hit and BTS
• Suga had a successful surgery on his shoulder in November, and sat out of year-end award performances and BE promotions to rest
• BTS is now the best-selling artist of all time in South Korea
• Similarly, according to Gaon, BTS has sold 8,823,754 albums in 2020
• Only Five K-Pop albums have charted for a full year—and they’re all by BTS (YNWA, LY: Tear, LY: Her, LY: Answer, Face Yourself
• BTS is the first act in history to exceed 50 daesangs
• BTS is now the most viewed group of all time on YouTube, passing Maroon 5 (official videos)
• Jungkook had a minor controversy for going out to a restaurant in Itaewon during COVID with several idol friends
• BTS was featured on Esquire’s winter magazine, and Variety’s cover
• It was revealed BTS + Bang PD met the families of the Sewol Ferry victims in 2014
• BTS had CF deals like Bodyfriend, Maplestory, FILA, IONIQ (Hyundai electric cars), Lotte Duty Free, Samsung electronics/mobile, Visit Seoul, Baskin Robbins, Chilsung Cider, among others
• BTS has released a new mobile game with “Rhythm Hive”

Music Videos

(Only using 1theK’s channel, or ibighit if that’s the only place it’s uploaded)
In order of most views at the time, all in millions

2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
DOPE: 36.2m views	DOPE: 119.0m	FIRE: 252.9m	DNA: 574.9m	DNA: 892.1m	DNA: 1.1b
BiL: 32.0m	FIRE: 90.9m	DOPE: 247.6m	FIRE: 467.9m	BwL: 651.5m	BWL: 1b
Danger: 24.5m	BiL: 81.4m	BST: 231.2m	FL: 406.3m	FIRE: 632.9m	FL: 837m
INU: 23.3m	BST: 72.5m	DNA: 214.9m	DOPE: 405.1m	FL: 629.9m	MDR: 818m
WoH: 22.5m	Save ME: 58.4m	Not Today: 174.5m	MDR: 399.6m	MDR: 600.7m	IDOL: 816m
(No Data)	Danger: 54.6m	BiL: 173.4m	BST: 385.6m	IDOL: 592.4m	Dynamite: 725m

Social Media

Instagram

-	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Most Recent	X	X	X	X	X	X
Followers	541.000	2.2 million	7.6 million	14.7 million	21.7 million	35.3 million

Twitter

-	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Most Recent @BTS_twt	X	X	X	X	X	X
Most Recent @BTS_bighit	X	X	X	X	X	X
Most recent #김데일리 (#KimDaily)	X	X	X	X	X	X
Followers	1.6 million	3.96 million	11.4 million	17.4 million	23.2 million	31.6 million

^{Note: RM doesn’t really use the #KimDaily hashtag anymore, but he still takes pics that look exactly like them.}
Soundcloud

-	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Most Recent	X	X	X	X*	X	X

^{*Plus some Japanese releases.}
V Live

-	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Most Recent	X	X	X	X	X	X
Followers	1.5 million	3.7 million	7.1 million	11.7 million	16.6 million	24.5 million

Eat JIN

-	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Most Recent	X*	X	X	X	X	X

^{*151220 Eat Jin in case it's taken down}
Hope on the Street

-	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Most Recent	X	X	X	X	X	X

YouTube

-	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Most Recent Bangtan Bomb	X	X	X	X	X	X
BANGTANTV Subscribers	1.1 million	2.5 million	5.5 million	13.8 million	24.2 million	42.6 million

Fancafe

-	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Daum	195.548	405k	698k	1.2 million	1.5 million	1.5 million
Weverse	-	-	-	-	2.8 million	8.3 million

Weibo

-	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Most Recent	-	X	X	X	X	X
Followers	-	755k	1.1 million	3.4 million	4.7 million	5.6 million

Spotify

-	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Monthly Listeners	-	-	8.7 million	9.8 million	13.6 million	31.8 million
Followers	-	-	2.7 million	8.1 million	15.2 million	26.6 million

TikTok

-	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Followers	-	-	-	-	6.5 million	26.3 million
Most Recent	-	-	-	-	x	X

Subreddit

-	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Subscribed	970	5.411	17.689	44.122	93.160	178k
Online	16	74	375	541	745	825
Top of All Time	BTS Run MV by beepingsheep with 66 upvotes (Screenshot of top 6)	Blood, Sweat & Tears MV by mllelingling with 459 upvotes (Screenshot of top 6)	DNA MV by FFED00 with 1.358 upvotes (Screenshot of top 6)	Fake Love MV by JJJJAKE1 with 2.334 upvotes (Screenshot of top 6)	BTS (방탄소년단) '작은 것들을 위한 시 (Boy With Luv) feat. Halsey’ Official MV by _lish_ with 2,966 upvotes (Screenshot of top 6)	Agust D - Daechwita MV by hyperkid137 with 3.9k upvotes (Screenshot of top 6)
Today's 'Hot' Page	X	X	X	X	X	X
Most Recent BTS Projects	-	Rice Wreaths for V	Jimin’s Birthday Project*	Jimin’s Birthday Project**	X	X

^{*Jin & V’s Birthday gifts were on the way - and the secret santa + census was being processed! **Ongoing: Secret Santa, Census, Jin + V’s Birthdays}
There are definitely some mistakes/things I missed in this crazy year, so please do let me know if I need to add or change anything!

Timeline of Trump's Russia Connections from KGB Cultivation to United State President
The Russia Mafia is part and parcel of Russian intelligence. Russia is a mafia state. That is not a metaphor. Putin is head of the Mafia. So the fact that they have deep ties to Donald Trump is deeply disturbing. Trump conducted FIVE completely private meetings and conferences with Putin, and has gone to great lengths to prevent literally anyone, even people in his administration, from learning what was discussed.
According to an ex-KGB spy...Russia has been cultivating Trump as an asset for 40 years.
Trump was first compromised by the Russians in the 80s. In 1984, the Russian Mafia began to use Trump real estate to launder money.
In 1984, David Bogatin — a convicted Russian mobster and close ally of Semion Mogilevich, a major Russian mob boss — met with Trump in Trump Tower right after it opened. Bogatin bought five condos from Trump at that meeting. Those condos were later seized by the government, which claimed they were used to launder money for the Russian mob.
“During the ’80s and ’90s, we in the U.S. government repeatedly saw a pattern by which criminals would use condos and high-rises to launder money,” says Jonathan Winer, a deputy assistant secretary of state for international law enforcement in the Clinton administration. “It didn’t matter that you paid too much, because the real estate values would rise, and it was a way of turning dirty money into clean money. It was done very systematically, and it explained why there are so many high-rises where the units were sold but no one is living in them.”
When Trump Tower was built, as David Cay Johnston reports in The Making of Donald Trump, it was only the second high-rise in New York that accepted anonymous buyers.
In 1987, the Soviet ambassador to the United Nations, Yuri Dubinin, arranged for Trump and his then-wife, Ivana, to enjoy an all-expense-paid trip to Moscow to consider business prospects.
A short while later he made his first call for the dismantling of the NATO alliance. Which would benefit Russia.
At the beginning of 1990 Donald Trump owed a combined $4 billion to more than 70 banks, with $800 million personally guaranteed by his own assets, according to Alan Pomerantz, a lawyer whose team led negotiations between Trump and 72 banks to restructure Trump’s loans. Pomerantz was hired by Citibank.
Interview with Pomerantz
Trump agreed to pay the bond lenders 14% interest, roughly 50% more than he had projected, to raise $675 million. It was the biggest gamble of his career. Trump could not keep pace with his debts. Six months later, the Taj defaulted on interest payments to bondholders as his finances went into a tailspin.
In July 1991, Trump’s Taj Mahal filed for bankruptcy.
So he bankrupted a casino? What about Ru...
The Trump Taj Mahal casino broke anti-money laundering rules 106 times in its first year and a half of operation in the early 1990s, according to the IRS in a 1998 settlement agreement.
The casino repeatedly failed to properly report gamblers who cashed out $10,000 or more in a single day, the government said."The violations date back to a time when the Taj Mahal was the preferred gambling spot for Russian mobsters living in Brooklyn, according to federal investigators who tracked organized crime in New York City. They also occurred at a time when the Taj Mahal casino was short on cash and on the verge of bankruptcy."
....ssia
So by the mid 1990s Trump was then at a low point of his career. He defaulted on his debts to a number of large Wall Street banks and was overleveraged. Two of his businesses had declared bankruptcy, the Trump Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City and the Plaza Hotel in New York, and the money pit that was the Trump Shuttle went out of business in 1992. Trump companies would ultimately declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy two more times.
Trump was $4 billion in debt after his Atlantic City casinos went bankrupt. No U.S. bank would touch him. Then foreign money began flowing in through Deutsche Bank.
The extremely controversial Deutsche Bank. The Nazi financing, Auschwitz building, law violating, customer misleading, international currency markets manipulating, interest rate rigging, Iran & others sanctions violating, Russian money laundering, salvation of Donald J. Trump.
The agreeing to a $7.2 billion settlement with with the U.S. Department of Justice over its sale and pooling of toxic mortgage securities and causing the 2008 financial crisis bank.
The appears to have facilitated more than half of the $2 trillion of suspicious transactions that were flagged to the U.S. government over nearly two decades bank.
The embroiled in a $20b money-laundering operation, dubbed the Global Laundromat. The launders money for Russian criminals with links to the Kremlin, the old KGB and its main successor, the FSB bank.
That bank.
Three minute video detailing Trump's debts and relationship with Deutsche Bank
In 1998, Russia defaulted on $40 billion in debt, causing the ruble to plummet and Russian banks to close. The ensuing financial panic sent the country’s oligarchs and mobsters scrambling to find a safe place to put their money. That October, just two months after the Russian economy went into a tailspin, Trump broke ground on his biggest project yet.
Directly across the street from the United Nations building.
Russian Linked-Deutsche Bank arranged to lend hundreds of millions of dollars to finance Trump’s construction of a skyscraper next to the United Nations.
Construction got underway in 1999.
Units on the tower’s priciest floors were quickly snatched up by individual buyers from the former Soviet Union, or by limited liability companies connected to Russia. “We had big buyers from Russia and Ukraine and Kazakhstan,” sales agent Debra Stotts told Bloomberg. After Trump World Tower opened, Sotheby’s International Realty teamed up with a Russian real estate company to make a big sales push for the property in Russia. The “tower full of oligarchs,” as Bloomberg called it, became a model for Trump’s projects going forward. All he needed to do, it seemed, was slap the Trump name on a big building, and high-dollar customers from Russia and the former Soviet republics were guaranteed to come rushing in.
New York City real estate broker Dolly Lenz told USA TODAY she sold about 65 condos in Trump World at 845 U.N. Plaza in Manhattan to Russian investors, many of whom sought personal meetings with Trump for his business expertise.
“I had contacts in Moscow looking to invest in the United States,” Lenz said. “They all wanted to meet Donald. They became very friendly.”Lots of Russian and Eastern European Friends. Investing lots of money. And not only in New York.
Miami is known as a hotspot of the ultra-wealthy looking to launder their money from overseas. Thousands of Russians have moved to Sunny Isles. Hundreds of ultra-wealthy former Soviet citizens bought Trump properties in South Florida. People with really disturbing histories investing millions and millions of dollars. Igor Zorin offers a story with all the weirdness modern Miami has to offer: Russian cash, a motorcycle club named after Russia’s powerful special forces and a condo tower branded by Donald Trump.
Thanks to its heavy Russian presence, Sunny Isles has acquired the nickname “Little Moscow.”
From an interview with a Miami based Siberian-born realtor... “Miami is a brand,” she told me as we sat on a sofa in the building’s huge foyer. “People from all over the world want property here.” Developers were only putting up luxury properties because they “know that the crisis has not affected people with money,”
Most of her clients are Russian—there are now three direct flights per week between Moscow and Miami—and increasing numbers are moving to Florida after spending a few years in London first. “It’s a money center, and it’s a lot easier to get your money there than directly to the US, because of laws and tax issues,” she said. “But after your money has been in London for a while, you can move it to other places more easily.”
In the 2000s, Trump turned to licensing deals and trademarks, collecting a fee from other companies using the Trump name. This has allowed Trump to distance himself from properties or projects that have failed or encountered legal trouble and provided a convenient workaround to help launch projects, especially in Russia and former Soviet states, which bear Trump’s name but otherwise little relation to his general business.
Enter Bayrock Group, a development company and key Trump real estate partner during the 2000s. Bayrock partnered with Trump in 2005 and invested an incredible amount of money into the Trump organization under the legal guise of licensing his name and property management. Bayrock was run by two investors:
Felix Sater, a Russian-born mobster who served a year in prison for stabbing a man in the face with a margarita glass during a bar fight, pleaded guilty to racketeering as part of a mafia-driven "pump-and-dump" stock fraud and then escaped jail time by becoming a highly valued government informant. He was an important figure at Bayrock, notably with the Trump SoHo hotel-condominium in New York City, and has said under oath that he represented Trump in Russia and subsequently billed himself as a senior Trump advisor, with an office in Trump Tower. He is a convict who became a govt cooperator for the FBI and other agencies. He grew up with Micahel Cohen --Trump's disbarred former "fixer" attorney. Cohen's family owned El Caribe, which was a mob hangout for the Russian Mafia in Brooklyn. Cohen had ties to Ukrainian oligarchs through his in-laws and his brother's in-laws. Felix Sater's father had ties to the Russian mob.
Tevfik Arif, a Kazakhstan-born former "Soviet official" who drew on bottomless sources of money from the former Soviet republic. Arif graduated from the Moscow Institute of Trade and Economics and worked as a Soviet trade and commerce official for 17 years before moving to New York and founding Bayrock. In 2002, after meeting Trump, he moved Bayrock’s offices to Trump Tower, where he and his staff of Russian émigrés set up shop on the twenty-fourth floor.
Arif was offering him a 20 to 25 percent cut on his overseas projects, he said, not to mention management fees. Trump said in the deposition that Bayrock’s Tevfik Arif “brought the people up from Moscow to meet with me,”and that he was teaming with Bayrock on other planned ventures in Moscow. The only Russians who are likely have the resources and political connections to sponsor such ambitious international deals are the corrupt oligarchs.
In 2005, Trump told The Miami Herald “The name has brought a cachet to certain areas that wouldn’t have had it,” Dezer said Trump’s name put Sunny Isles Beach on the map as a classy destination — and the Trump-branded condo units sold “10 to 20 percent higher than any of our competitors, and at a faster pace.”“We didn’t have any foreclosures or anything, despite the crisis.”
In a 2007 deposition that was part of his unsuccessful defamation lawsuit against reporter Timothy O’Brien Trump testified "that Bayrock was working their international contacts to complete Trump/Bayrock deals in Russia, Ukraine, and Poland. He testified that “Bayrock knew the investors” and that “this was going to be the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Moscow, Kiev, Istanbul, et cetera, and Warsaw, Poland.”
In 2008, Donald Trump Jr. gave the following statement to the “Bridging U.S. and Emerging Markets Real Estate” conference in Manhattan: “[I]n terms of high-end product influx into the United States, Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets; say in Dubai, and certainly with our project in SoHo and anywhere in New York. We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.”
In July 2008, Trump sold a mansion in Palm Beach for $95 million to Dmitry Rybolovlev, a Russian oligarch. Trump had purchased it four years earlier for $41.35 million. The sale price was nearly $54 million more than Trump had paid for the property. This was the height of the recession when all other property had plummeted in value. Must be nice to have so many Russian oligarchs interested in giving you money.
In 2013, Trump went to Russia for the Miss Universe pageant “financed in part by the development company of a Russian billionaire Aras Agalarov.… a Putin ally who is sometimes called the ‘Trump of Russia’ because of his tendency to put his own name on his buildings.” He met with many oligarchs. Timeline of events. Flight records show how long he was there.
Video interview in Moscow where Trump says "...China wanted it this year. And Russia wanted it very badly." I bet they did.
Also in 2013, Federal agents busted an “ultraexclusive, high-stakes, illegal poker ring” run by Russian gangsters out of Trump Tower. They operated card games, illegal gambling websites, and a global sports book and laundered more than $100 million. A condo directly below one owned by Trump reportedly served as HQ for a “sophisticated money-laundering scheme” connected to Semion Mogilevich.
In 2014, Eric Trump told golf reporter James Dodson that the Trump Organization was able to expand during the financial crisis because “We don’t rely on American banks. We have all the funding we need out of Russia. I said, 'Really?' And he said, 'Oh, yeah. We’ve got some guys that really, really love golf, and they’re really invested in our programmes. We just go there all the time.’”
A 2015 racketeering case against Bayrock, Sater, and Arif, and others, alleged that: “for most of its existence it [Bayrock] was substantially and covertly mob-owned and operated,” engaging “in a pattern of continuous, related crimes, including mail, wire, and bank fraud; tax evasion; money laundering; conspiracy; bribery; extortion; and embezzlement.” Although the lawsuit does not allege complicity by Trump, it claims that Bayrock exploited its joint ventures with Trump as a conduit for laundering money and evading taxes. The lawsuit cites as a “Concrete example of their crime, Trump SoHo, [which] stands 454 feet tall at Spring and Varick, where it also stands monument to spectacularly corrupt money-laundering and tax evasion.”
In 2016, the Trump Presidential Campaign was helped by Russia.
(I don't have the presidential term sourced yet. I'll post an update when I do. I'm sure you probably remember most of them...sigh. TY to the main posters here. Obviously I'm standing on your shoulders having taken a lot of the information or articles from here).