The writer who calls himself Techno Fog has been following closely the libel lawsuit launched by Alfa Bank's owners against Fusion GPS over its accusations that the bank had engaged in "bribery, extortion, and interference in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election."  Mark Wauck provides context:

Anyone might be forgiven for imagining that the Russia Hoax is over and done with. But it's not. And Techno Fog has a very interesting article to remind us of that fact. As you may recall, during the final month or two of the 2016 election campaign, outlandish accusations were leveled against Alfa Bank. The basic idea was that a Russian bank, Alfa Bank, was laundering money on behalf of Donald Trump, money that the Putin regime was paying Trump as their supposed agent. These outlandish accusations came from the Hillary campaign and its oppo research branch — in other words, Fusion GPS (remember?), Glenn Simpson, and shady Clinton campaign lawyers.

The whole story quickly collapsed under the weight of its own absurdity, after a brief flurry of excitement ginned up in the Dem media proxy outlets. Even oppo research stories require some minimal factual content, and this story lacked the bare minimum. Apparently the Clinton campaign thought the whole thing would be water over the dam, but Alfa bank had other ideas. They sued, and Techno Fog brings us up to date:

In an article on Substack, T.F. explains:

We previously reported that Alfa Bank filed a motion to compel, asking the Court to require Fusion GPS and Glenn Simpson to produce documents withheld as privileged. These documents included communications with Glenn Simpson and others concerning the false Alfa Bank allegations

Fusion/Simpson have fought the production of the documents, arguing that they are subject to the "attorney-client privilege" and otherwise privileged and not subject to production. We observed these are extremely weak arguments, as the dossiers were political research not subject to the protections afforded by attorney-client privilege. Alfa Bank argued the same to the Court:

Latest Developments

Things have taken a strange turn. Today, attorneys for Plaintiffs (Alfa Bank, et. al) informed the Court that Bill Taylor, an attorney for Fusion GPS, was contacting third parties to establish back-channel lines of communication to start settlement talks.

In an article on Substack, TF explains:

We previously reported that Alfa Bank filed a motion to compel, asking the Court to require Fusion GPS and Glenn Simpson to produce documents withheld as privileged. These documents included communications with Glenn Simpson and others concerning the false Alfa Bank allegations

Fusion/Simpson have fought the production of the documents, arguing that they are subject to the "attorney-client privilege" and otherwise privileged and not subject to production. We observed these are extremely weak arguments, as the dossiers were political research not subject to the protections afforded by attorney-client privilege. Alfa Bank argued the same to the Court:

Latest Developments

Things have taken a strange turn. Today, attorneys for Plaintiffs (Alfa Bank, et. al) informed the Court that Bill Taylor, an attorney for Fusion GPS, was contacting third parties to establish back-channel lines of communication to start settlement talks.

The problem is that this back-channel effort violates "DC Court's local rules, as well as the DC Rules of Professional Conduct."  All settlement talks should take place only between counsel for the respective parties.

Obviously, these rules were well known to counsel.  T.F. asks:

[W]hy would the Fusion GPS attorney violate the rules of conduct — and risk sanctions by the Court?

We have a feeling that Fusion GPS (or its attorneys... or both) are feeling the heat. There are nearly 500 critically important documents that Fusion GPS has allegedly improperly kept from the other side.

What will those documents show? (snip)

Are the internal Fusion GPS communications so damaging that the risk of sanctions was worth the reward of settlement?

It appears so.

Mark Wauck points out:

The problem is, Alfa has no interest in settling. They want the documents.

And so do I.  Let's find out whom Simpson and his company were communicating with as this plot was hatched.

Photo credit. YouTube screen grab.

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