A Ukrainian imposter used brazen lies to infiltrate high-ranking Republican circles, including Donald Trump. That could become another problem for the ex-president, who is under pressure because of the secret files affair.
Posing as Russian Anna de Rothschild, she drove through the front gates of Mar-a-Lago in her brand new Mercedes G63 AMG. The Ukrainian frequented Donald Trump’s private club in Palm Beach. As the alleged banker heiress to the Rothschild dynasty, she gained access to the former president and his closest family circles. In photos, the brunette “heiress” posed beaming next to Trump on his golf course and with other top Republican politicians. The 33-year-old also met Trump’s eldest son Don Junior and his fiancé Kimberly Guilfoyle personally.
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But Anna de Rothschild’s real name is Inna Yashchyshyn. She is a Ukrainian migrant and the daughter of a truck driver in Illinois. Before moving to Palm Beach, the imposter worked for a Miami adoption agency that matched pregnant Russian women with Americans, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. In its research, the daily newspaper worked together with the “Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project” (OCCRP) – a journalists’ association to investigate crime and corruption.
Now the FBI is investigating Yashchyshyn. The federal police came across counterfeit US and Canadian passports that show them as “Anna de Rothschild”. Canadian security authorities are also currently investigating suspected financial crimes.
The Post-Gazette published photos of her Florida driver’s license. “Anna de Rothschild” gave a 13-million-dollar villa in Palm Beach as the address on it. However, she never lived there. In fact, Russian businessman Valeriy Tarasenko let her stay at his Florida apartment. In return, the Ukrainian should look after the teenage daughter of the 44-year-old.
“Anna” told him about her numerous Mar-a-Lago visits, Tarasenko told the FBI. She wanted to forge ties with the Trump family and other influential politicians, as well as raise funds for United Hearts of Mercy — an oligarch’s charity for needy families, which listed the scammer as president.
Far from it, Yashchyshyn countered in an interview with the Post-Gazette: “There must be some sort of misunderstanding. It’s all fake. Nothing like that happened.” She doesn’t know any Anna de Rothschild at all – presumably her former business partner Tarasenko forged the ID cards to harm her. “Over time he wanted to control me more and became more aggressive.”
But witness reports from Mar-a-Lago sound different: “She not only boasted about her family name. She also talked about wineries and family properties and what it was like growing up in Monaco,” John LeFevre told OCCRP. “The trick was near perfect and she played her part.” Everyone believed her, revealed the former investment banker. He himself had met the alleged Russian heiress at the pool of Trump’s private club.
“Anna, you’re a Rothschild, surely you can afford a million dollars for a photo with you and Trump,” another man can be heard shouting in a video clip. In the recording obtained by the Post-Gazette, “Anna” smiles and swings a golf club.
In Mar-a-Lago, she also managed to fool Republican leader Lindsey Graham. In addition to the longtime South Carolina senator, the Fake Rothschild heiress also met former Missouri governor Eric Greitens at Trump’s Palm Beach estate. At the beginning of the year, Greitens lost the primaries as a candidate for the Senate due to a family scandal involving domestic violence.
His current ex-wife accused Greitens of physical violence against their sons. The children are five and seven years old. The Post-Gazette shows a personal book dedication by Greits to the fake heiress: “For Anna,” reads the front page of his political memoirs, The Heart and the Fist – “stay strong.” .
Investigations are ongoing following the recent FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago. US authorities are currently investigating whether Trump’s theft of confidential documents from the White House posed a threat to national security.
The scandal surrounding the fake person Anna Rothschild is likely to be inconvenient for the former president: According to reports from the OCCRP, it is “very easy for someone with a fake ID and a dubious background to circumvent the security measures of Trump’s club”.
