U.S. spies paid out $100,000 to a Russian intelligence source who promised to deliver weapons stolen from the National Security Agency and compromising information on President Donald Trump, reported The New York Times Friday.

The seller, who was not identified in the report, allegedly offered to sell the U.S. its hacking tools back, after they were advertised for sale online by a group called the Shadow Brokers.

The stolen cyberweapons had been used by hackers to break into computer systems globally, and unleash a global malware attack in May, 2017.

The Russian demanded $1 million for the secrets, and the CIA paid him a $100,000 advance at a meeting in a Berlin hotel room.

According to U.S. and European intelligence officials cited in the report, the CIA was wary of the Trump information touted by the Russian—as the agency didn't want to become embroiled in a domestic political controversy.

The Russian eventually delivered information that had been publicly released by the Shadow Brokers, and the Trump information he pushed was already in the public domain or dubious.

He was eventually told by the CIA to leave Europe and not return.

Multiple intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election in a bid to help secure Trump's victory. According to a notorious dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele and part-funded by the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, Russia has compromising information with which to blackmail Trump.</s>US intelligence officials desperate to get back stolen cyberweapons reportedly paid $100,000 to a Russian operative who claimed he was not only in possession of the hacking tools but had compromising information on President Donald Trump.

According to a report by the New York Times on Friday, the Russian took the money but failed to turn over the stolen material or the dirt on Trump.

The outlet reports that the CIA began meeting with the unidentified spy early last year after he claimed to have cyberweapons stolen from the National Security Agency. The man also told American officials that he had images of Trump hanging out with hookers in Moscow in 2013.

Several US intelligence officials who spoke with the Times made it clear to the outlet that they were not interested in the Trump dirt but wanted the stolen NSA hacking tools, which were designed to break into computer networks in Russia, China and other US rivals.

The materials were stolen in 2017 by a group which calls itself Shadow Brokers.

The Times reports that American spies had their doubts about the Russian operative, who was known to have ties to Russian intelligence and cybercriminals, but decided to arrange a deal with him.

The man initially asked for $10 million in exchange for the information, but later changed it to $1 million. After months of negotiations, US intelligence met the Russian spy in September at a Berlin TK to give him the first installment of his payment - $100,000.

Instead of coming through on his end of the deal, the Russian spy handed over a 15-second video that showed an American businessman speaking to two women in a hotel room. There was no sound in the video and no evidence the man was Trump.

To keep the deal from ending, the Russian also said he had information on Trump associates. In October and December he delivered documents he alleged contained information which implicated Trump's associates, but the Times reports that most of the information the documents included were already public knowledge.

The Russian also said he was holding on to the NSA cyberweapons 'at the orders of senior Russian intelligence officials'.

Fearing the man might have been working with the Russian government and purposefully providing false information to create discord in the American government, US officials cut ties with the operative.

Earlier this year, the Times reports, they gave him one more chance but he still did not follow through on providing the hacking tools and information he claimed to have.

Officials told the man to either leave Western Europe or face criminal charges. The Russian decided to leave.</s>U.S. President Donald Trump pauses while speaking to reporters in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S., February 9, 2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Russian who offered stolen National Security Agency cyberweapons and compromising information on President Donald Trump bilked U.S. spies out of $100,000 last year, the New York Times reported on Friday, citing U.S. and European security officials.

The money was delivered to a Berlin hotel room in September and was intended as the first installment of a $1 million reward, according to U.S. officials, the Russian and communications reviewed by the Times, the newspaper reported.

CIA spokesman Dean Boyd denied the story on Saturday, saying," "The fictional story that CIA was bilked out of $100,000 is patently false."

The theft of the secret hacking tools was very damaging to the NSA, which was trying to determine exactly what was missing, the Times said.

Several U.S. intelligence officials told the newspaper they said they did not want the Trump information from the Russian, who was suspected of having ties to Russian intelligence and Eastern European cybercriminals.

He claimed it would link the president and his associates to Russia, the Times said, citing the officials. But instead of providing the hacking tools, the Russian produced unverified and possibly fabricated material involving Trump and others, including bank records, emails and purported Russian intelligence data, the paper cited the officials as saying.

The U.S. intelligence officials halted the deal out of concern it could entangle them in a Russian operation to create discord inside the U.S. government and potential fallout in Washington from the perception that they were trying to buy compromising material on Trump, the Times reported.

The Central Intelligence Agency declined to comment on the negotiations with the Russian seller, the Times said.

The NSA, which produced the bulk of the hacking tools that the Americans sought to recover, said only that “all N.S.A. employees have a lifetime obligation to protect classified information,” the Times reported.

NSA officials were not available out of regular business hours for comment.</s>Several U.S. intelligence officials said they made clear that they did not want the Trump material from the Russian — who was suspected of having murky ties to Russian intelligence and to Eastern European cybercriminals. He claimed the information would link the president and his associates to Russia. But instead of providing the hacking tools, the Russian produced unverified and possibly fabricated information involving Trump and others, including bank records, emails and purported Russian intelligence data.

The cash, delivered in a suitcase to a Berlin hotel room in September, was intended as the first instalment of a $1 million payout, according to U.S. officials, the Russian and communications reviewed by The New York Times. The theft of the secret hacking tools had been devastating to the NSA, and the agency was struggling to get a full inventory of what was missing.

BERLIN—After months of secret negotiations, a shadowy Russian bilked American spies out of $100,000 last year, promising to deliver stolen National Security Agency cyberweapons in a deal that he insisted would also include compromising material on U.S. President Donald Trump, according to U.S. and European intelligence officials.

The U.S. intelligence officials said they cut off the deal because they were wary of being entangled in a Russian operation to create discord inside the U.S. government. They were also fearful of political fallout in Washington if they were seen to be buying scurrilous information on the president.

The Central Intelligence Agency declined to comment on the negotiations with the Russian seller. The NSA, which produced the bulk of the hacking tools that the Americans sought to recover, said only that “all NSA employees have a lifetime obligation to protect classified information.”

The negotiations in Europe last year were described by U.S. and European intelligence officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a clandestine operation, and the Russian. The U.S. officials worked through an intermediary — an American businessman based in Germany — to preserve deniability. There were meetings in provincial German towns where John le Carré set his early spy novels, and data hand-offs in five-star Berlin hotels. U.S. intelligence agencies spent months tracking the Russian’s flights to Berlin, his rendezvous with a mistress in Vienna and his trips home to St. Petersburg, the officials said.

The NSA even used its official Twitter account nearly a dozen times to send coded messages to the Russian. The episode ended this year with U.S. spies chasing the Russian out of Western Europe, warning him not to return if he valued his freedom, the American businessman said. The alleged Trump material was left with the American, who has secured it in Europe.

The Russian claimed to have access to a staggering collection of secrets that included everything from the computer code for the cyberweapons stolen from the NSA and CIA to what he said was a video of Trump consorting with prostitutes in a Moscow hotel room in 2013, according to U.S. and European officials and the Russian, who agreed to be interviewed in Germany on the condition of anonymity. There remains no evidence that such a video exists.

The Russian was known to U.S. and European officials for his ties to Russian intelligence and cybercriminals — two groups suspected in the theft of the NSA and CIA hacking tools.

But his apparent eagerness to sell the Trump “kompromat” — a Russian term for information used to gain leverage over someone — to U.S. spies raised suspicions among officials that he was part of an operation to feed the information into U.S. intelligence agencies and pit them against Trump. Early in the negotiations, for instance, he dropped his asking price from about $10 million to just over $1 million. Then, a few months later, he showed the American businessman a 15-second clip of a video showing a man in a room talking to two women.

No audio could be heard on the video, and there was no way to verify if the man was Trump, as the Russian claimed. But the choice of venue for showing the clip heightened U.S. suspicions of a Russian operation: The viewing took place at the Russian Embassy in Berlin, the businessman said.

At the same time, there were questions about the Russian’s reliability. He had a history of money laundering and a laughably thin legitimate cover business — a nearly bankrupt company that sold portable grills for streetside sausage salesmen, according to British incorporation papers.

“The distinction between an organized criminal and a Russian intelligence officer and a Russian who knows some Russian Intel guys — it all blurs together,” said Steven L. Hall, former chief of Russia operations at the CIA. “This is the difficulty of trying to understand how Russia and Russians operate from the Western viewpoint.”

U.S. intelligence officials were also wary of the purported kompromat the Russian wanted to sell. They saw the information, especially the video, as the stuff of tabloid gossip pages, not intelligence collection, U.S. officials said.

But the Americans desperately wanted the hacking tools. The cyberweapons had been built to break into computer networks of Russia, China and other rival powers. Instead, they ended up in the hands of a mysterious group calling itself the Shadow Brokers, which has since provided hackers with tools that infected millions of computers around the world, crippling hospitals, factories and businesses.

No officials wanted to pass on information they thought might help determine what had happened.

“That’s one of the bedevilling things about counter-intelligence and the wilderness that it is — nobody wants to be caught in a position of saying we wrote that off and then five years later saying, ‘Holy cow, it was actually a real guy,’” Hall said.

U.S. intelligence agencies believe that Russia’s spy services see the deep political divisions in the United States as a fresh opportunity to inflame partisan tensions. Russian hackers are probing American voting databases ahead of the midterm election this year, they said, and using bot armies to promote partisan causes on social media. The Russians are also particularly eager to cast doubt on the federal and congressional investigations into the Russian meddling, U.S. intelligence officials said.

Part of that effort, the officials said, appears to be trying to spread information that hews closely to unsubstantiated reports about Trump’s dealings in Russia — including the purported video, whose existence Trump has repeatedly dismissed.

Rumours that Russian intelligence possesses the video surfaced more than a year ago in an explosive and unverified dossier compiled by a former British spy, and paid for by Democrats. Since then, at least four Russians with espionage and underworld connections have appeared in Central and Eastern Europe, offering to sell kompromat that would corroborate the dossier to U.S. political operatives, private investigators and spies, U.S. and European intelligence officials said.

U.S. officials suspect that at least some of the sellers are working for Russia’s spy services.

The Times obtained four of the documents that the Russian in Germany tried to pass to U.S. intelligence (The Times did not pay for the material). All are purported to be Russian intelligence reports, and each focuses on associates of Trump. Carter Page, the former campaign adviser who has been the focus of FBI investigators, features in one; Robert and Rebekah Mercer, the billionaire Republican donors, in another.

Yet all four appear to be drawn almost entirely from news reports, not secret intelligence. They all also contain stylistic and grammatical usages not typically seen in Russian intelligence reports, said Yuri Shvets, a former KGB officer who spent years as a spy in Washington before defecting to the United States just before the end of the Cold War.</s>WASHINGTON: A Russian who offered stolen National Security Agency cyberweapons and compromising information on President Donald Trump bilked US spies out of $100,000 last year, The New York Times reported on Friday, citing US and European security officials.



The money was delivered to a Berlin hotel room in September and was intended as the first instalment of a $1-million reward, according to US officials, the Russian and communications reviewed by the Times, the newspaper reported.

The theft of the secret hacking tools was very damaging to the NSA, which was trying to determine exactly what was missing, the Times said.

Several US intelligence officials told the paper they said they did not want the Trump information from the Russian, who was suspected of having ties to Russian intelligence and Eastern European cybercriminals.

He claimed it would link the president and his associates to Russia, the Times said, citing the officials.

But instead of providing the hacking tools, the Russian produced unverified and possibly fabricated material involving Trump and others, including bank records, emails, and purported Russian intelligence data, the paper cited the officials as saying.

The US intelligence officials halted the deal out of concern it could entangle them in a Russian operation to create discord inside the US government, and potential fallout in Washington from the perception that they were trying to buy compromising material on Trump, the Times reported.

The Central Intelligence Agency declined to comment on the negotiations with the Russian seller, the Times said.

The NSA, which produced the bulk of the hacking tools that the Americans sought to recover, said only that “all N.S.A. employees have a lifetime obligation to protect classified information,” the Times reported.

The CIA did not respond to a request by Reuters for comment, while NSA officials were not available out of regular business hours for comment.</s>WASHINGTON: The CIA on Saturday (Feb 10) categorically denied reports that it was fleeced by a mystery Russian who promised compromising information on US President Donald Trump.

The secretive agency rarely issues any kind of comment, but came out to deny the report in The New York Times and a similar one in The Intercept, an online journal focusing on national security issues.

"The fictional story that CIA was bilked out of $100,000 is patently false," the Central Intelligence Agency said in a statement sent to AFP.

"The people swindled here were James Risen and Matt Rosenberg," the CIA said, referring to Times reporter Rosenberg, who wrote the story, and Risen, a former Times reporter who authored The Intercept's article.

The president tweeted approvingly that The Times article shows a need to "drain the swamp" in Washington.

In a story worthy of a John le Carre novel that included secret USB-drive handovers in a small Berlin bar and coded messages delivered over the National Security Agency's Twitter account, CIA agents spent much of last year trying to buy back from the Russians hacking programs stolen from the NSA, the Times reported.

The seller, who was not identified but had suspected links to both cyber criminals and Russian intelligence, tantalised the US spies with an offer of the NSA hacking tools that had been advertised for sale online by a group called the Shadow Brokers.

Some of the tools, developed by the NSA to break into the computers of US rivals, were used by other hackers last year to crack or infect computer systems around the world. The Times described the Americans as "desperate" to get the tools back.

Reached through a chain of intermediaries, the seller reportedly wanted US$1 million after quickly dropping his opening demand of about US$10 million.

The US$100,000 was an initial payment by US agents still dubious he really had what he was promising.

In its report, the Times cited US and European intelligence officials, the Russian, and communications the newspaper reviewed.

The seller also repeatedly pressed US agents with offers of compromising materials, or kompromat, on Trump, the Times said.

But an investigation was already under way in Washington on possible links between Moscow and Trump's 2016 election campaign, and the US agents reportedly did not want to get involved in anything that smelled of the politics back home.

US intelligence officials say that Russia interfered with the election to help elect Trump, and that it continues to use disinformation to sow confusion in the American political system.

The Intercept reported that the "off-the-books communications channel" with Russia created rifts in the CIA. The agency is led by Trump loyalist Mike Pompeo, but many of its staffers are still smarting over Trump's repeated harsh comments about the intelligence community's role in the Russia meddling investigation.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller is probing the possible links between Trump's presidential campaign and Moscow, as well as possible obstruction of justice.

Democratic Congressman Ted Lieu said in a tweet Friday that Risen's article "suggests the CIA Director fears getting information damaging to @realDonaldTrump that is being offered by Russians."

If that's true, Lieu said, "the CIA Director needs to explain his actions to Congress. He took an oath to the Constitution, not to Trump."

Trump on Saturday referred favourably to the Times article about the Russian who "sold phony secrets on 'Trump' to the US," and noted the operative reportedly had drastically lowered his original price.

"I hope people are now seeing and understanding what is going on here. It is all now starting to come out - DRAIN THE SWAMP!" he tweeted, in a reference to what he sees as a need for reform.

Trump has frequently criticised the Times, which has published numerous investigative reports about him and his administration, calling it a "failing" newspaper providing "fake news."

Trump has repeatedly denied any collusion with Russia.

The Times reported that, in the end, the deal with the Russian broke down last month as the Russian failed to come up with any of the sought-after NSA materials, and the Trump-related material was either already known or untrustworthy.

The Russian was told by the Americans to leave Western Europe and not return, according to the Times.</s>A Russian man promising stolen hacking tools and compromising information on President Donald Trump fleeced American spies for $100,000 last year, The New York Times reported Friday.

In a story worthy of a John le Carre novel that included secret USB-drive handovers in a small West Berlin bar and coded messages delivered over the National Security Agency's Twitter account, CIA agents reportedly spent much of last year trying to buy back from the Russian hacking programs stolen from the NSA.

The seller, who was not identified but had links to both cyber criminals and Russian intelligence, tantalized the US spies with an offer of the NSA hacking tools that had been advertised for sale online by a shady group called the Shadow Brokers.

Some of the tools, developed by the NSA to break into the computers of US rivals, were used by other hackers last year to break into computer systems around the world, including the global malware attack last May.

The seller, reached through a chain of intermediaries, wanted $1 million.

The $100,000, delivered in a cash-stuffed suitcase handed over in a Berlin hotel room, was an initial payment by US agents still dubious he really had what he was promising.

The seller also repeatedly pressed US agents with offers of compromising materials, or kompromat, on Trump, the Times said, citing US and European intelligence officials.

Although an investigation was already underway back in Washington on the link between Moscow and the Trump campaign, the agents did not want to get involved in anything that smelled of the politics back home.

The story -- which was also reported by The Intercept, an online magazine on nationals security matters -- paints a classic spy versus spy story where the US agents aren't ever certain about who they are dealing with and whether or not they are being baited and played by their Russian counterparts.

US intelligence officials say Russia interfered with the 2016 election to help elect Trump, and continues to use disinformation to sow confusion in the American political system.

The Intercept reported that the operation created rifts in the CIA, which is led by Trump loyalist Mike Pompeo but has many staffers still smarting over the president's repeated harsh comments about the intelligence community's role in the Russia meddling investigation.

The Russian's first delivery turned out to be hacking tools the Shadow Brokers had already released.

And he kept pushing his offer of kompromat on Trump, including shady financial records and a sex video that the US spies didn't really want.

In the end, the deal broke down last month -- the Russian did not come up with any of the unreleased NSA materials, and the Trump-related materials were either already known or untrustworthy.

The Russian was told by the Americans to leave Western Europe and not return, according to the Times.</s>A Russian who promised to deliver cyberweapons stolen from the National Security Agency in a $1 million deal with U.S. intelligence instead hawked what may be fake dirt on President Trump, according to a report.

U.S. intelligence, working through an American businessman based in Germany, handed the Russian the first payment of $100,000 cash in exchange for hacking tools stolen from the NSA and CIA, according to The New York Times.

While American intelligence officials made it clear that they were not after "kompromat" — a Russian term for compromising material — on Trump, the Russian continued feeding them unverified data related to the 2016 election.

A mysterious group known as the Shadow Brokers started releasing stolen American cyberweapons used to spy on other countries in a disastrous security breach that first emerged in August 2016.

Counterintelligence officials and the FBI were desperate to retrieve the documents to get a better idea of how much of their operation had been compromised.

After an initial deal with a hacker in Vienna fell apart, the Russian in Germany emerged as a fixer, claiming to have the code they wanted.

The Russian, who was known for his ties to cybercriminals and Russian intelligence, also claimed to have a video of Trump fraternizing with prostitutes in a Moscow hotel room, along with bank records and emails relating to the President’s associates.

There is no evidence that such a video exists, and a meeting where he showed the American businessman a brief 15-second clip of an unidentifiable man talking to two women only raised suspicions over his motives.

Other documents he handed over relied heavily on news reports and did not contain the hallmarks of Russian intelligence reports, former KGB officer Yuri Shvets told The Times.

The Russian at one point offered the American businessman a teaser, but the data, shared on a thumb drive, turned out to have been part of a dump the Shadow Brokers had already made public.

Negotiations continued, and the American businessman delivered the suitcase filled with $100,000 during a September meeting in a Berlin hotel.

But the Russian kept handing over data alleging Trump associates’ ties to Russia, saying he was holding out on the cyberweapons at the behest of the Kremlin.

When the Americans delivered an ultimatum earlier this year, the Russian once again failed to deliver and walked out the door.</s>After months of secret negotiations, a shadowy Russian bilked American spies out of $100,000 last year, promising to deliver stolen National Security Agency cyberweapons in a deal that he insisted would also include compromising material on President Trump, according to American and European intelligence officials.

The cash, delivered in a suitcase to a Berlin hotel room in September, was intended as the first installment of a $1 million payout, according to American officials, the Russian and communications reviewed by The New York Times. The theft of the secret hacking tools had been devastating to the N.S.A., and the agency was struggling to get a full inventory of what was missing.

Several American intelligence officials said they made clear that they did not want the Trump material from the Russian, who was suspected of having murky ties to Russian intelligence and to Eastern European cybercriminals. He claimed the information would link the president and his associates to Russia. Instead of providing the hacking tools, the Russian produced unverified and possibly fabricated information involving Mr. Trump and others, including bank records, emails and purported Russian intelligence data.

Read more at The New York Times</s>The U.S. intelligence community spent $100,000 in the past year during an operation to recover stolen, classified National Security Agency documents from Russian operatives, according to reports Friday.

In early 2017, American intelligence officials opened a communications channel with a Russian operative who agreed to sell documents stolen from the NSA and also insisted on including damaging material gathered on President Trump, the Intercept reported Friday.

Intelligence officials reportedly made it clear that they were not interested in the material regarding Trump. However, after handing over $100,000 of the $1 million dollar deal they had struck with the Russian, the officials were given unverified information about Trump, including bank records, emails, and what appeared to be Russian intelligence data, according to the New York Times.

The American officials then cut off the deal, skeptical of the Russian operative and fearful of political fallout if it was reported that they were buying damning information about Trump.

The CIA declined to comment to the Washington Examiner.

During the early stages of the negotiations, an American businessman based in Germany acted as a liaison between America and the Russians. Officials spent months tracking the Russian's moves and the NSA used their official Twitter account to send coded messages to the Russian, the New York Times report said.

The Russian reportedly had a history of money laundering and owned a close-to-bankrupt company that sold portable grills as a cover-up.
The New York Times reports that the CIA handed $100,000 to an unnamed Russian intelligence source in a Berlin hotel room, allegedly expecting to get back stolen NSA hacking tools.