What Is Black Cube? Michael Novakhov – SharedNewsLinks℠ – In Brief – 7:33 AM 10/24/2019 Trump Investigations News In Brief
What Is Black Cube?
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Michael Novakhov – SharedNewsLinks℠ | ||
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| What Is Black Cube? New Details On Israeli Spy Agency Harvey Weinstein Hired To Discredit His Accusers | ||
Spies tailed Ronan Farrow for a year.
Ronan Farrow’s new book Catch and Kill is an eye-popping look at his experience reporting on Harvey Weinstein’s history of sexual assault. Farrow spent over a year pursuing the story, talking to multiple women whom Weinstein had assaulted and painted a picture of an abusive Hollywood mogul who was protected from consequences by an army of loyalists. He started working on the story as a reporter for NBC but it soon became clear that the network was not fully behind the effort to reveal one of the darkest open secrets in Hollywood. Every phase of the reporting process was an uphill battle as the network tried to get him to “pause” his reporting.
It was only later that Farrow learned that NBC wasn’t the only one throwing obstacles at him. Harvey Weinstein knew what he was doing and he hired an elite private investigation firm to try and thwart Farrow’s work. The Israeli company Black Cube followed Farrow for months and sent various undercover agents to try and meet with him to solicit information about his project. Not only were they assigned to surveil Farrow, but they were also infiltrating the lives of the women who were speaking with Farrow about Weinstein. One agent successfully gained the confidence of Rose McGowan, got a copy of her memoir before it was published and delivered the manuscript directly to Harvey Weinstein. For this work, Black Cube received payments from the Weinstein Company that are reported to have been over a million dollars.
What is Black Cube? Read on for the shocking details.
1. What is Black Cube?
Black Cube knew about Ronan Farrow long before Ronan Farrow knew about Black Cube. He had been the subject of surveillance by multiple agents attached to the company before he even knew that they existed, much less that Harvey Weinstein was paying them hundreds of thousands of dollars. He was tipped off to the operation by a Black Cube contractor; a British journalist on their payroll had been calling Farrow and others connected with the story for months, as he writes in The New Yorker. The writer finally had some kind of change of heart and let Farrow know that his interest wasn’t just journalist-to-journalist: he was working for someone else. That was when Farrow first heard the term Black Cube.
As he began to research the firm, he learned that they were one of the top international private investigation firms in the world. Based out of Israel, they had a reputation for work that was on par with the Israeli government’s legendary intelligence agency Mossad. “Black Cube was founded in Tel Aviv, in 2010, by veterans of a secret Israeli intelligence unit. Meir Dagan, the former director of Mossad, sat on the company’s advisory board until his death in 2016,” Farrow wrote. “Dagan once described Black Cube to a prospective client as a personal Mossad. Over time, the agency’s workforce grew to include more than a hundred operatives, with thirty languages between them.”
Many of the employees had experience within the Israeli intelligence agencies and they had access to state of the art technology for their operations. Some agents worked undercover, using invented identities and they were trained in psyop or “psychological operations designed to manipulate a mark.”
RELATED: Meet The Israeli Spy Harvey Weinstein Hired To Get Close To Rose McGowan To Undermine Actress’ Case
2. What does Black Cube do?
As cloak and dagger as their operations sound, Black Cube is far from a secret. You can find their corporate website by a simple Google search — no need to access the dark web or anything like that. The front page of their site boldly states that they are “A select group of veterans from the Israeli elite intelligence units that specializes in tailored solutions to complex business and litigation challenges.”
And while they may not be a dark web entity, they sure seem like they know their way around the dark web. They brag that they “developed innovative tools and methodologies to handle massive amounts of data. We unearth useful information for our clients and map all potential sources of interest by trawling the deep web and harvesting information from typically inaccessible areas of the Internet such as the Dark Net.”
They even share case studies of investigations they have run, largely related to business operations, though they sometimes interfere in government operations as well, according to NPRl. They work on issues like employee data leakage, asset tracing, sniffing out bribery and one case of “Competitive Intelligence Research for a Multi-National Corporate.” They operate in numerous countries including the UK, Australia, Russia, Brazil, Italy and China.
Needless to say, they don’t have a price list on their website. Their services don’t come cheap. Based on the documents he received in his research, Farrow estimates Harvey Weinstein may have spent over a million dollars having Black Cube tail him and other people.
Catch and Kill is in stores now.
3. Black Cube tells its side of the story
After Farrow learned that Back Cube was working for Weinstein, he went to work trying to figure out what they were doing for the mogul. After months of exhaustive research, he managed to gain contact with two men connected to the firm. He never identified them but they were able to furnish him with contracts and other documentation about the relationship between Black Cube and Weinstein. “At first, according to sources close to the Black Cube operation, the agency believed that it had been hired to counter a negative campaign against Weinstein, and expected that the work would concentrate on his business rivals,” Farrow wrote in The New Yorker. “But the agency soon began to receive assignments to spy on women with sexual harassment and assault accusations against Weinstein, and on reporters investigating those accusations.”
4. Sleeper73 tells all
While Farrow was reaching out to Black Cube insiders, an insider was reaching out to him. On the same day his contacts emailed a batch of documents, he received a second batch that was even more illustrative of the tactics that had been used against Farrow and the women he was talking to about Weinstein.
“Attached was an extensive record of Black Cube’s work for Weinstein. The documents included their first contract, signed in late October 2016, and a revision from July 11, 2017, which extended Black Cube’s work for Weinstein through November of 2017,” Farrow wrote. “The later contract directed the spies to ‘provide intelligence which will help the Client’s efforts to completely stop the publication of a new negative article in a leading NY Newspaper,’ a reference to reporting on Weinstein by The New York Times. The contract also directed them to obtain a copy of a memoir that McGowan was writing, which was described as ‘a book which is currently being written and includes harmful negative information on and about the Client.’ The agency agreed to hire ‘an investigative journalist,’ and an ‘agent by the name of “Anna”‘ for four months.”
Farrow quickly realized that the second document dump was an unsolicited reveal from a whistle-blower who sought him out and used only the handle Sleeper73. He was able to verify all the information he got from that whistleblower but he never found out any identifying information. In one of Sleeper73’s last contacts with him, she revealed her motives in talking to him, writing “I’m an insider who is fed up with BC’s false and devious ways of obtaining material illegally. Moreover, in this case, I truly believe HW is a sex offender and I’m ashamed as a woman for participating.”
5. Why did you come to me?
Later, another of the company’s subcontractors had misgivings about surveilling the press. Igor Ostrovskiy was a Ukrainian national who had worked for an investigative agency called InfoTactic in New York City. InfoTactic had been hired by Black Cube to do surveillance on Farrow. His feelings about the gig changed when he learned Farrow was a reporter. Ostrovskiy had vivid memories of living under oppressive Soviet policies, including strictly controlled state media.
Ostrovskiy had been following the journalist around the city for months before changing his loyalty and telling Farrow what was going on.
When Farrow was working on his book last year, he spoke with Ostrovskiy one last time and finally asked him why he had decided to come to him. Ostrovskiy told him that free press matters to him and he didn’t feel good about tailing a reporter. “I asked him why he had decided to contact me, and, later, law enforcement,” Farrow recalled “’I like to be able to read the news and not think somebody’s holding a gun to a reporter’s head, deciding what he writes,’ he told me. ‘Coming from a society where the news was controlled by those in power, I never, ever want to allow this to happen to the country that gave me and my wife and my son a chance.'”
Farrow writes about Black Cube in his new book.
6. A bridge too far
Sleeper73 ultimately wasn’t the only one who had negative feelings about Weinstein. Eventually, Black Cube cut off its contract with Weinstein. Farrow notes that “A source close to the Black Cube operation said that the company withdrew from its relationship with Weinstein as it became increasingly clear that the producer wanted the firm to target women with sexual-misconduct allegations against him.” Apparently, even a private spy agency as elite as Black Cube thinks targeting sexual assault victims on behalf of their assailant is too much.
While Black Cube might have distanced itself from Weinstein during the fallout of farrow’s investigation, it’s business doesn’t seem to have been hurt by the association. The company is thriving and it’s still providing investigative services for the richest and most powerful people in the world.
Rebekah Kuschmider has been writing about celebrities, pop culture, entertainment, and politics since 2010. Her work has been seen at Ravishly, Babble, Scary Mommy, The Mid, Redbook online, and The Broad Side. She is the creator of the blog Stay at Home Pundit and she is a cohost of the weekly podcast The More Perfect Union.
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| Donald Trump Has Made Russia Great Again – The Bulwark | ||
Politics
Donald Trump Has Made Russia Great Again
Vlad is getting sick and tired of all the #winning. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)
Let’s step back from the on-rush of this amazing news cycle for just a moment, shall we?
As Donald Trump heads toward a now-inevitable impeachment trial, it’s easy to miss the larger geopolitical transformation he has wrought: As badly as things are going for Trump, they are going swimmingly for Vladimir Putin. And by swimmingly, I mean extraordinarily, stunningly well.
None of this is simply coincidental: Donald Trump has made Putin Great Again. Consider how Putin has expanded and extended his influence, bending American policy and displacing us around the world:
Meanwhile, the Russian efforts to hack our democracy not only continue, but seem to be escalating:
So we are getting stories like this:
Vladimir Putin set out to disrupt our politics, divide Americans, weaken NATO, and expand his own hegemony. His ROI has likely been beyond his wildest expectations.
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| Palmer: Giuliani is going to be indicted and arrested – Google Search | ||
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| Palmer: Giuliani is “going to be indicted and arrested” – Google Search | ||
Another man is arrested in probe of Giuliani associates
NBC Montana–Oct 16, 2019
Another man is arrested in probe of Giuliani associates … David Correia, 44, was named in an indictment with two Giuliani associates and another man arrested last … Correia is accused of conspired with the other defendants to make … of real estate developer Geoffrey Palmer will raise about $5 million.
The Pro-Trump Super PAC at the Center of the Ukraine …
ProPublica–Oct 18, 2019
The same PAC was dubbed “Committee 1” in a federal indictment alleging … If they discover that a contractor has made a contribution, the money has to be returned. … Asked about the donation, Perkins said he had meant to make a … two associates of presidential lawyer Rudy Giuliani were arrested on …
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| Palmer: Giuliani is “going to be indicted and arrested” – Google Search | ||
Oh come on, Rudy Giuliani – Palmer Report
https://www.palmerreport.com › Analysis
50 mins ago – About a week ago, Rudy Giuliani learned through the media that the target … He’s going to be indicted and arrested, and he’ll need a criminal …
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| Oh come on, Rudy Giuliani | ||
About a week ago, Rudy Giuliani learned through the media that the target of a federal criminal investigation that’s already snared his henchmen Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman. This prompted Rudy to part ways with the attorney who had been representing him in the impeachment inquiry, and announce on Twitter that he doesn’t need a lawyer going forward.
This made sense to no one but Rudy, of course. He’s going to be indicted and arrested, and he’ll need a criminal defense attorney to represent him at the resulting court proceedings. Even if Donald Trump were to pardon Rudy on federal charges, New York State would presumably sweep in with parallel state level charges, and Rudy would still end up arrested and on trial. That’s on top of the court battle he’ll be fighting over the House impeachment inquiry subpoena.
There was no scenario in which Rudy wasn’t going to need a lawyer unless he was planning to represent himself, which meant he must have been planning to represent himself. That would be an absurd and self defeating move, but Rudy is all about absurd and self defeating moves. But when Parnas and Fruman appeared in court on Wednesday, they tried to invoke executive privilege, which is a clever way of dragging Donald Trump into their trial and making the whole thing his problem.
Shortly thereafter, Palmer Report noted that Rudy Giuliani finally came to life on Twitter after a prolonged quiet period, and made a point of asserting that all of his actions with regard to Ukraine were on Trump’s behalf. In other words, if Lev and Igor are making their crimes Trump’s problem, so is Rudy. After Rudy posted that tweet, CNN reported that he’s now looking for a lawyer after all. So what’s going on here? To borrow Trump’s words, you’d have to ask Rudy.
Bill Palmer is the publisher of the political news outlet Palmer Report
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| Trump and Giuliani try to shift the blame to each other for the Ukraine fiasco – Google Search | ||
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| Trump and Giuliani try to shift the blame to each other for the Ukraine fiasco – Google Search | ||
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| Rudy Giuliani just spoke up and attached himself to Donald Trump’s sinking presidency like a boat anchor | ||
Over the past week it’s become clear that Rudy Giuliani is the target of the federal investigation that’s already swallowed his Ukraine scandal associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman. During that time Rudy has been uncharacteristically quiet, only speaking up in response to the occasional media request, and briefly saying stupid things before disappearing again. But now Rudy has finally broken his silence on Twitter – and wow is it bad for Donald Trump.
We suppose we should have seen this coming. Earlier today, when Parnas and Fruman appeared in front of a judge for the first time, they tried to assert executive privilege in the name of getting some of the evidence against them suppressed. Executive privilege doesn’t come close to applying here. But as we explained, the mere fact that they tried to invoke it means that they’ve tied their fate to that of Donald Trump, because they just asserted that they were acting on his behalf when they committed these Ukraine crimes.
That left Rudy Giuliani with no choice, really, but to go ahead and do the same. Accordingly, here’s what Rudy tweeted this evening: “With all the Fake News let me make it clear that everything I did was to discover evidence to defend my client against false charges.Dems would be horrified by the attacks on me, if my client was a terrorist.But they don’t believe Donald Trump has rights. Justice will prevail.”
If you ignore the histrionics about terrorists and such, only one part of this tweet really matters: “everything I did was to discover evidence to defend my client.” Rudy Giuliani just asserted that he committed his crimes for Donald Trump, which means they’re Trump’s crimes. In other words, Rudy just attached himself to Trump’s sinking presidency like a boat anchor.
Bill Palmer is the publisher of the political news outlet Palmer Report
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| Trump and Giuliani try to shift the blame to each other for the Ukraine fiasco – Google Search | ||
Meet the Press – October 20, 2019
<a href=”http://NBCNews.com” rel=”nofollow”>NBCNews.com</a>–Oct 20, 2019
And prompting Mulvaney to deny his own words and blame a media witch hunt. … This week we saw President Trump test the limits of his presidency… gambling … Bolton describing Giuliani’s work in Ukraine as a “drug deal. …. And that sent the message to all the other players in the region here, to Putin, …
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| Trump and Giuliani try to shift the blame to each other for the Ukraine fiasco – Google Search | ||
Mike Pompeo’s Faustian bargain
The Hill–Oct 18, 2019
For the Secretary of State, it’s the current Ukrainian scandal. … unlikely at this stage, even as public opinion shifts markedly against Trump. … in the smear Biden effort or to help Giuliani and his sidekicks in any business … Secretary of State Pompeo also can’t escape blame for the current debacle in Syria, where Trump sold …
US House to launch Trump impeachment inquiry over Ukraine …
Japan Today–Sep 25, 2019
No one is above the law,” said Pelosi, who for months had been reluctant to … The impeachment inquiry could eventually lead to Trump’s removal from ….. You cannot win an election by simply not being the other guy, or by virtue of ….. Time to watch the Dems crash and burn, again, and then try to memory-hole this debacle, …
Israel election: Netanyahu fights for immunity as indictment …
Axios–Sep 17, 2019
Trump, who supports Netanyahu and already has sought to shore up his political … Trump’s former Russia adviser testifies in House Ukraine investigation … Leaders from all EU member states condemn Turkey’s assault on Kurdish ….. is expected to testify that Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani and U.S. Ambassador to the …
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| Trump and Giuliani try to shift the blame to each other for the Ukraine fiasco – Google Search | ||
Giuliani points fingers in Ukraine impeachment meltdown …
https://www.nydailynews.com › news › politics › ny-rudy-giuliani-ukraine…
Sep 25, 2019 – Rudy Giuliani sought to pass the blame for his botched Ukraine dirt-digging … back by pointing at him for the debacle that sparked impeachment. … Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky that forms one … I hear the bus rumbling to life, and someone pushing Rudy under. <a href=”https://t.co/3C3bSIzLZv” rel=”nofollow”>https://t.co/3C3bSIzLZv</a>.
Sondland to testify that Trump directed Giuliani to push …
https://www.nbcnews.com › politics › trump-impeachment-inquiry › sondl…
7 days ago – Sondland to testify that Trump directed Giuliani to push Ukraine scheme … Sondland will testify that Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, even mentioned … largely matches the one described by others who have already testified, the … to Congress appears aimed at shifting the blame for any deviations from …
Missing:
Meet the Press – October 20, 2019 – NBC News
https://www.nbcnews.com › meet-the-press › meet-press-october-20-2019-…
3 days ago – And prompting Mulvaney to deny his own words and blame a media witch hunt. … This week we saw President Trump test the limits of his presidency… gambling … Bolton describing Giuliani’s work in Ukraine as a “drug deal. …. And that sent the message to all the other players in the region here, to Putin, …
Scoop: Trump pins Ukraine call on Energy Secretary Rick …
https://www.axios.com › trump-blamed-rick-perry-call-ukraine-zelensky-8…
Oct 5, 2019 – Trump told House Republicans that Perry convinced him to phone Zelensky. … infamous phone call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the urging of … Something about an LNG [liquefied natural gas] plant,” one source said, … The House subpoena of Rudy Giuliani also seeks documents related …
Phone Call Showed Only a Slice of Trump’s Obsession With …
https://www.nytimes.com › 2019/09/25 › politics › trump-ukraine-obsession
Sep 25, 2019 – But for President Trump, Ukraine has been an obsession since the 2016 campaign. … He urged Mr. Zelensky to coordinate with Mr. Giuliani and to pursue investigations of “corruption,” … “He mentions it rarely in comparison to other things,” he added. … “They’re all corrupt and they tried to take me down.”.
Missing:
A small crack in the GOP firewall – POLITICO
https://www.politico.com › newsletters › playbook › 2019/10/19 › a-small-…
5 days ago – Others expressed anger over the president’s abandonment of … “Shifting explanations from White House alarm some in GOP,” by AP’s Lisa … “In Congress
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| Kamala Harris and 2 other senators are trying to use FOIA to get Trump-Ukraine info – Axios | ||
WeWork last night made it official: SoftBank will pump $9.5 billion into the beleaguered company, including a $3 billion stock tender, $5 billion of new debt, and $1.5 billion that is being accelerated from an existing equity commitment.
The big picture: There’s been lots of talk of how this mess will impact startup valuations, business models, and IPO opportunities. But far too little on how it should impact board oversight and founder control.
The state of play: Under the new deal, SoftBank will hold an 80% stake in WeWork on a fully-diluted basis, but apparently will not have a majority of votes on the to-be-expanded board. As such, SoftBank is claiming it does not control WeWork.
But, but, but: When I spoke to an internal WeWork spokesperson today, she directed most questions about future board structure, appointments, etc. to SoftBank.
The bottom line: Venture capital has spent more than a decade bending over backwards to appease founders, often with positive results. But along the way they’ve too often abdicated fiduciary obligations to limited partners, believing that their job ends at “making the deal” and then “helping out when needed,” such as with introductions to potential new hires.
Go deeper: How SoftBank plans to save WeWork
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| Rudy Giuliani’s Role in Trump’s Impeachment Recalls Past | ||
      
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| M.N. | 3:41 AM 10/23/2019 – A Little Duce Giuliani: a man who wanted “to be a hero” and who created his own “stereotype”, or his own “legend”, with presumably, some little help from his New Abwehr’s handlers and planners. Who really is Rudy Giuliani? At this point we still do not know sufficiently and definitively. | ||
A Little Duce Giuliani: a man who wanted “to be a hero” and who created his own “stereotype”, or his own “legend”, with presumably, some little help from his New Abwehr’s handlers and planners.
Who really is Rudy Giuliani? At this point we still do not know sufficiently and definitively. One thing appears to be clear: his phony reputation for the ability to conduct the business as usual, in the wake of 9/11, was created artificially and as the propaganda tool, by the same handlers and planners, it looks like… This requires the investigations in depth. M.N. | 3:41 AM 10/23/2019
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| Justice Department Distances Itself From Giuliani | ||
The Justice Department distanced itself on Sunday from Rudolph W. Giuliani, President Trump’s personal lawyer, declaring that department officials would not have met with Mr. Giuliani to discuss one of his clients had they known that federal prosecutors in New York were investigating two of his associates.
Several weeks ago, Brian A. Benczkowski, the head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, and lawyers from the division’s Fraud Section met with Mr. Giuliani to discuss a bribery case in which he and other attorneys were representing the defendants.
That meeting took place before the United States attorney’s office in Manhattan publicly charged the two Giuliani associates, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, with breaking campaign finance laws and trying to unlawfully influence politicians, including former Representative Pete Sessions, Republican of Texas. Mr. Parnas and Mr. Fruman were part of Mr. Giuliani’s effort to push Ukraine for an inquiry into Democrats.
“When Mr. Benczkowski and fraud section lawyers met with Mr. Giuliani, they were not aware of any investigation of Mr. Giuliani’s associates in the Southern District of New York and would not have met with him had they known,” said Peter Carr, a department spokesman.
The Justice Department’s public statement on Sunday illustrates the unusual and broad set of roles that the president’s personal lawyer has played in the scandal that has engulfed the White House and imperiled Mr. Trump’s presidency.
Even as Mr. Giuliani ran a shadow foreign policy campaign to pressure Ukraine to investigate the president’s political enemies — which is now at the heart of an impeachment inquiry against Mr. Trump — he and his business associates were under criminal investigation for unlawfully wielding political influence. And while all of this was happening, Mr. Giuliani still served as a lawyer to clients with cases to plead before the Justice Department.
In distancing itself from Mr. Giuliani and trying to draw bright lines around how the Justice Department will and will not engage with him, the department has also undercut the perception that Mr. Giuliani can influence some of Washington’s most important lawyers and decision makers. That could make it harder for Mr. Giuliani to represent clients who are under Justice Department scrutiny in the future.
“This is an incredibly unusual statement from the Justice Department, which does not comment on ongoing investigations or even acknowledge them, and it’s the kind of statement that would give clients pause about who is representing them,” said Joyce Vance, a former federal prosecutor.
Mr. Giuliani did not respond to a request for comment.
While the Southern District of New York has been investigating Mr. Giuliani’s associates — an inquiry that may be tied to a broader investigation of Mr. Giuliani himself — prosecutors there had not told Mr. Benczkowski of the Criminal Division of the case, as he does not oversee or supervise their work. The United States attorney’s offices report to the deputy attorney general, Jeffrey A. Rosen.
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The Bulwark.
“Palmer: Giuliani is going to be indicted and arrested” – Google News.
Palmer Report.
“Trump and Giuliani try to shift the blame to each other for the Ukraine fiasco” – Google News.
“Trump and Giuliani try to shift the blame to each other for the Ukraine fiasco” – Google News.
The Atlantic.
The FBI News Review – fbinewsreview.blogspot.com – Blog by Michael Novakhov.
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