Even before Uber senior executives arrived in Davos in January 2016, their bosses were trying to get invitations to the exclusive party hosted by Russian metal tycoon billionaire Oleg Deripaska. Famous for its free-flowing vodka, the event was an event by invitation only and outside the schedule of the World Economic Forum, the annual meeting of business and political leaders in the Swiss Alps.
Luckily for Uber, he had hired someone who could pull the strings. “Put them on the list at the door,” Peter Mandelson ordered, according to data filtering messages from Uber files.
Lord Mandelson’s business partner at his Global Counsel strategic advisory firm, Benjamin Wegg-Prosser, quickly secured entry for a group of Uber executives. And when the big night came, one of Uber’s top staff members, Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, danced exuberantly with a group of Cossack musicians in disguise.
The Uber executive dances at the party organized by the Russian billionaire in Davos in 2016: video
Mandelson, a member of the House of Lords, was known to be a longtime friend of Deripaska. But leaked emails and text messages reveal the extent to which the former Labor minister, who served under Tony Blair, has monetized his access to a wider range of pro-Kremlin billionaires.
The documents show how Global Counsel secretly worked behind the scenes for Uber, with Mandelson and Wegg-Prosser appearing to act as the company’s discreet advisers in Russia between 2015 and 2016, negotiating presentations with senior and powerful government officials business figures.
The couple helped Uber gain access to Russia’s financial and political elites and to manage sensitive relations with oligarchs who have since been subject to sanctions by the UK and the EU following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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What are Uber files?
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Uber’s files are a global investigation based on a fund of 124,000 documents that Mark MacGann, Uber’s former chief lobbyist in Europe, the Middle East and Africa leaked to the Guardian. The data consists of emails, iMessages and WhatsApp exchanges among the Silicon Valley giant’s top executives, as well as notes, presentations, notebooks, informational documents and invoices.
The leaked records cover 40 countries and span from 2013 to 2017, the period in which Uber aggressively expanded around the world. They reveal how the company broke the law, tricked police and regulators, exploited violence against drivers and put secret pressure on governments around the world.
To facilitate a global investigation in the public interest, The Guardian shared data with 180 journalists from 29 countries through the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The investigation was managed and directed by the Guardian with the ICIJ.
In a statement, Uber said: “We have not apologized or will make excuses for past behaviors that clearly do not agree with our current values. Instead, we ask the public to judge us for what we have done over the past five years. and what we will do in the coming years “.
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Global Counsel, which was created after Mandelson left government in 2010, has previously said it does not put pressure and has differentiated its activities from traditional public affairs consultancies. It emphasizes that it offers companies strategic and political advice, not lobbying services.
However, the documents suggest that the company played a key role in supporting Uber’s lobbying activities and engaged with politicians and policy makers on behalf of the company in both Russia and Europe.
The files also raise questions for Global Counsel about what Wegg-Prosser knew about a secret payment Uber made to a political agent in Russia despite Uber’s internal concerns that paying the lobbyist posed a risk of corruption.
Benjamin Wegg-Prosser. Photography: Martin Argles / The Guardian
Global Counsel’s lawyers said the firm was not involved in any deal between Uber and the Russian lobbyist. They stressed that Global Counsel “expressly refutes any suggestion” that violates any anti-corruption law.
But the files highlight Mandelson and Wegg-Prosser, a former communications adviser to Blair, and his relationships with people who have allegedly benefited from maintaining close ties with the Kremlin.
“We want someone aligned with Putin”
In early 2015, when Uber faced significant headwinds in Russia and met few friends, Wegg-Prosser met Moscow-based Uber executives and impressed them with his address book. “Use this type of Wegg-Prosser on demand for your contacts and access,” one executive recommended.
Weeks later, Mandelson visited Uber’s international headquarters in Amsterdam to discuss how Global Counsel could help the company, sealing what would become a close working relationship with Uber’s top lobbyist in Europe, Mark MacGann.
The relationship would generate nearly £ 200,000 in fees for Global Counsel between 2015 and 2016, documents suggest, as Uber frequently turned to Mandelson and Wegg-Prosser for help from Russia and advice on its lobbying strategy. in Europe.
In 2015, Uber was looking for “strategic allies” in Russia and had begun approaching politically connected oligarchs who it believed could help push for the company’s interests. Emil Michael, one of Uber’s top executives at the time, had described the company’s goal to his colleagues: “We want someone aligned with Putin.”
For advice on navigating Russia’s business elites, Uber turned to Mandelson and Wegg-Prosser. They both knew Moscow well. Mandelson was then on the board of one of Russia’s largest conglomerates, while Wegg-Prosser, a former journalist who worked for the Guardian from 2000 to 2005, had worked as a senior executive at a Russian media company. .
When Uber reached a $ 200 million investment deal with a company controlled by Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven in 2016, Wegg-Prosser recommended that they establish a “hotline” with the two oligarchs. That was something he could help with, he said, boasting of his ability to talk directly to Aven over the phone.
An Uber car in the center of Moscow. Photography: Nikolay Vinokurov / AlamyFile
The files suggest Mandelson also played his role and helped Uber get an April 2016 meeting with Aven to discuss how the former minister, who at the time was attending frequent meetings with Putin, could help the company overcoming the political problems facing Russia. Wegg-Prosser then thanked Aven for a “very reassuring” meeting.
Months later, while helping Uber prepare for a trip by Uber CEO Travis Kalanick to Moscow, Wegg-Prosser turned to Aven again, this time for a “brazen” request, though ultimately unsuccessful: could arrange a meeting between Kalanick and Putin’s chief of staff Sergei Ivanov?
“Could you make a call / connect?” asked Wegg-Prosser. Mandelson continued to thank Aven for his support.
Aven told the Guardian that he knew Wegg-Prosser “very well” and talked to him often, but the oligarch said he stayed out of politics and was not involved in Russia’s lobbying efforts. Uber. In a statement, Uber said its current leadership “denies any previous relationship with anyone related to the Putin regime.”
Access was not all that Wegg-Prosser and Mandelson offered. Documents suggest the couple advised Uber about the reality of doing business in Moscow and the sensibilities of operating in often opaque waters.
When Uber agreed to make a large payment to influential Fridman lobbyist and Aven company Vladimir Senin, Uber’s lawyers expressed concern that the payment would run the risk of violating U.S. anti-bribery laws. . The problem is said to have caused considerable “internal conflict” at Uber, but Wegg-Prosser was available to advise on how to handle the situation.
Initially, he said he would not be “comfortable” with Senin’s payment, but he also seemed contemptuous when Uber’s lawyers proposed a series of suggestions on inserting anti-corruption provisions into Senin’s contract.
In an email to Uber’s MacGann, who asked for his opinion on the proposals, Wegg-Prosser wrote, “I see this all the time from stupid U.S. lawyers who think the world should function as a suburb of Seattle “. He said the idea of asking the oligarch lobbyist to complete compliance training “will make you look absurd. You just need a contract that says they carry the risk. “
The files suggest that, despite his previous discomfort, Wegg-Prosser at one point became involved in discussions related to the payment and personally assured Aven that the lobbyist had received a financial reward.
“I talked to Aven today about Senin,” Wegg-Prosser told a senior Uber executive in July 2016. “I told Uber that I was grateful for Senin’s support, but had put the work on hold. to say that Senin had been paid correctly for his support (I mentioned the number.) Aven said he knew it, that he was happy to hear it was moving in the right direction and that he knew Uber had done the right thing. “
Senin did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
An influencer dinner
Mandelson and Wegg-Prosser advised Uber that there was a bigger reward than the relationship between Fridman and Aven. They urged the company to cultivate Herman Gref, the executive director of the state-controlled Sberbank and a key Moscow agent. “In the long run, Gref is more important,” Wegg-Prosser told Uber.
Herman Gref. Photography: Yiannis Kourtoglou / Reuters
A former economy minister under Putin, Gref had earned a reputation as an influential but liberal adviser in the president’s ruling circle. The couple had first worked together in St. Petersburg in the 1990s. In March, the United States imposed sanctions on Gref, describing him as a “close associate of Putin.” Gref did not respond to requests for comment.
According to internal messages exchanged between Uber lobbyists, Mandelson hosted a key meeting with the state banker in Moscow in July 2015. The following year, when Gref attended Uber’s headquarters in San Francisco. ..