One of Ivanka Trump’s Close Contacts in the Fashion World Named in Mueller Report
When the Department of Justice released yesterday a redacted version of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report, one unexpected name stood out in the crowd: Miroslava Duma.
The Russian fashion influencer was called out in the 448-page investigation into Russian inference in the 2016 United States presidential election, cited on the 78th page as “a contact of Ivanka Trump’s from the fashion industry.”
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According to the report, Duma first passed along invitations to the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum from Sergei Prikhodko, a deputy prime minister of the Russian Federation, to Trump and her father, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, in late December 2015.
Weeks later, on Jan. 14, the SVP of the Trump Organization, Rhona Graff, sent back an email to the style star stating that Trump was “honored to be asked to participate in the highly prestigious” event but would “have to decline” the invitation due to his “very grueling and full travel schedule” as a presidential candidate.
Graff then asked Duma whether she recommended that Graff “send a formal note to the deputy prime minister” dismissing his invitation, and Duma responded that a formal note would be “great.” (The finding was shared on Twitter by Bloomberg reporter Kim Bhasin.)
Duma, who is also an entrepreneur and CEO and founder of venture capital fund Future Tech Lab, has previously spoken at the annual business forum, which has been supervised by the Russian president — now Vladimir Putin — since 2005. Her father is former Russian Sen. Vasily Duma, and her husband is Aleksey Mikheev, an entrepreneur working at the country’s ministry of trade and industry.
Ivanka was also featured on fashion and lifestyle e-tail site The Tot, which was co-founded by Duma. (Duma is no longer affiliated with the company, and the post is not featured on The Tot’s site.) Last summer, the first daughter pulled the plug on her eponymous lifestyle brand, explaining in a statement that her “focus for the foreseeable future will be the work I am doing here in Washington.”
It’s not the first time Duma has stirred controversy. In January, the fashion insider made headlines for posting on Instagram Stories a note that contained a racial slur, sent to her by Russian couture designer Ulyana Sergeenko. Many in the industry subsequently denounced Duma.
Watch FN’s video with Keds president Gillian Meek.
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