A year after disappearing, federal informant in Trump probe found dead at L.A. high school

A street runs beside a school with trees in the foreground
A cleansing crew discovered the physique of Valentin Broeksmit on the campus of Woodrow Wilson Senior Excessive College on Tuesday.
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Valentin Broeksmit, an informant who labored with federal authorities investigating former President Trump’s relationship with the German monetary large Deutsche Financial institution, was discovered lifeless Monday on a highschool campus within the El Sereno neighborhood.

Broeksmit, 46, was reported lacking by family and friends a 12 months in the past, in accordance with the Los Angeles Police Division. He was final seen driving a crimson 2020 Mini Cooper round 4 p.m. on April 6, 2021, on Riverside Drive at Griffith Park. His automobile was discovered, however Broeksmit remained lacking — till Monday, when the L.A. County coroner’s workplace recognized his physique.

Cleansing crews at Woodrow Wilson Excessive College discovered Broeksmit’s physique simply earlier than 7 a.m., in accordance with Sgt. Rudy Perez with the Los Angeles College Police Division.

Perez mentioned lessons resumed whereas investigators remoted the scene. Broeksmit seemed to be homeless, in accordance with Perez.

The coroner’s workplace didn't reveal a explanation for demise pending an investigation.

There was no proof of foul play or uncommon circumstances, in accordance with Capt. Kenneth Cabrera with the Los Angeles Police Division.

Broeksmit, the son of Deutsche Financial institution government Invoice Broeksmit, handed off a trove of confidential paperwork to federal authorities who had been investigating the troubled monetary establishment, in accordance with a 2019 profile within the New York Instances. His father had killed himself in 2014, and Valentin Broeksmit went on to share his father’s information with quite a few journalists and authorities investigators, together with a visit to an FBI workplace in Los Angeles, the newspaper reported.

Forensic Information Community journalist Scott Stedman mentioned he was one of many journalists who obtained paperwork from Broeksmit, which highlighted the financial institution’s “deep Russia connections.” Broeksmit was reported lacking in 2021, however Stedman mentioned they talked in January.

“It is rather unhappy,” Stedman wrote on Twitter. “I don’t suspect foul play. Val struggled with medicine on and off.”

Broeksmit was born in Ukraine and adopted by Invoice Broeksmit, his mom’s second husband, in accordance with the New York Instances. As an grownup, Valentin had a historical past of opioid abuse and was a member of an unsuccessful rock band. He referred to himself on Twitter as a “comically horrible spy.” The U.S. Home Intelligence Committee subpoenaed him quite a few instances throughout its examination of Deutsche Financial institution and its relationship with Trump.

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