Controversial American ambassador to Hungary David Pressman is under fire today after the Hungarian press revealed that the U.S. diplomat financially benefited from giving legal advice to a confidant of a prominent Russian oligarch who has successfully avoided Western sanctions despite protests from the Ukrainian government.
The revelations came about through an asset declaration made by Pressman when he commenced his diplomatic post in May last year, with the legal services provided in the lead-up to the outbreak of war in Ukraine between 2020 and 2022.
Pressman is alleged to have made just under $2 million while working as a lawyer for the legal firm Jenner & Block, as he advised Ellen Pinchuk, the primary American consultant to the Russian mineral oligarch and politician Mikhail Prokhorov, known to be a close Kremlin ally.
The exact nature of the services provided to Pinchuk by Pressman is unknown, with the American diplomat only recently lambasting the Hungarian government for maintaining economic ties with Russia for the sake of energy security.
During his brief tenure as America’s top envoy in Budapest, Pressman has spearheaded visa sanctions against Hungarians motivated by the ruling Fidesz government’s stance on Ukraine, with the ambassador regularly accused of grossly politicising his role in the pursuit of progressive causes.
The oligarch in question, Mikhail Prokhorov, made his fortune in the 1990s with his below-market-price purchase of Russian state assets following the collapse of the USSR, with his mining company Norilsk Nickel subsequently becoming the world’s largest provider of nickel and palladium.
Prokhorov is the 12th richest man in Russia with an estimated net worth of $11 billion and is the owner of the American basketball team, the Brooklyn Nets. Prokhorov was reported in April to have received Israeli citizenship in order to circumnavigate Western sanctions.
Pressman has so far not commented on the claims made by the conservative Magyar Nemzet newspaper.
