Investigation shows that Gaurav Srivastava, an American-Indian conman who has been involved in corruption, fraud and intimidation, used a donation to the Atlantic Council to clean up his image through his so-called charitable organisation.
Evidence gathered by investigators throws a new light showing that the Atlantic Council think tank has been the only non-profit organization to whom the Gaurav and Sharon Srivastava Family Foundation made a contribution. It is believed that the Atlantic Council was used as leverage for Gaurav and Sharon Srivastava to whitewash their reputation, as well as to approach wealthy targets. Pictures of Srivastava next to Washington ‘establishment’ personalities like General Wesley Clark and Atlantic Council chief Fred Kempe act as props for Srivastava to claim that he is a serious figure – when in fact he is a fraudster.
The Atlantic Council has also been questioned for accepting donations without conducting any due diligence checks. The think-tank has not responded to questions on the growing scandal around their donor’s conduct, including threats to journalists, a series of frauds and the abuse of Google and Tumblr.
The Gaurav and Sharon Srivastava Foundation does not function as a real non-profit organization or foundation but only acts to disguise the Srivastava couple as philanthropists. In fact, the Foundation was registered as a “corporation” in Delaware State on 12 October 2022, whereas it falsely claimed to have been founded in 2015.
However, foundations are typically not registered as corporations, and the earliest archives on the foundation’s website only date back to November 2022. These factors raise doubts about its establishment date and credibility.
The Foundation applied for its trademark on 23 February 2023, assisted by US attorney Jonathan Berger. The trademark application affirmed that the legal entity type of the Foundation is a ‘Corporation’ – not a charitable organisation.
Gaurav Kumar Srivastava has been exposed as a fraudster who is involved in large scale scams, some of which include using the name of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to make money fraudulently from international businessmen.
The Atlantic Council hosted its 2022 Global Food Security Forum in Bali, sponsored with more than $1 million by the Gaurav & Sharon Srivastava Foundation. Srivastava joined a panel of experts to discuss global food security, and the Atlantic Council’s President Fred Kempe profusely thanked Srivastava for his generous donation but sources say Kempe had no idea what would happen in the following months.
The investigation, by respected journalists Bradley Hope and Soobin Kim, found that Srivastava pretended to be a CIA spy in order to fraudulently take over assets of a Dutch trader after assuring him of help using his alleged “CIA” links. He told the trader that he was an agent operating under “non-official cover” or NOC (pronounced “knock”) for the CIA and operated at the senior level amongst a total of 30 NOCs around the world.
As suspicions mounted, Srivastava issued threats to the Dutch trader and his family after the con began to unravel; the trader refused to transfer shares to him, following the discovery that the India-born Srivastava was a fraud.
The complex, international fraud carried out by Srivastava is the subject of increasing media interest after other allegations about Srivastava’s history of fraud came to light.