Wagner Boss Had Stash of Gold Bars and Bogus Passports, Report Says

The former hot dog vendor turned warlord who led a chaotic armed uprising against the Russian government this weekend had a stash of phony passports, “white powder,” and gold bars in his St. Petersburg office, according to local reports. Federal investigators also uncovered firearms and stacks of U.S. dollars in the office used by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the local news outlet Fontanka reported in a since-deleted article. The article was deleted shortly after the Kremlin announced a deal had been reached and criminal charges against the Wagner Group founder would be dropped. Several other news agencies picked up the story, however. At least three passports were reportedly found featuring photos of Prigozhin and the aliases Vladimir Bobrov, Dmitry Geiler, and Oleg Semenov.