Valentin Broeksmit, the whistleblower who investigated Deutsche Bank and its ties to former President Donald Trump, was found dead east of Lincoln Park, Los Angeles, police said Tuesday..Broeksmit, who described himself on his Twitter bio as a “comically terrible spy,” is believed to have worked with US federal authorities investigating the activities of Deutsche Bank and its ties with former President Donald Trump..Broeksmit, 45, was found by a cleaning crew member at around 6:40 a.m. Monday in the 4500 block of Multnomah Street on the Woodrow Wilson High school campus, according to the Los Angeles County coroner’s office..An autopsy is pending to determine his cause of death..Broeksmit was reported as a missing person in 2021. Police said he was last seen around 4 p.m. April 6, 2021, when he dropped his girlfriend off on April 6 at a Griffith Park tennis facility. He was driving a red Mini Cooper..The Los Angeles Police Department appealed to the public for information and witnesses in an attempt to locate his whereabouts..His then-girlfriend, Marie Peter-Toltz, said at the time it was not like him to vanish without a word, according to a story in the Beverley Press Park Labrea News..“Peter-Toltz said Broeksmit did not exhibit unusual behaviour, show signs of wanting to harm himself or give any indication that he was planning to flee in the hours leading up to his disappearance,” the news site said..“She said Broeksmit dropped her off at the tennis courts near Los Feliz Boulevard and Riverside Drive at approximately 4 p.m. and was supposed to return a couple of hours later. She waited and worried when Broeksmit didn’t return as planned. Peter-Toltz said her phone died and she had to borrow one from someone at the tennis center to call her boyfriend, who never answered.”.“I was very worried,” said Peter-Toltz. “He is a very reliable person. It is unlike him. I waited so long at the tennis club. I don’t know what happened to him.”. Marie-Peter-Toltz-and-Val.-Courtesy-TwitterMarie Peter-Toltz with Valentin Broeksmit. Twitter image. .Despite his reported disappearance, tweets were still posted from Broeksmit’s Twitter account — @BikiniRobotArmy — as recently as April 5, 2022. It appears he also maintained contact with friends and journalists..Scott Stedman, investigative journalist with the website Forensic News who interviewed Broeksmit extensively for a book he was writing, posted an interview on Twitter. He last spoke to Broeksmit in January..He said Broeksmit “supplied me and other journalists with Deutsche Bank documents that highlighted the bank’s deep Russia connections. It is very sad. I don’t suspect foul play. Val struggled with drugs on and off. Waiting on further info.”.“Val’s father took his own life in 2014 and it consumed Val in recent years. To see his life end so short is incredibly depressing,” Stedman said..Broeksmit’s stepfather, William, was a Deutsche Bank executive..According to various reports, Valentin Broeksmit provided hundreds of bank documents, left behind by his father after his death, to federal investigators and journalists examining connections between the Deutsche Bank and Trump..David Enrich, the New York Times reporter, wrote in 2019 that Broeksmit had helped the FBI in its probe of Deutsche Bank by providing investigators with the bank documentation..Broeksmit was also called as a witness by the House Intelligence Committee during its probe of Trump’s ties to the bank..Enrich reported Broeksmit had a drug problem and that he would often misrepresent the truth to come up with “far-fetched theories.” Peter-Toltz, Broeksmit’s girlfriend, denied Broeksmit was a substance abuser..Some Twitter followers are skeptical about reports implying that Broeksmit’s death was a suicide. Twitter user, @lowyencar, tweeted “A “heart attack” maybe?,” and @dac37799066 said, “the story was written as if it was a suicide. Yeah, right.”.Broeksmit was a central figure in Enrich’s book, Dark Towers: Deutsche Bank, Donald Trump and an Epic Trail of Destruction..“This is terrible news,” Enrich tweeted Tuesday after learning of Broeksmit’s death. “Val was a longtime source of mine and the main character in my book. We had a complicated relationship, but this is just devastating to hear.”.Amanda Brown is a reporter with the Western Standard.,.abrown@westernstandard.news.,.Twitter: @WS_JournoAmanda
