WASHINGTON, DC – An American stockbroker, who made his fortune in the Russian market in the 1990s and 2000s and later co-founded a posh nightclub in Moscow before leaving the country, has died after being found lying on a sidewalk in Washington, police said.
Police said they were investigating the death of Dan Rapoport, 52, who was found outside an apartment building in a northwest neighborhood of the US capital, but there is no had no immediate indication of foul play.
A preliminary police report said officers responded to a report of a ‘rider’ on the evening of August 14 and the man, later identified as Rapoport, was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The police report says officers found $2,620 in cash in Rapoport when they discovered his body on the sidewalk, along with headphones, a cracked cell phone, a Florida driver’s license and other items. He was wearing flip flops. Police said there were no witnesses.
It was unclear if Rapoport lived in the building. He had recently returned to Washington after spending several years working in finance in Ukraine.
A police spokeswoman referred further questions from RFE/RL to the city medical examiner’s offices. An official at that office confirmed an autopsy was being conducted, but had no further information.
The FBI did not immediately respond to questions about its involvement in the investigation.
Rapoport’s wife, Alonya, from Ukraine, did not immediately respond to a Facebook message, but she confirmed his death on her Facebook page.
Place of destination
Originally from Latvia and fluent in Russian, Rapoport emigrated with his family to the United States in 1980. After graduating from an American university, he moved to Russia in the early 1990s as a wave of privatization swept the country. The privatizations created a booming stock market, creating a new generation of millionaires, Russian and foreign.
Rapoport was respected in Russian financial circles, where he worked for a local brokerage firm called CenterInvest. He claimed his clients included some of the country’s wealthiest tycoons.
In 2007, he opened a swanky nightclub in downtown Moscow called Soho Rooms, which became the hangout of Moscow’s, Russian and foreign elite.
In 2012, he left Russia and returned to the United States, and created a company called Rapoport Capital, which described it as “an experienced investor involved in a deal pipeline valued at over $8 billion, including start-ups, private placements, IPOs, buyouts, and other financial transactions.”
The company’s website said it was registered in Washington, D.C., although public records indicate the company was registered in St. Petersburg, Florida in February 2022.
An email sent to the company’s website did not receive an immediate response.
In 2016, four years after leaving Russia, Rapaport opened an office in Kyiv and opened a private equity fund. In social media posts, he was a strong supporter of Ukraine and an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Rapoport gained some publicity in January 2017, after the New York Times reported that newly elected President Donald Trump’s daughter and son-in-law purchased a mansion owned by him and his first wife. The mansion was located in an exclusive area of the American capital.
Later that same month, Raporport co-founder of the Soho Rooms nightclub, Sergei Tkachenko, was found dead outside a building in Moscow. Investigators said Tkachenko’s body was found on a building canopy “with injuries typical of a fall from a great height”.
In 2018, the open-source investigative organization Bellingcat reported that Rapoport had been the creator of a fictional character named David Jewberg, who was frequently quoted in the Ukrainian media as a senior Pentagon analyst.
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