WASHINGTON — A firm co-owned by Keith Schiller, President Trump’s former director of Oval Office operations, has registered with the Justice Department to help Kazakhstan’s top prosecutor press for a U.S.-Kazakhstan extradition treaty, one of four new foreign-agent registrations filed between Oct. 28 and Nov. 4.
The others cover former Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., who will recruit current and former members of Congress for West Bank “fact-finding” trips for a Belgian nonprofit; a New Jersey man who will promote the Kenyan opposition party of Nairobi Sen. Edwin Sifuna; and a Washington consultant born in 2002 who will be paid in stock options to lobby for a Canadian critical-minerals company. The Washington Inquisitor reviewed each registration statement and its attached exhibits on the Justice Department’s FARA eFile system.
None of the filings reports any money received during the registration period. Registration under the Foreign Agents Registration Act is a disclosure requirement, and filing does not imply wrongdoing.
| No. | Registrant | Foreign principal | Purpose stated | Pay disclosed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7789 | Truth and Conciliation Commission (Chicago); short-form filers Cori Bush-Merritts and Stephany Spaulding | International Federation for Rights and Development (Belgium) | Bring U.S. officials and leaders to the West Bank for “educational fact-finding missions” | $25,000 budget, including $6,000 a month for three months |
| 7790 | Gilbert Shanga (Hackettstown, N.J.) | The Equitable Party (Kenya) | Civic education, outreach to Kenyans in North America and lobbying | None; described as volunteering |
| 7791 | Javelin Advisors LLC (Washington) | Prosecutor General’s Office of Kazakhstan | “Extradition cooperation,” including a potential bilateral treaty | None; “Registrant receives no compensation” |
| 7792 | Victor Vernick (Washington) | RRico Corporate Development Company (Vancouver) | Legislative tracking, stakeholder mapping and funding research for North Atlantic Titanium Corp. | 50,000 stock options at 12 Canadian cents |
A Trump-world firm and Kazakhstan’s prosecutors
Javelin Advisors’ registration statement, received Oct. 29 and assigned No. 7791, lists three managing directors who own the firm equally: Schiller; George A. Sorial, a former Trump Organization executive whose citizenship is listed as American, Egyptian and British; and Robert W. Seiden, a former prosecutor. The firm’s website describes Schiller as a former deputy assistant to the president and director of Oval Office operations and Sorial as executive vice president and counsel to the Trump Organization.
The firm’s Exhibit B says it reached an oral understanding “in telephone conversations with Baurzhan Kurmanov, a representative of the Government of Kazakhstan, on or about October 27.” Under it, the firm “assists the Government of Kazakhstan in arranging and participating in meetings between Kazakh officials and U.S. Government officials concerning extradition cooperation between the United States and the Republic of Kazakhstan, including a potential bilateral extradition treaty.” The understanding has no fixed end date, and “Registrant receives no compensation for these services.”
Exhibit A names the official the firm deals with as Deputy Prosecutor General Galymzhan Koigeldiyev. The firm checked “yes” to political activities and listed public officials, legislators and government agencies among the audiences for its materials.
Javelin also filed a five-page paper, “Justification for a US-Kazakhstan Extradition Treaty,” which it says it distributes on behalf of Kazakhstan’s General Prosecutor’s Office. The paper says a mutual legal assistance treaty signed in February 2015 took effect in December 2016 but “does not regulate the extradition of wanted persons,” that treaty talks have been under way since 2016 and that Kazakhstan submitted a draft treaty to the United States in January 2025.
“According to INTERPOL information, approximately 50 persons wanted internationally in connection with crimes committed in Kazakhstan have been identified in the United States,” the paper says, without naming them. It argues a treaty would also help U.S. prosecutors pursue fraud, money laundering and cybercrime suspects in Kazakhstan, and it cites the Justice Department’s 2020 acknowledgment of Kazakh help in a hacking case and Kazakhstan’s 2020 extradition of an American, which it says the department described as the first extradition from Kazakhstan to the United States.
The registration discloses one political contribution: $5,000 from Schiller to “Team Ronny” on Aug. 28. Federal Election Commission records list Team Ronny as a joint fundraising committee, and The Digital Free Press, which first reported the Javelin registration, said it is tied to the campaign of Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, a former White House physician.
This is Javelin’s third FARA registration. Justice Department records show the firm registered as No. 7579 on April 25, 2025, for the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and terminated that registration on Oct. 8, 2025. It registered again as No. 7705 on March 23, 2026, for the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, on behalf of Taiwan, and terminated that one on Sept. 25. The firm’s website says it delivered “tangible results in U.S.–Pakistan trade negotiations.”
| Registration | Foreign principal | Registered | Terminated |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7579 | Islamic Republic of Pakistan | April 25, 2025 | Oct. 8, 2025 |
| 7705 | Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (Taiwan) | March 23, 2026 | Sept. 25, 2026 |
| 7791 | Prosecutor General’s Office of Kazakhstan | Oct. 29, 2026 | Active |
Cori Bush and the West Bank trips
The Truth and Conciliation Commission, a Chicago nonprofit organized in Colorado in 2020, registered on Oct. 28 as an agent of the International Federation for Rights and Development, a Leuven, Belgium, nonprofit. Its registration lists “Cori Bush-Merritts” of St. Louis as providing “consulting services, including outreach and engagement with leaders to coordinate educational fact-finding missions to the West Bank,” which may include “preparation and dissemination of informational materials that promote Foreign Principal’s interests.” Stephany Spaulding of Washington is listed as the commission’s executive director. Both filed short-form registrations. The arrangement was reported last week by the Washington Free Beacon and JNS.
The attached memorandum of understanding describes “The Hon. Cori Bush of Cori Bush Enterprises” as an independent contractor who will “coordinate fact-finding delegations on behalf of TCC and IFRD to Palestine in the interests of elevating the narratives of Palestinian farmers and residents with settlers in the West Bank and other occupied territories.” Her scope of work includes outreach to “current and former U.S. Senators, current and former Members of the U.S. House of Representatives, and prominent Democratic Party figures and influential political leaders.”
The deliverables include “documented outreach to at least 200 individuals by December 31, 2026,” a “professional contact database” and a final report by Jan. 31, 2027. Trips are planned for November, December and January, “subject to applicable congressional ethics rules, travel regulations, and required approvals.” IFRD would pay the travel costs of delegations it approves.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Independent contractor retainer ($6,000 a month for three months) | $18,000 |
| FARA registration | $5,000 |
| Compliance reporting | $2,000 |
| Total | $25,000 |
The document says the work is contingent on the commission and IFRD “receiving grant and donor funding,” and that, apart from a few clauses, the memorandum “is a statement of intent and is not legally binding.” In its Exhibit A, IFRD states that it “is fully independent and receives no funding from any government or political party” and is listed in the EU Transparency Register.
A Kenyan opposition party
Gilbert Shanga of Hackettstown, N.J., who lists Kenyan and U.S. citizenship, registered on Oct. 28 as an agent of The Equitable Party, based in Syokimau, near Nairobi. His Exhibit A names “Edwin Watenya Sifuna” as the party official he deals with and lists the party’s aims in the United States as “political engagements with Kenyans in North America” and “fundraising from Kenyans living in the US.”
Sifuna, a Nairobi senator, took over the party in October as the vehicle for a 2027 presidential bid, the Daily Nation has reported. Shanga’s Exhibit B describes an oral agreement dated Oct. 20 and his role as “volunteering,” with outreach to U.S. federal, state and local governments “for possible investments in Kenya” and work on “civic education and the democracy enhancement activities.” He listed the political activities as “lobbying, civic education, economic development and promotion.”
Stock options for a minerals lobbyist
Victor Vernick, a Washington “government affairs representative” born in 2002, registered on Nov. 4 for RRico Corporate Development Company, a Vancouver sole proprietorship owned by Ronald Rieder. Under the Strategic Advisors Agreement dated Oct. 30, Vernick is a subcontractor for RRico’s client North Atlantic Titanium Corp., which trades on the Canadian Securities Exchange.
His tasks include tracking “legislative proposals, NDAA timelines, and Executive Orders,” identifying contacts in “the US public and private defense sectors,” arranging official meetings and tracking “DoD/DoE appropriations, and Title III pipelines of strategic interest.” The 180-day term begins only after he registers.
Instead of fees, he is to receive two tranches of 25,000 options at 12 Canadian cents each, tied to milestones such as delivering briefs and “a comprehensive stakeholder map identifying key congressional or agency procurement personnel relevant to NATO’s assets,” using the agreement’s abbreviation for the company. The agreement lets him quit at once if the company takes financing that gives “a control position” to anyone acting for “an adversarial country, a designated foreign adversary.” In its Exhibit A, RRico answered “no” to every question about foreign-government ownership, control or funding.
The registration pace
The four filings bring the number of 2026 registrations still active on the FARA rolls to 77, according to the Justice Department’s active-registrant data. Fourteen of those were filed in October, the most of any month this year.
What to watch
Registrants must file supplemental statements every six months listing contacts, payments and political activity. Those reports will show whether Javelin’s meetings reach State or Justice Department officials, how many lawmakers Bush contacts and travel to the West Bank, and whether Shanga’s and Vernick’s outreach produces meetings on Capitol Hill.
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