Fred Kempe: Another Sexual Harassment Scandal- Does it ever end?

A few weeks ago, a good friend of mine in Washington contacted me and asked me if I would follow up on an alleged story involving the Atlantic Council’s CEO Fred Kempe and a string of alleged sexual affairs involving women from the Ukraine.  Initially I was wary of the story; as a Journalist who has witnessed the rise of the MeToo movement I have also seen the rise of ‘Fake News’.  And nothing seems easier these days than trashing someone’s name, (regardless of gender) into the sewage pits of alleged sexual misdeeds and gender based exploitive behavior.  My friend in Washington is a single Mom and mid-ranking corporate exec who knows all too well about sexual harassment in the corridors of Washington. A mutual friend of hers working in an Eastern European embassy informed her of the allegations involving Fred Kempe a few months ago. I’ve reported extensively about women rising to political power in developing nations, so I decided to take a closer look at my friend’s allegations about Mr. Kempe.

Fred Kempe, Atlantic Council CEO

The Atlantic Council is a notable Thinktank in the United States and closely tied to the upper echelons of US Government.  It’s current Directors (who all work directly with Mr. Kempe) include former US National Security Advisors Stephan Hadley and Brent Scowcroft as well as former US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel.  Mr. Kempe is a highly respected former journalist for the Wall Street Journal, a New York Times bestselling author and in addition to being the CEO of the prestigious Atlantic Council he is also a politicalpundit commentator on television and radio both in Europe and the United States.  His close friends (such as Chuck Hagel) read like a litany of American power brokers. At 63 years of age Fred Kempe, who is married with one daughter, has reached the pinnacle of his career.

At first glance I was going to discard this story as it seemed to outlandish to me.  I told my mutual friend in Washington that frankly speaking I didn’t believe it.  My friend then literally begged me to take a closer look and when I did the story started to pick up traction. First off was the sheer amount of hate websites, blogs and articles that are on the internet about Mr. Kempe. This in its self is nothing new; high ranking US Government officials, business leaders and others have all experienced the menace of reputation smearing (and not just with sexual related affairs) which it seems is part and parcel of the American politicaland corporate culture. What first caught my eye was that these anti-Kempe blogs were coming out of Germany (Mr. Kempe holds duo German-American citizenships) and the Ukraine where he has very strong political connections and travels to extensively.

Before I detail the alleged sexual encounters that Mr. Kempe had with Ukrainian women and (one Ukrainian woman whoI personally interviewed) I should point out that Fred Kempe has also had a scandalous cloud of another nature above his head; his business dealings in China and Africa.

Regarding China, Mr. Kempe is a Director of Leopard Purchasing Corp a company that was established for the sole purpose of expatiating an acquisition of an Oregon based digitaltechnology company, Planar Ltd, on behalf of the Chinese state owned ‘Leyard Optoelectronic Co., Ltd.’  Leyard according to its website is “a global leader in the design, production, distribution, and service of digital displays, video walls, and visualization products worldwide”.  Leopard Purchasing Corp’s Board of Directors include Fred Kempe, Billionaire Energy tycoon Thomas J. Edelman (who had had several investigations launched against him by the US SEC) and former Goldman Sachs general partner Daniel W. Cook who passed away in February this year. 

The exact nature of Leopard Purchasing Corp’s role in Leyard Optoelectronic Co. Ltd’s takeover of Planar Ltd is murky and it’s noteworthy to point out that Planar Ltd is also a key provider to the US Army for SMS digital displays.  Given the Atlantic Council’s influence with cabinet level members of the US Government and the work its done in China and Africa one could assume that Mr. Kempe would add great value to American global business leaders seeking lucrative deals in these regions.  At the least Mr. Kempe’s business dealings in China raise eyebrows. When added to another scandal involving Gabon in Africa (which I will elaborate on later) a darker profile seems to be emerging about Mr. Kempe. Based on these specifics I believe a further investigation of the sexual abuse allegations made against Kempe is warranted. If Kempe is being dishonest in his business affairs, then it’s easy to conclude that the possibility of him misusing his position and power to prey on women is high. We have all seen it before (no names mentioned) of powerful and successful men who sexually harass and abuse women in the workplace. The list is endless.

Regarding Africa,Fred Kempe came under fire and his personal integrity was under attack in 2016 when the Atlantic Council was going to bestow on Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba (a corrupt and ruthless Dictator) an award for “his life of public service and efforts to improve the lives of the people of Gabon.” In a searing article penned by Foreign Policy magazine’s Thor Halvorssen and Alex Gladstein on September 19, 2016, Kempe is criticized for even considering giving an award at all to President Ondimbabecause of a “bloody election” in Gabon in August 2016 that Ondimba stole and that “International observers declared… fraudulent after the regime reported an improbable 95.5 percent victory for Bongo in his home province amid 99.98 percent voter turnout”.   A further damaging  revelation came to light when it was revealed the Atlantic Council had accepted funding from Gabon and that “Gabon is not the only dictatorship the Atlantic Council has cozied up to: The Kingdom of Bahrain is listed on the organization’s website as a six-figure donor, and it has received financial support from the governments of Azerbaijan, Saudi Arabia, and Kazakhstan”.  The article concluded that “The Atlantic Council has long trumpeted its objectivity and independence, but feting Bongo is just the latest in a series of troubling developments at the think tank that raise questions about its commitment to transparency and ability to keep business interests separate from its research and policy operations.” (foreignpolicy.com/2016/09/19/independent-think-tank-honors-african-dictator-as-global-citizen-ali-bongo-gabon)

Whilst I was researching the background of Fred Kempe I quickly surmised that there are numerous circumstantial and factual points that one can not ignore which have irreparably tarnished his personal reputation and that of the Atlantic Council. This brings us back to the recent sexual abuse allegations leveled at Mr. Kempe.

I met with a Ukrainian woman (‘Olga’) in Toronto in December 2017 who outlined and gave sworn statements about an allegedsexual encounter thatsheand her friend (‘Alexandra’) had with Mr. Kempe in the Ukraine city of Lviv during the nights of the 9^th and 10^th September in 2017.  Olga (who is 28 years old) claimed during our interview that she and Alexandra were working as translators for an event commemorating the opening of a world-class library and educational center in Lviv, Ukraine that was overseen by Ukrainian Catholic University President Bishop Borys Gudziak who is a good friend of Fred Kempe’s.  Although the Atlantic Council did not sponsor the event Kempe was, according to my research in attendance. (This has also been confirmed by the Atlantic Council’s website which issued a press release on the event and noted that Kempe did attend it- www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/in-lviv-world-class-learning-center-opens-where-soviets-wanted-drab-building.

Olga said that she met Kempe after 11pm in the Panorama Lviv hotel located in the center of the city.  (Lviv is a city of about 800,000 people located in Western Ukraine). Olga was in the Panorama restaurant translating from German and English into Ukrainian for a group of dignitaries that had arrived to attend the opening of the library and educational center mentioned above.  Kempe was sitting at another table and “kept eyeing” them throughout the dinner according to Olga. After the dinner Kempe approached Olga and offered her and Alexandra a drink at the table he was sitting at alone.

Olga stated that she had heard about Kempe before through mutual friends and that he had “Travelled to Ukraine many times” (I have fact checked Olga’s claim and it is true; Kempe has strong relations with the World Ukrainian congress and travels to the country on a regular basis).  Speaking in German Kempe asked both women within minutes of meeting with them if they wanted to “Have an interesting conversation” with him in his room. Olga refused to give Kempe’s room number as she claimed that the hotel would ban her from ever going there again (or worse) if it was revealed that she had spoken to the press. (In the Ukraine this is totally believable).

Olga was at first hesitant, but Kempe assured her that he was a “good man” and that she and Alexandra would be “totally safe”.  Olga as a translator meets many men who always according to her “want something more than just talk”.  Then at about 130am they all went up to Kempe’s room.  Olga claims that after entering the room Kempe poured some champagne and told them that he just wanted some “clean fun” and that he would pay them both “a total of 1000 Euros”.  Olga and Alexandra who are both very attractive women agreed.  Kempe then said he liked it “rough” and Olga told Alexandra in Russian that she didn’t really want to get into any BDSM, but Alexandra agreed to participate. Olga and Alexandraand Kempe then took off their clothes.  Kempe lied on the floor on his stomach and asked Alexandra to “use a whip” on him that he had hidden under the bed.

The sex that Alexandra had with Kempe is too graphic to put into a mainstream article. According to Olga both her and Alexandra whipped Kempe several times and that “Some nasty stuff happened”.  Olga also stated that Kempe had “definitely” done this before as he was very careful not to have any “bruising on the visible parts of his body”.

The misogynistic culture of Washington power brokers such as Fred Kempe is, as Olga correctly stated a “nasty” business.  After the interview Olga assured me that she would have other friends of hers in the Ukraine contact me who would give me additional evidence of sexual rendezvous and several BDSM encounters that Kempe had with them that he paid for.  Since I met Olga over 3 months ago more than seven women have contacted me and given me on the record statements about Kempe’s sexual dalliances in the Ukraine.  The point here is not whether the sex that Kempe had with these women was legal or consensual. The issue is that the CEO of the Atlantic Council is sexually subjecting women and in the era of ‘Me Too’ this is not just hypocritical; it’s unacceptable. With dubious financial dealings already pummeling his reputation (as Foreign Policy magazine rightfully pointed out) along with these new revelations of Mr. Kempe taking sexual advantage of young Ukraine women, I think it’s high time that the Atlantic  Council launch an internal investigation of Fred Kempe  in order to clear its good name and to ensure that in the future its Directors uphold the moral and family values that is expected of them. Fred Kempe has obviously miserably failed the institution that he represents.  Simply put he should resign before the Atlantic Council suffer anymore embarrassing scandals from which it may never recover.