Federal informant found dead on El Sereno high school's campus
A man believed to have worked with federal authorities to investigate the activities of Deutsche Bank and its ties with former President Donald Trump was found dead on an El Sereno high school's campus Monday.
A cleaning crew found the body of Valentin Broeksmit, 45, self-described as a "comically terrible spy," around 6:40 a.m Monday morning. He was declared dead at about 7:05 a.m. on the Woodrow Wilson High school campus off on the 4500 block of Multnomah Street according to the Los Angeles County Coroner. Officials have yet to release a cause of death pending an autopsy.
School police said that they had no video that shows him coming onto campus and are unsure how long he'd been on the campus.
Broeksmit was last seen driving a red Mini Cooper on April 6, 2021, in Griffith Park on Riverside Drive. Although Broeksmit had gone missing his Twitter account remained active. Freinds and journalists claimed to stay in contact with him during his disappearance, with Forensic News investigative journalist Scott Stedman tweeting that he last spoke with Broeksmit in January.
Stedman wrote that Broeksmit had given him "Deutsche Bank documents that highlighted the bank's deep Russia connections."
"It is very sad," he added. "I don't suspect foul play. Val struggled with drugs on and off. Waiting on further info."
New York Times reporter David Enrich, who said that Broeksmit helped the FBI in its probe into the financial institution, also wrote that Broeksmit struggled with drug abuse and would often conjure "far-fetched theories" while bending the truth.
Stedman said that Broeksmit's father had committed suicide in 2014 which haunted the 45-year-old.
"To see his life end so short is incredibly depressing," Stedman wrote.
Broeksmit, who was also subpoenaed by the House Intelligence Committee during its probe into Trump and the bank, reportedly offered hundreds of documents to federal investigators and journalists who were looking for ties between Deutsche Bank and Trump. The documents were left behind by his stepfather William, who was an executive for the bank, died.
"This is terrible news," Enrich tweeted. "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."