Karen Weldon said Sexton "makes a lot of the business connections" for their firm. Her partner is a political power broker in Weldon's district and the former owner of a security guard company, which he recently sold for $6 million.
She described her role as "legwork and project management," including graphics and Web development.
She said she doesn't work on legislation and called Solutions "more of a business consultancy than a lobbying firm," though she and Sexton have registered with the Justice Department as foreign agents for their three clients. Lobbyists representing overseas clients must file disclosure reports with the department's Foreign Agents Registration Unit.
She would not say who else she and Sexton represented beyond the three clients reported in Solutions' disclosure forms.
Karen Weldon said the idea for Solutions originated with Sexton. He was already talking to Itera, the Russian energy company, she said. Sexton declined an interview request from The Times.
She said they became 50-50 partners, and Itera became Solutions' first client. It paid $170,000 of its annual fee up front -- a timely infusion of cash for a start-up firm, especially one that had little experience or presence in Washington.
Russian Relations
Itera needed friends in Washington.
Questions had been raised by Russian energy and investment companies about how Itera had gained title to billions of dollars worth of natural gas resources from a state-controlled conglomerate called Gazprom.
William Browder of Hermitage Capital Management, a large Russian investment fund with a stake in Gazprom, said the conglomerate transferred the assets for little or nothing.
Itera officials declined to be interviewed.
The controversy has been a cloud over Itera's efforts to gain access to Western investment capital and markets. The U.S. Trade and Development Agency withdrew an $868,000 grant to the company in March 2002 after questions were raised about Itera's background, said Leocadia Zak, an agency lawyer. It was a setback to the image of the company, which is seeking to expand its natural gas, timber and real estate holdings in the United States.
Two months later, Rep. Weldon led a congressional delegation to Moscow in connection with a visit by President Bush. Weldon toured Itera's offices and, according to a company news release, praised it as a "strong and well-established company," and recommended it as "a great source" for U.S. energy firms seeking partners for joint ventures.
