A Belarusian escort who claimed last year that she had evidence of Russian involvement in helping elect Donald Trump president was deported from Thailand on Thursday, police said.
Anastasia Vashukevich, along with seven co-defendants, pleaded guilty this week in a case related to holding a sex training seminar in Thailand. They were arrested almost a year ago in Pattaya.
Immigration police chief Lt Gen Surachate Hakparn said most of the group left on flights shortly after noon, those going to Russia on one flight and those headed to Belarus on another. Vashukevich and at least one of the other deportees hold passports from Belarus.
While in custody, Vashukevich claimed to have recordings of Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska talking about interference in the 2016 US election, but never released them.
Mr Deripaska is close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and also had a working relationship with Paul Manafort, Mr Trump's former campaign manager who was investigated by Robert Mueller and convicted last year of tax and bank fraud.
Vashukevich — also known on social media as Nastya Rybka — and her co-defendants were convicted of soliciting and conspiracy and given suspended 18-month prison terms. The group had said that they were conducting a class on sexual relationships.
In the early stages of their detention, the sex training group sent a note to the US Embassy via an intermediary seeking help and political asylum. Vashukevich indicated she would turn over the recordings she claimed to have if the US could help secure her release, but later withdrew the offer, suggesting that she and Mr Deripaska had reached an agreement.
