A whistleblower who worked with federal authorities investigating ties between Donald Trump and the Deutsche Bank was found dead on Monday.
Val Broeksmit, 46, was found dead on the campus of the Woodrow Wilson High School on the 4500 block of Multnomah Street on Monday.
The Los Angeles County coroner’s office said Broeksmit was pronounced dead at 7am, according to Sgt Rudy Perez of the Los Angeles School Police Department.
He had gone missing last year and Los Angeles Police Department said he was last seen on 6 April 2021. Even though he was physically missing, his Twitter account remained active. He posted a new profile picture on 5 April.
Journalist Scott Stedman, who works for the Forensic News website, confirmed Broeksmit’s death in a tweet. He wrote: “My friend Val Broeksmit was found dead today. He was 46. He supplied me and other journalists with Deutsche Bank documents that highlighted the bank’s deep Russia connections. It is very sad. I don’t suspect foul play. Val struggled with drugs on and off.”
He added in another tweet that “I hadn’t talked to Val since January and before that many more months. I wish I had.”
Los Angeles Police Captain Kenneth Cabrera also was quoted as saying in the Los Angeles Times that authorities did not suspect foul play.
In 2019, Broeksmit handed over hundreds of documents to the FBI, left behind by his father Bill Broeksmit, while they were investigating ties between Deutsche Bank and the former president.
Mr Stedman also revisited the whistleblower’s past and wrote: “Val’s father took his own life in 2014 and it consumed Val in recent years. To see his life end so short is incredibly depressing.”
David Enrich, author of Dark Towers: Deutsche Bank, Donald Trump and an Epic Trail of Destruction, wrote: “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.”
Born in Ukraine and adopted by Bill Broeksmit, Val Broeksmit had a history of opioid abuse. Mr Stedman tweeted: “ I don’t suspect foul play.”
