I have been following this since Reddit days and feel like jumping in with some important new stuff, apologies in advance if its a long post or you know some of it already. I read the sticky a few days ago and didn't see much on this. Note that I have no evidence any of these people are guilty of anything, but just seem to have some odd artistic tastes. So no 'smoking gun' here, just good old fashioned research.

First, thanks to @Szyrk and @CaroleLandis post

https://voat.co/v/pizzagate/1440343

we have a basic genealogy. https://www.docdroid.net/IRO6ywJ/ancestors-of-james-a-alefantis.pdf.html

Now we see that the family did not stay full greek but integrated which is more usual for that time period of emigration than it is later. This tends to weaken the ethnic power and wealth of any such family greek or non. There are other dispersals of the Alefantis name in Canada and elsewhere in US. Might or might not be related, not important. The ancestry states that Achilles and Susan Reid Shoemaker had only one kid (James). So, either that entry is incomplete, or the other Alefantis’ pictured with James at various parties are cousins. It could be an important detail because the direct ancestry would indicate a poor Greek immigrant family that came at some point in the early 20th century when life was hard there.

So, let’s go through the following basics:

1. Alefantis (Αλεφαντής) is a Greek surname. Media in Greece have also identified him as Greek-American. Please stop with the anagram and French etymology distractions. Common US pronunciation puts the accent on the antepenult (AleFANtis) whereas the original Greek, on penult (AlefanTIS).

2. The name ‘James’ is, along with ‘Jacob,’ one of two English-language derivatives of the Greek Iakovos (Ιάκωβος). BUT when the Anglicized name is given to a foreign-born person, Greek will translate it back phonetically; hence, Τζέιμς Αλεφαντής is how the Greek media calls him (in case you are searching and want to translate results back). So far, however, there is very little coverage in Greece.

3. ACHILLES ALEFANTIS is the father of James Achilles Alefantis, and the (Greek) middle name was just passed down thus. This should also indicate that the ALEFANTIS GROUP with ownership name to the latter, really is registered by Alefantis Sr (and not James through some trick of the middle name like some uploaded photo of the incorporation data assumes), regardless of who actually runs this mysterious company since 2012.

**The big question: what is the source of family’s wealth? **There are many prominent Greek-American families who are heirs to shipping dynasties and whatnot, but this does not seem to be one. Buffalo would hardly be the home of an ethnic dynasty. His family is old, assimilated, war-refugee era immigrants. So… How did James attend Georgetown and open a restaurant (Bucks) while in his 20s, and then another one? This stuff is expensive.

**Alefantis in his own words: **in this interview (which I have not seen any poster reference yet) he says that his parents are from outside Buffalo NY, that he grew up in DC, went to Georgetown, that he worked in/ran restaurants in NY and art galleries since the 1990s and supports gay causes and art and music. He seems like a nice guy from this, at least. If I understood right, he says Comet Ping Pong’s location is where a Thai restaurant (The Thai Room) used to work for 32 years before going out of business. More work needs to be done on this location in case it was previously used for other purposes, even before his time, ie if the apparent underground dungeon may have been built long ago. http://www.metroweekly.com/2015/04/from-scratch-james-alefantis/

Alefantis & Associates: interior design company run by Sue and perhaps his father, based in McClean VA. Read the reviews and remember this gives them complete access to interiors of buildings. Whether or not that is a lead is not known. Who are their clients? note this co is a donor to several causes as I will discuss in coming days. https://www.yelp.com/biz/alefantis-and-associates-mc-lean

**So, here are the main questions to develop:

1. What is the original source of James Alefantis’ wealth- hereditary, work, other?

2. What was the official employer of his father, Achilles? Possible Agency connection?

3. Who are major clients of Susan Alefantis interior decorating co (Alefantis & Associates)?

4. How did James Alefantis get ‘discovered’ and open restaurant with celebrity chef ?

5. What does the Alefantis Group actually do? Is it a front?

6. History of and reputation of THAI ROOM Restaurant (property where comet was on for 32 years prior) **