Thread by @j2dumfounded

This filing by Vanetik v. Fuks & Telizhenko is completely off the hook.

https://twitter.com/DonLew87/status/1402982165269336065

Naturalized American citizen Yuri Vanetik is suing Pavel Fuks of Ukraine (NYT spells it Fuchs) for a cool $252 MILLION dollars in damages, and another $84 MILLION in relief. This seems ambitious and perhaps ill-advised, to say the least.

Vanetik goes to great lengths to describe Mr. Fuks in the most unflattering of terms, as he complains that his business and reputation have suffered harm, and he fears for his life. Mr. Fuks is widely thought to have ties to transnational organized crime in Russia, Ukraine.

Let's dig into the juicy details, shall we?

Starting with the way Mr. Vanetik portrays himself: as an American attorney, political activist and businessman.” No mention is made of the fact that he is a registered foreign agent. Odd.

efile.fara.gov/docs/6474-Exhi…

Pavel “the Mercenary” Fuks is described as a “notorious criminal,
specializing in transnational money laundering, fraudulent schemes, & extortion,” who is “hiding out” in Kyiv & Kharkiv, Ukraine, who hired Rudy Giuliani to “lobby” the US government, & Trump business associate.

Fuks lives the “oligarch lifestyle” replete with Rolls Royces and rapper style horological instruments (hiphop watches), and flashy jewelry. And, oh yeah, he distributes heroin in Eastern Europe.

As for Telizhenko, Vanetik describes him as a former Ukrainian embassy employee, turned PR guy, a close associate of Fuks, and possible Russian agent who has been sanctioned by the USA.

You may remember that Telizhenko was key to Wisconsin senator Ron #Moscow8 Johnson’s Hunter Biden “investigation” aka disinformation gambit.

politico.com/news/2020/06/1…

Vanetik alleges that Telizhenko infiltrated the GOP in order to further Fuks’ agenda. And Rudy Giuliani was pimping for him. It did rather look that way to outside observers.

nbcnews.com/politics/trump…

Christopher Miller interviewed Telizhenko in July 2020 and reports the man was “obsessed” by Hunter Biden and had a “Team Giuliani”, including KGB-trained Derkach.

buzzfeednews.com/article/christ…

Back at the filing, we find Vanetik complaint of a slew of bad press in Ukraine, on daily.rbc, 2000.ua, tlg.today, uainfo.org, and ukrinform.org. He then goes on to say the Fuks paid for all this bad press. Not just in Ukraine!

Vanetik alleges that Fuks influenced and funded stories by McClatchy DC and the Sacramento Bee journalists and various, unnamed bloggers in order to destroy his business interests.

I don’t think that’s how journalism works here, Yuri. That sounds, er, slanderous.

He says it’s a “global conspiracy”, right there on page 9.
“These and other Ukrainian enterprises have published false & defamatory stories about Plaintiff Vanetik as part of Fuks’ conspiracy & criminal enterprise to defame Vanetik & destroy his reputation & business, globally.”

Finally, we get to the origin story. He’s suing the man who hired him to advise Gennady Kernes, Kharkiv’s mayor. Yuri pretends he had no clue who Fuks was, and was told the oligarch is a Russian developer on the lam from former Moscow associates.

No red flags there, LOL.

After working as a consultant for Kernes the better part of an entire year, poor Yuri learns that Pavel is a human trafficking money launder with ties to Russia’s criminal gangs, with lots of dead former associates who got ripped off in rotten real estate deals.

Ruhroh!

“Former business associates and investors lost all the money they had invested in Fuks’ Russia-based real estate development projects, majority of which started out as money laundering schemes.”

With friends like that, one doesn’t really need enemies, does one?

I’m no international business person, but if a strange oligarch called me up to ask me to work for Ukrainian politician who needed help due to “an onslaught of criminal cases & investigations” to “torment, discredit, disparage & bankrupt” him, I’d think twice.

But naive Yuri went trotting off to Rome, to meet the mayor and collect a fat paycheck from the oligarch. Oh, is my boss a mobbed up, money-laundering agent of the Kremlin… he asked himself much later.

Yeah, that is so totally believable, Yuri.

And I have a nice bridge in Brooklyn I can sell ya, cheap!

This is the kind of thing that you’d want to know up front - that your employer started his career as a pimp, hustling poor girls into child porn rings, isn’t it?

So after Vanetik’s consulting gig for Kernes was over, Fuks was charged as a criminal by the Kremlin in November 2018 with a subpoena on “charges of large-scale criminal fraud in connection with phony real estate investment schemes & defunct development projects.”

But *before* the Kremlin charged Fuks & before the oligarch got an Israeli passport, Vanetik realized Fuks wasn’t going to pay him for the work with Kernes.

Odd it took him from November 2017 to September 2018 to figure that bit out. I’d do quarterly billing, at the very least.

Then we have a litany of all the evil real estate frauds Fuks committed, laundering the proceeds of crime into Moscow real estate, and skimming a large amount of vig into mansions around the world, while screwing over his creditors and investors.

I do recall that Pavel Fuks was involved in trying to build a Trump Tower in Moscow back in 2008… Ah here’s the tweet.

https://twitter.com/j2dumfounded/status/1126865978787127298

Now the Plaintiff states Fuks absconded with upwards of 800 million Euros from his lenders, criminal kingpins, and is a shill for deposed Ukrainian president Viktor Yanokovych.

Then he names names. Quite a few.

Oleksandr Onyshchenko, Andrii Telizhenko, Suleiman Kerimov, Artem Pshonka, Gennady Kernes (RIP), Andrei Portnov, Mukhtar Ablyazov, Sberbank, Alfa Bank, Andrei Skoch, Eduard Stavytsky, Sergei Kurchenko, Sergei Arbuzov, Viktor Vekselberg, Viktor Yanukovych, & Oleg Deripaska.

Vanetik then goes on to say that mayor Kernes was providing protection (aka “a roof”) for Fuks, prior to his death in December. Yuri says the death is being investigated. The reporting says

COVID KILLED KERNES.

Interesting obituary here.

tabletmag.com/sections/news/…

Lots more on Russian real estate and criminal connections. I won’t belabor the details here, other than to note that one Kazakhstani name, Mukhtar Ablyazov, is instantly recognizable to me. This is not the place to get into Rudy & his work there.

projects.icij.org/investigations…

Then the filing makes the claim that Fuks is trying to take over the assets left in the wake of Kernes’ death, "illegally and ruthlessly”.

Carpe diem, Pavel!

Here we see why Fuks did not build a tower in Moscow. Sberbank gave a loan to Fuks’ company, Techinvest, partnered w/ Ablyazov, but they did not pay back the funds after the embezzling Kazakhi made off with $70 million. Whoa, owing half a billion USD, no wonder Fuks fled Moscow.

Now comes the juicy dishing on Donald J. Trump. Yes, Fuks wanted to name his planned Moscow tower after the guy from Queens, but greedy bastard that he is, TFG demanded more for naming rights than Fuks would pay and the deal fell apart (~2009, I think.)

NowI don’t think Fuks was “enamored" of DJT, but he probably thought he could get in on some bigly grift, so Pavel wanted to attend 45’s inauguration. Before we get to that, the filling talks about Fuks seeking influence in the US with help from Giuliani, Telizhenko & Vanetik.

Such a circumlocutious filing! It’s more grifting and Page 22 is Fuks acquiring energy companies for POR fugitives in Moscow *and* snatching up PromInvestBank in Ukraine.

Also trying to whitewash his name through philanthropy (must be studying Blavatnik?) w/ a BABIY YAR project.

Pavel Fuks, Igor Kolomoisky’s wingman, on page 24.

Speaking of whom, was it merely coincidence #RNCinCleve was held in the town where K invested so much of the PrivatBank funds?

This is a kitchen sink filling, OMG. Here Vanetik says that Fuks is on the bad side of Mossad (go figure) and then goes back to Kolomoisky. Next breath, it’s Fuks is running a smear campaign against Yuri. He then calls out Kevin Hall & Ben Wieder and says they are Fuks’ pawns.

Speaking of Kevin Hall, I simply can not resist sharing here what I truly consider one of the most underrated stories of all time, how Trump got a free house in Hollywood.

And if you think this is a long thread, you should see the This is Everything thread, lol.

https://twitter.com/j2dumfounded/status/1184139494364024833

It’s all, a terrible, vile plot to get Vanetik. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Yet Hall’s tweet accompanying the story says, “Note Igor Korbatov mentioned in their story is in biz with Yuri Vanetik & mentioned in lawsuit by Elliott Broidy vs Vanetik."

Coincidence?

Guess we can figure out why Yuri doesn’t care for Ben Wieder’s reporting, LOL.

https://twitter.com/benbwieder/status/984508407792193536?s=20

While you will never find me defending Broidy - that is Michael Cohen’s job, as the RNC fundraiser is #Client2 - it does occur to me that perhaps Vanetik is not a complete angel.

This is a thread mostly about Broidy and very bad man George Nader:

https://twitter.com/j2dumfounded/status/1135956964477874181

Interesting to note that McClatchy reported in 2018 that in a “long-running lawsuit over a failed Russian oilfield investment” Vanetik did was ordered “to pay at least $8 million in civil fraud judgments.”

mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-wo…

But sure, Yuri, it’s just one ginormous worldwide plot against you and Pavel Fuks is the mastermind. What was it Henry Kissinger said? “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you” or some such?

Very doubtful that the US Department of State would be investigating Vanetik. That’s the purview of the FBI, one might think. As to whether or not Yuri is a bankrupt Russian spy, I haven’t yet looked to see if he paid his $8 million in civil fraud damages.

As to whether Yuri is a Russian spy, I do recall commenting upon that three years ago.

Oh, look it’s from my thread on Vanetik/Fuks on Fuks’ lawsuit about the inaugural tickets, hahahaha. We might call this foreshadowing or something.

https://twitter.com/j2dumfounded/status/1141094656135925762

Now, some sheer speculation on my part. Is Mr. X, the Eastern European oligarch, actually Dmytro Firtash, the wanted Ukrainian now holed up in Austria fighting extradition? When do we extradict him? I mean, Trump is out of office, so anytime now would be good.

I do hope this comes to trial. Discovery will be lit. I’ll probably end up driving down to OC & couch surfing (or staying at the Ritz Carlton Dana Point) for the duration. What fun. Maybe I can become a journalist, or at the very least a blogger, LOL.

Mining, you say?

Death threats, you say? 🤭

Pavel must have been really pissed to shell out $200,000 for tickets to inaugural ball only to find out that Yuri, Rohrabacher’s pal, had not supplied them, as was alleged in an old lawsuit.

“I’ll blow up your car & have you *ripped to shreds*!”

I’m sorry, but that’s just Effing sloppy. This filing is so rambling and discombobulated it makes my #MuellerReport threads look like an Emily Dickinson poem.

But for goodness’ sake, it’s the Keelen Group, Yuri. Get it right.

Try googling Keelen Group and “inaugural” and this, the Masonry Magazine is a top hit. OK, then.

masonrymagazine.com/blog/2017/03/0…

Maybe the Keelen folks scrubbed the internet. I found this and am now deeply disappointed with Blues Traveler.

politico.com/tipsheets/play…

Oh, more about the death threats.

Let me ask, is it Eastern European law enforcement folks who have attempted to dissuade Fuks from his vendetta? How would that work? Or would it be criminals?

Do tell us who these “third parties” may be. Otherwise, what’s that term, “hearsay”?

Another question for Vanetik: if you had a choice between paying $8 million to the courts for civil fraud chargers or swallowing cigarette butts, which would you choose?

After 30 pages of rambling and disjointed arguments (although full of salacious details) we get to the Claims. First claim alleges that in THE LAST TWO YEARS ALONE Vanetik has lost out on $84 MILLION. I really do want to see him prove that in court.

First claim is for violation of RICO, second claim is for Defamation, and "Defendants have caused damages to Plaintiff’s reputation in an amount of at least $84,000,000.00 to be proven at the time of trial.” With treble damages, hence the $252 MILLION figure.

Third claim is Unjust Enrichment, the usurpation of Yuri’s deals in Ukraine, Israel, USA & “in eastern Europe generally”.

LOL I found a typo - guess proof-reading is not their thing - line 3 of paragraph 157. If/of

Not that my own typos aren’t legion; it’s merely a filing!

Fourth claim, “Tortious Interference with Perspective Economic Advantage” mentions Germany, for the first time in the filing.

Is that what Vanetik meant by “Eastern Europe”? Somehow I was thinking Romania or possibly Hungary…. Mostly Romania, TBH.

It’s another one of those pesky McClatchy DC stories that Vanetik claims are so damaging that makes me think of Romania… this one from February 2018 again brings Elliott #Client2 Broidy into focus.

mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-…

Look a squirrel?

Nope. It’s the Fifth Claim, “Civil Conspiracy”.

No wonder there are rumors Yuri’s bankrupt.

It’s so bad, I wonder if his lawyer is doing this on contingency. That would explain the entire lack of coherence in this document.

It’s not my rambling tweets 😉

Sixth Claim is For Relief.

Fuks was going to pay $3 MILLION to Vanetik for “feasibility analysis of various human rights violations that Kernes claimed he was subjected to during his criminal investigation.”

Oh, sure.

“Further, Fuks entered into an agreement to develop a PR & government relations campaign for himself & for the city of Kharkov similar to what he had described that Mayor Rudy Giuliani was hired to perform. The written agreement was executed in Newport Beach, County of Orange CA.

Key phrase there is “similar to what he had described that Mayor Rudy Giuliani was hired to perform.”

Full disclosure: this tweeter had such a thing about Rudy that I write verses set to Hello Dolly musical for his activities.

https://twitter.com/j2dumfounded/status/1387467134591279110

This is what Frank Zappa might call the “crux of the biscuit” in his Apostrophe album.

Did Fuks pay Vanetik $200K for inaugural tickets that were not delivered, so that Fuks spent the night watching it on TV, as was alleged in his dropped lawsuit? Or was it a retainer?

Seventh, eighth and ninth claims… Do we care? Vanetik DEMANDS a jury trial.

What I have got to say about this, is IF he has paid the $8 million in civil fraud charges, OK. Otherwise, F this guy & his abuse of California courts. Let him take his naturalized azz out of USA.
🖕

And he can take his pal, bratty Matty with him.

https://twitter.com/j2dumfounded/status/1382877782351310848

Don’t even let me get started on why a self-styled “California businessman” was chairing the New York State Republican Party, please, let alone his relationship with @GOPLeader.

kansas.com/news/politics-…

Nonetheless, how can I resist sharing this sentence, “Federal campaign finance records show Vanetik served as a bundler for Arizona Sen. John McCain’s presidential bid and raised money for Mitt Romney’s run for president.”?

Read more here: kansas.com/news/politics-…

Cui bono?

# # #

{Please, compile, @threadreaderapp}