From a $75M yachts to $17M BULGARI apartment in Dubai: Zelenskyy’s shopping
2024-01-25
A journalist who uncovered a scheme used by Zelensky’s aides to buy two luxury yachts – “My legacy” and “Lucky Me” has published a follow-up investigation, explaining how both yachts ended up being back on the market and what else was purchased by Ukraine’s president’s close associates.
In November 2023 Shahzad Nasir shared important information about yacht purchases by close associates of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. According to one of the sales documents “Lucky Me” yacht was sold for $24.9 million to Boris Shefir, who worked with Zelenskyy at his production company Kvartal 95. The other contract states that “My Legacy” was sold for $49.75 million to Shefir’s brother, Serhiy Shefir, who also worked at Kvartal 95 and is now Zelenskyy’s top political aide.
The investigation was quickly labeled as fake based on the fact that both companies that brokered the yachts – Behnemar and Burgess have confirmed that both yachts were still for sale. This was confirmed by the author of the initial investigation - Shahzad Nasir. However, according to recently published video, he claims that both Serhiy and Borish Shefir withdrew from the yacht deals right after the story went viral to prevent a scandal that could damage Ukraine’s image.
The employers of Shahzad Nasir has received several phone calls demanding them to fire the journalist “for spreading fake news”. This and the huge amount of media attention prompted the journalist to further investigate the story and find out what happened to the yachts.
According to Nasir, the sale documents he published in November were memorandums of agreement – a preliminary sale contract that is formed before the purchase. So it is highly plausible that the Shefir brothers could withdraw from the deal after it became public. And as soon as the deal is broken, both yachts instantly become available for purchase.
Floor plan of Bulgari Marina Loft apartment purchased by Serhiy Shefir
It also appears, that 4 weeks after the yacht story went viral and the purchase of “Lucky me” and “My legacy” was cancelled, Serhiy Shefir has purchased a 7000 square feet duplex apartment at Bulgari Marina Lofts in Dubai, UAE. According to Dubai Land department website, the money transfer occurred on December 22 and the price appears to be AED 62.1 million (approx. $16.9 million)
It is worth noting that Serhiy Shefir is a long-term custodian of Zelenskyy’s assets. The Pandora Papers documents show that offshore companies owned by Zelenskyy and Shefir were previously used to purchase expensive real estate in London - a three-bedroom apartment on Glenworth Street for £1.58 million ($2.28 million) and a two-bedroom apartment in Chalfont Court for £2.2 million ($3.5 million).
Around the time of 2019 election, Zelensky handed his shares in a key offshore company over to Serhiy Shefir, but the two appear to have made an arrangement for Zelensky’s family to continue receiving money from the offshore.
It appears that instead of fighting high-level corruption, the Ukrainian elite are working hard to cover it up, while simultaneously buying more expensive estates in different parts of the world.
And for some reason the mainstream media is doing everything to assist with it, labeling reports that uncover Ukrainian corruption as fake and threatening the careers of the people who decide to speak up.
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