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will neal @willneal.bsky.social · 2d

It’s been more than four months since I was expelled from Georgia with no word on a hearing date for my appeal. Here’s my latest for Index on Censorship about the ban, and what it says more broadly about the dire situation the country now finds itself in.
papyrus.exacteditions.com/issues/14183...

papyrus.exacteditions.com

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will neal @willneal.bsky.social · 24d

bylinetimes.com/2025/07/30/m...

Bot Verification

bylinetimes.com

will neal @willneal.bsky.social · 24d

bylinetimes.com/2025/03/31/m...

Moscow’s Ties to the Georgian Regime Ran Through Kensington and Chelsea

Leaked documents reveal how UK firm Hunnewell Partners, controlled by alleged enablers of Georgia’s ruling oligarch, facilitated a top Putin crony’s attempts to exploit the collapse of a more than $1....

bylinetimes.com

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will neal @willneal.bsky.social · 24d

meduza.io/en/feature/2...

Loans for scares In Georgia, a news network’s propagandistic turn and an alleged loansharking scheme lead back to the same London-based firm — Meduza

In the run-up to this month’s parliamentary vote, Georgia’s political crisis has continued to spiral on both the domestic and foreign policy fronts, with the ruling Georgian Dream party cracking down ...

meduza.io

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will neal @willneal.bsky.social · 24d

Spoke with Daniel Boffey for his @theguardian.com piece today on Hunnewell Partners. Good to see the issue getting more attention. Some links to my prior reporting on the group below.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

Owner of Georgian broadcaster called country’s ‘propaganda megaphone’ is based in London

Imedi TV owner denies criticism by EU disinformation monitor and says it is editorially independent

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by will neal

Hans Gutbrod @hansgutbrod.bsky.social · 24d

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

Article doesn't have much that's new for people following #Georgia & reading @willneal.bsky.social coverage of Imedi and Hunnewell but at least brings the malfeasance to an even wider audience.

Owner of Georgian broadcaster called country’s ‘propaganda megaphone’ is based in London

Imedi TV owner denies criticism by EU disinformation monitor and says it is editorially independent

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by will neal

The Coalition of Cyber Investigators @coalitionci.bsky.social · 28d

Pleased that our co-founder @nealysart.bsky.social
contributed to this deep dive by @theobserveruk.bsky.social
on #SpaceX investment fraud from @willneal.bsky.social
Scammers are leveraging AI & sophisticated tactics to defraud investors globally
#osint #investigations #investment #fraud #spaceX

Elon Musk’s space unicorn has a scam problem | The Observer

Cybercriminals are stealing the identities of investment firms to con millions out of would-be SpaceX investors

observer.co.uk

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will neal @willneal.bsky.social · 27d

🚨NEW: Amid Musk’s turn to Dark MAGA, the rush for SpaceX shares has seen fraudsters mercilessly targeting investors with no means of buying into the firm’s success. My debut @theobserveruk.bsky.social, on how one group used AI to dupe victims out of millions.👇

observer.co.uk/news/busines...

Elon Musk’s space unicorn has a scam problem | The Observer

Cybercriminals are stealing the identities of investment firms to con millions out of would-be SpaceX investors

observer.co.uk

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Reposted by will neal

Hans Gutbrod @hansgutbrod.bsky.social · Sep 7

the entire section is worth reading.

@blairmcdougall.com "The complaint of the democracy activists I used to work with is that all of this brutality is happening while the regime’s money is washed through business associates in London."

Hello @willneal.bsky.social !

No mincing of words there.

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Reposted by will neal

New Lines Magazine @newlinesmag.bsky.social · Sep 3

Mamuka Mdinaradze, a key architect of Georgia's authoritarian shift, has just been appointed head of the state security service.

Last May, @willneal.bsky.social reported on the government unit funded by Western countries, before being used against them.

newlinesmag.com/reportage/na...

NATO Helped Georgia Counter Russian Trolls. Then the Strategy Backfired

As a previously successful communications initiative falls into disarray, the Black Sea country’s drift away from the West seems inexorable

newlinesmag.com

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Reposted by will neal

Guga Chomakhidze @gugachomakhidze.bsky.social · Jul 30

A gripping exposé by @willneal.bsky.social unravels the billion-dollar legal intrigue linking oligarchs, offshore financiers, and sanctioned assets — all playing out in UK courts. A must-read for anyone curious about lawfare, kleptocracy, and shadow geopolitics

will neal @willneal.bsky.social · Jul 30

🚨NEW: Latest for @bylinetimes.bsky.social with Josimar's Paul Brown, on how an Israeli tycoon, a shady Miami investment group, and a UK firm controlled by enablers of the Georgian regime became embroiled in a £1bn legal spat between powerful Russian business interests. 1/13
👉 shorturl.at/8hHYG

Mystery at the Heart of £1 Billion UK Legal Offensive Against Top Putin Ally

A sanctioned former Kremlin politician was sued for shares in his multi-billion-dollar fertiliser company. But why did a trio of companies with links to Russian interests in football get involved?

shorturl.at

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will neal @willneal.bsky.social · Jul 30

But Guriev appears wholly unconvinced the buck stops with Gorbachev, or Kushnir, or Hunnewell, or even 777, suggesting his suspicions may very well be directed elsewhere.

Where exactly, for now, being the billion-dollar question. 13/ENDS

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will neal @willneal.bsky.social · Jul 30

After losing his claim against Guriev, Gorbachev says he now doesn’t have the funds to meet the roughly £12 million awarded to the Kremlin oligarch in damages, after Kushnir, Hunnewell and 777 all inexplicably stopped financing his legal costs back in May 2023. 12/13

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will neal @willneal.bsky.social · Jul 30

Blazquez first met Rukhadze in Tbilisi sometime in the early 2000s. Public rulings from separate UK proceedings show Blazquez later went on to assist Hunnewell tracking down or managing assets on behalf of late Georgian oligarch Arkady Patarkatsishvili’s family. 11/13

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will neal @willneal.bsky.social · Jul 30

The request that 777 be brought in on the funding deal appears to have come off the back of Hunnewell co-founder Irakli Rukhadze’s close friendship with one of the Miami group’s operating partners, Andres Blazquez. 10/13

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will neal @willneal.bsky.social · Jul 30

Currently the target of a money laundering investigation by the U.S. Justice Department, 777 has a long history of dealings with now-sanctioned Russian oligarchs, including key Putin confidant Gennady Timchenko and billionaire fintech entrepreneur Oleg Boyko. 9/13

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will neal @willneal.bsky.social · Jul 30

It’s not clear under what circumstances, or why exactly, Hunnewell Partners teamed up with Kushnir. What’s known, however, is that the firm soon requested that 777 Partners, a shady Miami investment group, also be brought in to assist with financing. 8/13

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will neal @willneal.bsky.social · Jul 30

Kushnir was later joined by Hunnewell Partners. Described by critics as an “enabler” of Georgia’s brutal Ivanishvili regime, Byline has reported on the UK group before, exposing its secret dealings with sanctioned oligarch Roman Abramovich. 7/13
👉 shorturl.at/KIRyi

Moscow’s Ties to the Georgian Regime Ran Through Kensington and Chelsea

Leaked documents reveal how UK firm Hunnewell Partners, controlled by alleged enablers of Georgia’s ruling oligarch, facilitated a top Putin crony’s attempts to exploit the collapse of a more than $1....

shorturl.at

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will neal @willneal.bsky.social · Jul 30

Documents from those proceedings reveal Gorbachev’s lawsuit was first funded by Levi Kushnir—a controversial Israeli businessman and former Portsmouth FC chairman, who acquired his stake in the club from Alexandre Gaydamak, a Russian oligarch convicted of arms trafficking in Angola. 6/13

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will neal @willneal.bsky.social · Jul 30

Gorbachev’s claim backfired after the courts ruled his evidence “was contradictory, lacked credibility, and at times, was plainly false.” Guriev, suspecting his adversary had not acted alone, has since brought new proceedings in Florida to ascertain who else may have been involved, and why. 5/13

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will neal @willneal.bsky.social · Jul 30

Back in 2019, Guriev was sued in the UK by Alexander Gorbachev, an old comrade from his days as a Communist Party youth secretary, who claimed Guriev promised him a $1.3 billion share in PhosAgro over the course of conversations in London pubs, restaurants and saunas more than a decade prior. 4/13

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will neal @willneal.bsky.social · Jul 30

While Guriev was sanctioned by the US, the UK and the EU in 2022 for his ownership of companies generating significant revenue for Russia’s war machine, it was not, in fact, the first time his stake in PhosAgro had caused him trouble. 3/13

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will neal @willneal.bsky.social · Jul 30

With an estimated wealth of $9.5 billion, Andrei Guriev is the former Kremlin politician and close Putin confidant who controls, among other assets, PhosAgro—Moscow’s largest producer of phosphate fertilizers, worth about $7.6 billion. 2/13

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will neal @willneal.bsky.social · Jul 30

🚨NEW: Latest for @bylinetimes.bsky.social with Josimar's Paul Brown, on how an Israeli tycoon, a shady Miami investment group, and a UK firm controlled by enablers of the Georgian regime became embroiled in a £1bn legal spat between powerful Russian business interests. 1/13
👉 shorturl.at/8hHYG

Mystery at the Heart of £1 Billion UK Legal Offensive Against Top Putin Ally

A sanctioned former Kremlin politician was sued for shares in his multi-billion-dollar fertiliser company. But why did a trio of companies with links to Russian interests in football get involved?

shorturl.at

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will neal @willneal.bsky.social · Jul 9

New report from the folks at Civic Idea on how Iranian companies appear to be using Georgian markets to circumvent international sanctions →

civicidea.ge/en/georgian-...

Georgian Dream’s anti-western policy: How Iranian companies are using Georgia to bypass sanctions - Civic Idea

HOW IRANIAN COMPANIES ARE USING GEORGIA TO BYPASS SANCTIONS? Civic IDEA’s latest investigation sheds light on a little-known but deeply troubling dimension of Iran-Georgia relations. The report exposes how Iranian businessmen are using Georgia as a strategic transit point to evade international sanctions and channel funds back to the Islamic Republic of Iran. Our findings reveal […]

civicidea.ge

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