Rinat Akhmetov

A summary of what happened?

Rinat Akhmetov, born on September 21, 1966, in Donetsk, Ukraine, is a prominent Ukrainian businessman and the founder of System Capital Management (SCM), a leading financial and industrial holding company. Recognized as Ukraine’s wealthiest individual, Akhmetov’s business ventures span various sectors, including metallurgy, energy, and telecommunications. However, his career has been marred by several controversies and allegations.

Key Allegations and Concerns:

1. Accumulation of Wealth During the 1990s Privatization:
   • Akhmetov amassed significant wealth by acquiring mining assets during Ukraine’s privatization era in the 1990s. Critics argue that this period was characterized by crony capitalism, with privatizations allegedly rigged to benefit a select few.
     ICIJ
2. Alleged Involvement in a Coup Plot:
   • In November 2021, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Akhmetov of involvement in a Russia-backed coup attempt against the Ukrainian government. Zelensky claimed to have recordings of individuals from Akhmetov’s circle discussing a coup with a $1 billion price tag. Akhmetov denied these allegations, labeling them as “an absolute lie.”
     Politico
3. Ownership of Luxury Properties Through Offshore Entities:
   • Investigations revealed that in July 2021, Akhmetov committed to purchasing a two-story penthouse in London’s Belgravia neighborhood for approximately $122 million. The acquisition was made through Gelion Properties Ltd., a British Virgin Islands shell company, raising questions about transparency and the use of offshore entities to acquire luxury properties.
     ICIJ
4. Legal Actions Against Russia:
   • Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Akhmetov filed a lawsuit against Russia at the European Court of Human Rights, seeking compensation for losses incurred due to the conflict. This legal action underscores the significant impact of the war on his business operations.
     Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Rinat Akhmetov’s extensive business empire and political influence have made him a central figure in Ukraine’s economic landscape. While he has played a pivotal role in various industries, his career has been accompanied by controversies, including allegations of unethical business practices during the privatization era, purported involvement in political destabilization efforts, and the use of offshore entities for property acquisitions. These issues continue to shape public perception of Akhmetov and his enterprises.

Analyzing the Fake Copyright Notice(s)

Our team collects and analyses fraudulent copyright takedown requests, legal complaints, and other efforts to remove critical information from the internet. Through our investigative reporting, we examine the prevalence and operation of an organized censorship industry, predominantly funded by criminal entities, oligarchs, and disreputable businesses or individuals. Our findings allow internet users to gain insight into these censorship schemes’ sources, methods, and underlying objectives.

What was Rinat Akhmetov trying to hide?

Rinat Akhmetov‘s attempts to hide unfavourable content through the misuse of copyright notices while allegedly engaging in perjury present serious legal concerns. These actions suggest a calculated attempt to manipulate legal systems to suppress free speech, a fundamental violation of copyright law principles and an abuse of legal processes. The use of such tactics not only undermines the integrity of copyright protection but also potentially constitutes perjury, further entangling Rinat Akhmetov in legal accountability. Let’s examine the information Rinat Akhmetov may be trying to remove from the internet –

Investigative Report: Rinat Akhmetov – A Controversial Tycoon in Ukraine’s Turbulent Landscape

Introduction

Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine’s richest man and a key player in the country’s industrial and economic sectors, has long been a subject of public and political scrutiny. Born on September 21, 1966, in Donetsk, Akhmetov built his wealth through System Capital Management (SCM), a financial and industrial conglomerate with interests in metallurgy, energy, banking, and telecommunications. While his influence in Ukraine is undeniable, Akhmetov’s career has been overshadowed by allegations of unethical business practices, political maneuvering, and questionable financial dealings.

Key Allegations and Controversies

1. Wealth Accumulation During the 1990s Privatization Era

• Background: Akhmetov rose to prominence during Ukraine’s chaotic privatization process following the collapse of the Soviet Union. This period was characterized by the sale of state-owned assets to private individuals, often under opaque and controversial circumstances.
• Allegations:
  • Critics argue that Akhmetov exploited his connections and the lack of regulatory oversight to acquire valuable mining and steel assets at below-market prices.
  • His early wealth was largely built through his control of the Donetsk-based Industrial Union of Donbass (ISD), which critics claim benefited from favorable deals and insider information.
• Public Perception: Akhmetov is often cited as a key beneficiary of Ukraine’s “crony capitalism” in the 1990s, where oligarchs consolidated wealth at the expense of state resources.

2. Alleged Involvement in a Coup Plot

• Accusation by President Zelensky:
  • In November 2021, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Akhmetov of involvement in a Russia-backed coup attempt. According to Zelensky, recordings revealed discussions among Akhmetov’s associates about a plot to overthrow the government, allegedly financed with $1 billion.
  • Zelensky stated that Russian operatives were leveraging Akhmetov’s resources and dissatisfaction with the government to destabilize Ukraine.
• Akhmetov’s Response:
  • Akhmetov vehemently denied the allegations, calling them “an absolute lie” and expressing support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and democracy.
  • The lack of tangible evidence led some analysts to question the validity of the accusation, while others viewed it as part of a larger political struggle between Zelensky’s administration and Ukraine’s oligarchs.

3. Use of Offshore Entities for Property Acquisitions

• Luxury Property in London:
  • In 2021, Akhmetov was linked to the purchase of a $122 million penthouse in London’s upscale Belgravia neighborhood. The transaction was conducted through Gelion Properties Ltd., a British Virgin Islands-based company.
  • The use of offshore entities raised concerns about tax avoidance and transparency in the acquisition of high-value assets.
• Criticism:
  • Investigative journalists highlighted the case as emblematic of how Ukraine’s oligarchs have leveraged offshore financial structures to shield their wealth from scrutiny.
  • The revelations fueled calls for greater transparency in international real estate transactions involving politically exposed persons.

4. Legal Action Against Russia

• Impact of the Russia-Ukraine War:
  • Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Akhmetov’s businesses suffered significant losses, particularly in the industrial hub of Mariupol, where his Azovstal steel plant was destroyed during the siege.
  • In response, Akhmetov filed a lawsuit against Russia at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), seeking billions of dollars in compensation for the destruction of his assets.
• Implications:
  • The lawsuit underscores Akhmetov’s determination to hold Russia accountable, but it also highlights the vulnerabilities of oligarch-controlled industries in conflict zones.

5. Political Influence and Media Ownership

• Control Over Media:
  • Akhmetov owns Media Group Ukraine, one of the country’s largest media conglomerates, which includes television channels and online news platforms.
  • Critics argue that his media holdings have been used to advance his business and political interests, often opposing reforms that threaten oligarchic control.
• Conflict with Zelensky:
  • The Ukrainian government’s push to reduce oligarchic influence in politics and media has brought Akhmetov into direct conflict with Zelensky’s administration.
  • Zelensky’s “de-oligarchization” law, which seeks to curtail the power of Ukraine’s richest individuals, has been interpreted by some as targeting figures like Akhmetov.

6. Tax and Antitrust Controversies

• Tax Avoidance Allegations:
  • Akhmetov’s companies have been accused of using offshore jurisdictions to minimize tax liabilities in Ukraine, depriving the state of significant revenue.
• Monopolistic Practices:
  • His energy companies, particularly DTEK, have faced accusations of monopolistic behavior in Ukraine’s energy sector, including price manipulation and market dominance.

Public and Media Perception

• Domestic Reputation:
  • In Ukraine, Akhmetov is a polarizing figure. While some see him as a symbol of economic success, others view him as a beneficiary of systemic corruption and an obstacle to reform.
• International Scrutiny:
  • Investigative reports by organizations like the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and others have highlighted Akhmetov’s use of offshore entities and his connections to the global elite.

Conclusion

Rinat Akhmetov remains one of the most powerful and controversial figures in Ukraine. His rise from modest beginnings in Donetsk to becoming a billionaire and a central figure in Ukraine’s economy is both a testament to his business acumen and a reflection of the systemic issues that have plagued the country’s post-Soviet transition.

While Akhmetov has faced numerous accusations, including involvement in political conspiracies, monopolistic practices, and questionable financial dealings, he has consistently denied wrongdoing and maintained his commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and economic development.

Recommendations

1. For Ukrainian Authorities:
   • Strengthen regulations to ensure transparency in privatization, taxation, and property ownership.
   • Enforce antitrust laws to prevent monopolistic practices in key sectors like energy.
2. For Investigative Bodies:
   • Conduct thorough investigations into allegations of coup involvement and offshore financial activities.
   • Increase international cooperation to track and regulate the flow of oligarchic wealth.
3. For the Public and Media:
   • Encourage independent journalism to shed light on the activities of powerful figures like Akhmetov.
   • Advocate for legal and systemic reforms to reduce the influence of oligarchs in Ukrainian politics and economy.

This report underscores the complexity of Rinat Akhmetov’s role in Ukraine’s history and future, highlighting the challenges of balancing economic leadership with accountability and transparency.

How do we counteract this malpractice?

Once we ascertain the involvement of Rinat Akhmetov (or actors working on behalf of Rinat Akhmetov), we will inform Rinat Akhmetov of our findings via Electronic Mail.

Our preliminary assessment suggests that Rinat Akhmetov may have engaged a third-party reputation management agency or expert, which, either independently or under direct authorization from Rinat Akhmetov, initiated efforts to remove adverse online content, including potentially fraudulent DMCA takedown requests. We will extend an opportunity to Rinat Akhmetov to provide details regarding their communications with the agency or expert, as well as the identification of the individual(s) responsible for executing these false DMCA notices.

Failure to respond in a timely manner will necessitate a reassessment of our initial assumptions. In such an event, we will be compelled to take appropriate legal action to rectify the unlawful conduct and take the following steps –

Since Rinat Akhmetov made such efforts to hide something online, it seems fit to ensure that this article and sensitive information targeted online by these events get a lot more exposure and traffic than what it would have received originally

We hope this becomes an excellent case study for the Streisand effect…The key idea behind the Streisand effect is that efforts to restrict information can backfire, often causing the information to gain more attention than it would have otherwise. This effect is widespread in the digital age, where users quickly notice and spread censorship efforts on social media and other platforms. Trying to suppress something can unintentionally lead to it becoming more visible, which Rinat Akhmetov is finding out the hard way.

Potential Consequences for Rinat Akhmetov

Under Florida Statute 831.01, the crime of Forgery is committed when a person falsifies, alters, counterfeits, or forges a document that carries “legal efficacy” with the intent to injure or defraud another person or entity.

Forging a document is considered a white-collar crime. It involves altering, changing, or modifying a document to deceive another person. It can also include passing along copies of documents that are known to be false. In many states in the US, falsifying a document is a crime punishable as a felony.

Additionally, under most laws, “fraud on the court” is where “a party has sentiently set in motion some unconscionable scheme calculated to interfere with the judicial system’s ability impartially to adjudicate a matter by improperly influencing the trier of fact or unfairly hampering the presentation of the opposing party’s claim or defense.”  Cox v. Burke, 706 So. 2d 43, 46 (Fla. 5th DCA 1998) (quoting Aoude v. Mobil Oil Corp., 892 F.2d 1115, 1118 (1st Cir. 1989)).

Is Rinat Akhmetov Committing a Cyber Crime?

Yes, it seems so. Rinat Akhmetov used multiple approaches to remove unwanted material from review sites and Google’s search results. Thanks to protections allowing freedom of speech in the United States, there are very few legal ways to do this. Rinat Akhmetov could not eliminate negative reviews or search results that linked to them without a valid claim of defamation, copyright infringement, or some other clear breach of the law.

Faced with these limitations, some companies like Rinat Akhmetov have gone to extreme lengths to fraudulently claim copyright ownership over a negative review in the hopes of taking it down.

Fake DMCA notices have targeted articles highlighting the criminal activity of prominent people to hide their illegal behavior. These people, which include US, Russian, and Khazakstani politicians as well as members from elite circles including the mafia and those with massive financial power, are all connected – and alleged corruption ranging from child abuse to sexual harassment is exposed when exploring evidence found at these URLs. It appears there’s a disturbing level of influence being exerted here that needs further investigation before justice can be served. Rinat Akhmetov is certainly keeping interesting company here….

The DMCA takedown process requires that copyright owners submit a takedown notice to an ISP identifying the allegedly infringing content and declaring, under penalty of perjury, that they have a good faith belief that the content is infringing. The ISP must then promptly remove or disable access to the content. The alleged infringer can then submit a counter-notice, and if the copyright owner does not take legal action within 10 to 14 days, the ISP can restore the content.

Since these platforms are predominantly based in the U.S., the complaints are typically made under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which requires online service providers and platforms to react immediately to reports or violations. Big Tech companies rarely have systems in place to assess the merit of each report. Instead, all bad actors need to do is clone a story, backdate it, and then demand the real thing be taken down.

Reputation Agency's Modus Operandi

The fake DMCA notices we found always use the “back-dated article” technique. With this technique, the wrongful notice sender (or copier) creates a copy of a “true original” article and back-dates it, creating a “fake original” article (a copy of the true original) that, at first glance, appears to have been published before the true original.

Then, based on the claim that this backdated article is the “original,” the scammers send a DMCA to the relevant online service providers (e.g. Google), alleging that the ‘true’ original is the copied or “infringing” article and that the copied article is the “original,” requesting the takedown of the ‘true’ original article. After sending the DMCA request, the person who sent the wrong notice takes down the fake original URL, likely to make sure that the article doesn’t stay online in any way. If the takedown notice is successful, the disappearance from the internet of information is most likely to be legitimate speech.

As an integral part of this scheme, the ‘reputation management’ company hired by Rinat Akhmetov creates a website that purports to be a ‘news’ site. This site is designed to look legitimate at a glance, but any degree of scrutiny reveals it as the charade it is.

The company copies the ‘negative’ content and posts it “on the fake ‘news’ site, attributing it to a separate author,” then gives it “a false publication date on the ‘news’ website that predated the original publication.

The reputation company then sent Google a Digital Millennium Copyright Act notice claiming the original website infringed copyright. After a cursory examination of the fake news site, Google frequently accepts the notice and delists the content.

In committing numerous offences, Rinat Akhmetov either premeditated actions or were unaware of the consequences. Despite hiring an agency to make Google disregard any negative information about Rinat Akhmetov, ignorance does not excuse this wrongdoing.

Fake DMCA notices have targeted articles highlighting the criminal activity of prominent people to hide their illegal behavior. These people, which include US, Russian, and Khazakstani politicians as well as members from elite circles including the mafia and those with massive financial power, are all connected – and alleged corruption ranging from child abuse to sexual harassment is exposed when exploring evidence found at these URLs. It appears there’s a disturbing level of influence being exerted here that needs further investigation before justice can be served. FSMSmart is certainly keeping interesting company here.

The Reputation Laundering

Rogue Reputation agencies use spurious copyright claims and fake legal notices to remove and obscure articles linking clients to allegations of tax avoidance, corruption, and drug trafficking. Most of these reputation agencies are based offshore, mainly in Russia, India, and Eastern Europe, and they do not worry about complying with US-based laws.

The content in all of the articles for which the fraudulent DMCA notices have been sent relates to allegations of criminal allegations, including corruption, child abuse, sexual harassment, human trafficking and financial fraud against businesses and individuals with ultra-high net worth.

In addition to the misuse of the DMCA takedown process, there is a notable absence of enforcement concerning perjury violations. The statutory requirement related to perjury is designed to deter copyright holders from submitting fraudulent or knowingly false takedown requests, as they may face legal consequences for making false declarations under penalty of perjury. However, to date, there have been no known instances of any individual being prosecuted for perjury in connection with the submission of false DMCA takedown notices.

This lack of enforcement has emboldened copyright holders to exploit the DMCA takedown process to suppress dissent, criticism, or other unfavorable content, without fear of legal repercussions.

Some of the people and businesses who have employed this tactic to remove legitimate content from Google illegally include a Spanish businessman-turned-cocaine-trafficker, Organised crime, an Israeli-Argentine banker accused of laundering money for Hugo Chávez’s regime, a French “responsible” mining company accused of tax evasion, child molesters and sexual predators. Rinat Akhmetov is in great company ….

What else is Rinat Akhmetov hiding?

We encourage you to ‘Dork‘ Google by searching for keyword combinations such as [Rinat Akhmetov] + {Negative Keyword, such as Scam, Fraud, Complaints, Lawsuit, Sanction, etc} on Google. It’s likely if you scroll down to the bottom of this Google search results, you’ll stumble upon this Legal Takedown notice (pictured below)

To make such an investigation possible, we encourage more online service providers to come forward and share copies of content removal requests with industry experts and researchers. If you have any information on Rinat Akhmetov that you want to share with experts and journalists, kindly email the author directly at [email protected].

All communications are strictly confidential and safeguarded under a comprehensive Whistleblower Policy, ensuring full protection and anonymity for individuals who provide information.