Robert Yuksel Yildirim

A summary of what happened?

Robert Yuksel Yildirim is a prominent Turkish entrepreneur and the President and CEO of YILDIRIM Group of Companies, a diversified multinational conglomerate with operations spanning logistics, mining, energy, and real estate. Under his leadership, the company has transformed from a modest trading enterprise into a global powerhouse.

In 2011, YILDIRIM Group acquired a 24% stake in the French shipping company CMA CGM, marking a significant international investment.

In 2022, YILPORT, a subsidiary of YILDIRIM Group, was disqualified from a tender to operate the Haifa Port in Israel. Reports indicated that Israeli intelligence sources raised concerns about potential connections between YILPORT’s controlling owner, Robert Yüksel Yıldırım, and the CMA CGM Group, which operates the Beirut Port in Lebanon. The disqualification was based on alleged ties between CMA CGM and Hezbollah, a Lebanese-based militant group.

Net Worth and Assets

Yildirim’s net worth is estimated to be over $1 billion, primarily derived from his extensive business ventures through the YILDIRIM Group.

The conglomerate’s diversified operations include significant investments in renewable energy and high-profile real estate developments. Notably, under Yildirim’s leadership, the company has made strategic acquisitions, such as the purchase of Van Oord, enhancing its global shipping and logistics capabilities.

Yacht Sarastar

Yildirim is the owner of the luxury yacht Sarastar, a 60-meter vessel built by Mondomarine in Italy and delivered in 2017. Designed by Luca Dini Design, the yacht accommodates up to 12 guests in 6 cabins, with a crew of 13 to provide unparalleled service. The interior was personally designed by Yildirim, resulting in a unique and personal space that reflects his taste and style.

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 Robert Yuksel Yildirim trying to hide?

Robert Yuksel Yildirim‘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 Robert Yuksel Yildirim in legal accountability. Let’s examine the information Robert Yuksel Yildirim may be trying to remove from the internet –

The Sarastar: A Masterpiece of Luxury and Design

The Sarastar, a stunning 60-meter (197-foot) luxury yacht owned by Turkish billionaire Robert Yuksel Yildirim, is a testament to opulence and craftsmanship. Built by the prestigious Italian shipyard Mondomarine, the Sarastar was delivered in 2017. Its sleek design, cutting-edge features, and bespoke interior make it one of the most remarkable superyachts in the world.

Exterior Design

• Innovative Styling by Luca Dini Design
  • The Sarastar’s exterior, designed by the renowned Luca Dini Design, boasts a sleek and aerodynamic profile that combines elegance with modernity.
  • The yacht’s metallic silver hull and bold lines create a striking visual presence, whether docked in a marina or cruising the open seas.
  • Large windows and glass features allow natural light to flood the interiors while providing panoramic ocean views.
• Outdoor Entertainment Spaces
  • The Sarastar features expansive decks optimized for outdoor entertainment. These include a spacious sundeck with a luxurious jacuzzi, an open-air dining area, and sun loungers for relaxation.
  • The aft deck offers a beach club setup, complete with water access for swimming or launching tenders and water toys.

Interior Design

• Bespoke Interiors by Robert Yildirim
  • The yacht’s interiors were personally designed by Robert Yuksel Yildirim, reflecting his refined taste and attention to detail.
  • The décor combines contemporary elegance with luxurious materials such as marble, leather, and exotic woods.
  • A neutral color palette is accented by tasteful splashes of color, creating a tranquil and sophisticated atmosphere.
• Accommodations
  • Sarastar accommodates up to 12 guests in 6 lavish staterooms, including a master suite, VIP staterooms, and additional guest cabins.
  • The master suite features floor-to-ceiling windows, a private study, and an opulent ensuite bathroom.
• State-of-the-Art Amenities
  • The yacht is equipped with the latest entertainment systems, including high-definition screens, surround sound, and a cinema room.
  • A fully equipped gym ensures guests can maintain their fitness routines while enjoying their voyage.

Crew and Guest Experience

• World-Class Service
  • The Sarastar is staffed by a professional crew of 13, ensuring that guests experience unparalleled service.
  • The crew’s quarters are designed to provide comfort and functionality, reflecting Yildirim’s focus on excellence for all onboard.
• Dining and Cuisine
  • A fully equipped galley and onboard chefs provide gourmet dining experiences, with menus tailored to the preferences of guests.

Performance and Technical Specifications

• Built for Speed and Stability
  • The Sarastar is powered by twin MTU engines, delivering a top speed of 20 knots and a cruising speed of 18 knots.
  • Its efficient design ensures smooth sailing, even in challenging sea conditions.
• Advanced Technology
  • The yacht is equipped with cutting-edge navigation and stabilization systems, ensuring safety and comfort during voyages.
  • A helipad on the upper deck adds an extra layer of convenience for quick and luxurious travel.

Entertainment and Leisure Features

• Water Toys and Activities
  • The yacht offers a variety of water toys, including jet skis, paddleboards, and diving equipment, to enhance the guest experience.
  • A tender is available for shore excursions, making Sarastar ideal for exploring secluded beaches and coastal destinations.
• Infinity Pool
  • A small infinity-style pool enhances the outdoor living experience, allowing guests to relax while taking in the stunning ocean views.

Ownership and Legacy

As the owner of Sarastar, Robert Yuksel Yildirim has created a floating sanctuary that mirrors his business acumen and refined lifestyle. The yacht is more than just a luxury vessel; it is a symbol of his success and his dedication to creating unique experiences for himself, his family, and his guests.

Conclusion

The Sarastar represents the pinnacle of luxury yachting, combining high-performance engineering with breathtaking design and world-class amenities. For Robert Yuksel Yildirim, the Sarastar is not merely a possession but an extension of his identity, reflecting his appreciation for elegance, innovation, and the finer things in life.

How do we counteract this malpractice?

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

Our preliminary assessment suggests that Robert Yuksel Yildirim may have engaged a third-party reputation management agency or expert, which, either independently or under direct authorization from Robert Yuksel Yildirim, initiated efforts to remove adverse online content, including potentially fraudulent DMCA takedown requests. We will extend an opportunity to Robert Yuksel Yildirim 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 Robert Yuksel Yildirim 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 Robert Yuksel Yildirim is finding out the hard way.

Potential Consequences for Robert Yuksel Yildirim

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 Robert Yuksel Yildirim Committing a Cyber Crime?

Yes, it seems so. Robert Yuksel Yildirim 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. Robert Yuksel Yildirim 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 Robert Yuksel Yildirim 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. Robert Yuksel Yildirim 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 Robert Yuksel Yildirim 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, Robert Yuksel Yildirim either premeditated actions or were unaware of the consequences. Despite hiring an agency to make Google disregard any negative information about Robert Yuksel Yildirim, 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. Robert Yuksel Yildirim is in great company ….

What else is Robert Yuksel Yildirim hiding?

We encourage you to ‘Dork‘ Google by searching for keyword combinations such as [Robert Yuksel Yildirim] + {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 Robert Yuksel Yildirim 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.