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willneal.bsky.social
will neal
@willneal.bsky.social
2.4K followers 950 following 190 posts
writer, investigative journalist | 2025 Livingston Award finalist, Amnesty Media Award shortlistee | 2024 John Schofield Trust fellow | contact via willneal.org/
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willneal.bsky.social
will neal @willneal.bsky.social · Mar 31
🚨NEW: Leaked corporate documents reveal Putin crony Roman Abramovich’s previously unreported ties to key “enablers” of Georgia’s ‘pro-Russian’ Ivanishvili regime.

Long 🧵on my latest for @bylinetimes.bsky.social👇1/

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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willneal.bsky.social
will neal @willneal.bsky.social · 3d
When they kick you out of Georgia and you make it 9,000 miles to Argentina before the universe starts mocking you…
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willneal.bsky.social
will neal @willneal.bsky.social · 6d
EXCLUSIVE: A top attorney behind MAGA’s push to see Hunter Biden jailed for violating foreign influence laws was at the same time working for an abusive foreign regime that tried to buy sinister surveillance software in the U.S.

Latest for @thedailybeast

www.thedailybeast.com/magas-hunter...
MAGA’s Hunter Biden Ukraine Bulldog Now Working for Foreign Spies
GOP lawyer Ted Kittila helped push claims of foreign influence peddling against Hunter Biden even as he worked for an abusive foreign regime.
www.thedailybeast.com
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Reposted by will neal
indexoncensorship.org
Index on Censorship @indexoncensorship.org · 11d
When journalist @willneal.bsky.social was barred from #Georgia, his life was turned upside down. But for citizens, the country’s slide into violent authoritarianism has left them in a far more dangerous position. Read his account in our latest magazine issue ⬇️
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
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willneal.bsky.social
will neal @willneal.bsky.social · 21d
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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willneal.bsky.social
will neal @willneal.bsky.social · Sep 21
bylinetimes.com/2025/07/30/m...
Bot Verification
bylinetimes.com
willneal.bsky.social
will neal @willneal.bsky.social · Sep 21
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
1 4 5
willneal.bsky.social
will neal @willneal.bsky.social · Sep 21
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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willneal.bsky.social
will neal @willneal.bsky.social · Sep 21
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
hansgutbrod.bsky.social
Hans Gutbrod @hansgutbrod.bsky.social · Sep 21
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
coalitionci.bsky.social
The Coalition of Cyber Investigators @coalitionci.bsky.social · Sep 17
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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willneal.bsky.social
will neal @willneal.bsky.social · Sep 17
🚨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
hansgutbrod.bsky.social
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
newlinesmag.bsky.social
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
gugachomakhidze.bsky.social
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
willneal.bsky.social 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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willneal.bsky.social
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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willneal.bsky.social
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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willneal.bsky.social
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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willneal.bsky.social
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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willneal.bsky.social
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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willneal.bsky.social
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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willneal.bsky.social
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
1 3 6
willneal.bsky.social
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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willneal.bsky.social
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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willneal.bsky.social
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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willneal.bsky.social
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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