Alexander Mashkevich, one of Jewish world's biggest philanthropists and a supporter of haredi charities, is suspected of organizing sex party on luxurious yacht seized by Turkish police. His lawyer denies the allegations, but newly revealed facts seem to be against him. ""I have been flying with [Mashkevich] to the Rabbi Nachman of Uman's grave for two years now, the haredi head of ZAKA said. If you see him there, you wouldn't believe how he can pray."
A billionaire in stormy waters
Alexander Mashkevich, one of Jewish world's biggest philanthropists, suspected of organizing sex party on luxurious yacht seized by Turkish police. His lawyer denies allegations, but Yedioth Ahronoth reveals what really happened on board
Yana Pevzner, Thiya Barak • Ynet
September 28, 2010. A huge yacht anchors in Budrum, Turkey. The Savarona, 136 meters (446 miles) long, once owned by the "Father of the Turks", Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and is currently rented for tens of thousands of dollars a day.
A helicopter flies above the yacht. Ropes are rolled down from it. Turkish policemen slide to deck. At the same time, in the luxurious yacht suites, there are Kazakh businessmen with nine young girls, two of them under aged. The policemen search the place and find a huge amount of contraceptives and a file with escort girls' pictures and hotel receipts. Ten suspects, among them two Turkish billionaires, are arrested immediately and investigated for solicitation and trafficking in women.
The police raid was the culminating point of a secret investigation conducted for months against a Turkish crime organization that trafficked women. According to the investigation, the organization heads brought young Ukrainian and Russian women in order to satisfy the whims of rich businessmen and their guests. Parties such as the one on the Savarona were a nice source of profit for them, and this specific one was especially profitable and luxurious.
But the investigation sheds light not only on the crime organization but on the identity of the man who chartered the yacht to have a good time wit his friends and business partners: the police suspects that he is no other than Alexander Mashkevich - a well known billionaire and philanthropist holding an Israeli citizenship and heading the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress.…
But secret investigation materials from the Attorney General in Anatalia that was obtained by Yedioth Ahronoth, presents a completely different picture and revels the involvement of Mashkevitch in the affair.
The investigation began several months before the police raid on the yacht. The Turkish police received information about a crime organization that deals with human trafficking and solicitation. The organization was headed, according to the information, by Taufik Arif, a Turkish tycoon, Donald Trump's business partner and owner of a metal production factory in Kazakhstan and many other businesses in the US and Britain.…
Investigation materials show that Arif's organization provided escort services to businessmen. The young women, some of whom were underage (according to the investigation, one of the businessmen was especially fond of 13-14 year old, and the organization head supplied those girls) were brought from Russian and the Ukraine, through modeling agencies.…
In the last five years, the yacht was rented twice a year: one week to Arif and one week to Mashkevich. The investigation materials show that in September of last year, before the party, it was leased to Mashkevich for 9 days, for $300,000. The money was transferred from his bank account in Kazakhstan to Turkey, and there are bank statements to prove it. The Turkish police was tipped that Arif would also be at the party, and decided it would be a good opportunity to catch him red handed.
And so, on September 28, 2010, the third day of the party, the police raided the Savarona. And that's when Mashkevich enters the picture.…
When it comes to charity, Mashkevich is very generous. Knesset Member Zeev Bielski, former head of the Jewish Agency, says: "In my very first days on the job, I heard of a Jewish man with a big heart who invests a lot in the Jewish life of Asian Russia. I made an effort to meet him, and when he came to Israel we were introduced.
"I met a warm man who respects his parents and builds synagogues in their memory. We recruited him to the lone soldiers' project. Every time we wanted to bring a soldier's parents to Israel, he financed it. He is one of the donators we enjoy working with. I'm not sure his identification with Israel is good for his business, but that doesn't matter to him".
In the haredi world, Mashkevich is called "Hanagid", a title used for the greatest philanthropists. The Braslev Jews dub him "Redeemer of the holy grave", since he redeemed the debts and foreclosure from the Ukrainian grave of the Rabi Nachman from Braslev. Recently, he donated a large sum of money for the establishment of "Zaka" branches throughout the world. Zaka Chair, Yehuda Meshi Zahav has only good words to say about him.
"I have been flying with him to the Rabbi Nachman of Uman's grave for two years now. If you see him there, you wouldn't believe how he can pray. When the fire broke out in the Carmel Mountains he arrived within a day to see how he can help. When he went to take a look, one of the policemen at the place told us that his daughter's Bat Mitzvah was supposed to take place in Beit Oren and they don't know what to do. Mashkevich immediately said he would pay for a new location. He donated $10,000. He also donated for the establishment of a special unit of ATVs that would help with future fires."
Does it not disturb you to take money from him, in light of the recent event he took part in?
"Saints are in heaven. Whoever is here is not a saint. Not me, not you, and apparently not him either. I see how he helps and gives charity. And that is above everything he may or may not have done”.…
A former journalist, an Israeli who worked with Mashkevich, portrays a more complex character.…
"I'm not surprised with the yacht story. Business trips with “working women” are a well-known concept in Asian Russia. In one of my trips there I was with my wife, and one of Mashkevitc’s men was sure she is an escort, and asked for her rate. It's deep in their local culture. You don't go there with your legal wife. And once a man arrives alone, they see to all his needs. When a business man arrives and gets a woman for a night, he doesn’t say no.”…
Mashkevich told the police after the raid, "I arrived in Budrum from Jordan on September 25. I came here to rest and hold a few meetings. The women were not with me. We met on the yacht. I had no intimate relations with them. My accountant paid for the event. I'm a businessman I don't know what he paid for and how much, my accountant takes care of everything.…
