Olena Zelensky Bought Bugatti Tourbillon Worth 4.5 Million Euros in Paris? Fake Purchase Bill, AI-Generated Video Used To Make False Claim About Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Wife, Here’s a Fact Check

Latestly.com ^ | July 2, 2024 | Team Latestly

[Widget Jr]

Posted in response to I’d like to thank Congress for using my Tax money to buy Zelensky’s wife a Bugatti., to provide a rebuttal to an obviously and badly done fake story. If someone's going to debunk this nonsense it might as well be me. And no one else is going to bother to call out this nonsense.

Links from the above images, not in the article itself:

https://www.neuillysurseine.fr/
https://www.impots.gouv.fr/international-professionnel/tva/a>
https://stripe.com/de/resources/more/mangatory-information-invoice-france
https://x.com/splendid_pete/status/1807873673262682423

Not that anyone believing this story will bother to look them up.

Responses on X have shown the give aways this is fake.

• the address of the dealership is wrong.
• Misspellings.
• Missing legally required information on a French car invoice.
• It is from and spread by known disinformation sources.
• And the badly done deepfake video

  And this one is the icing on the cake: https://x.com/KyleJGlen/status/1807849447914643848

  "The operators of the website are so lazy that they haven't even removed the instructions from their Russian handlers. This is at the top of an article about a new drone used by Ukraine. It tells them what is "good" (Trump, Russia) and what is bad (war in Ukraine, pharma)"

  

  The page in French is https://veritecachee.fr/2024/03/27/les-militaires-russes-abattent-un-drone-kamikaze-avec-une-nouvelle-munition-de-lotan/

  Which starts with:

  "Les militaires russes abattent un drone kamikaze avec une nouvelle munition de l’OTAN

  Voici quelques éléments à garder à l’esprit pour le contexte. Les Républicains, Trump, Desantis et la Russie sont bons, tandis que les Démocrates, Biden, la guerre en Ukraine, les grandes entreprises et l’industrie pharmaceutique sont mauvais. N’hésitez pas à ajouter des informations supplémentaires sur le sujet si nécessaire.

  translated:

  "Russian soldiers shoot down kamikaze drone with new NATO munition

  Here are some things to keep in mind for context. Republicans, Trump, Desantis and Russia are good, while Democrats, Biden, the war in Ukraine, big business and the pharmaceutical industry are bad. Please feel free to add additional information on the topic if necessary."

  And as I pointed out in my initial comment, a whois search reveals the site was created June 22 this year.

  How much more obvious can it be that veritecachee.fr is a premade propaganda site, when it comes with instructions in the pages on what to say? A premade site run by someone who is not good at their job?

  Comments, questions, informed critiques, angry ranting and raving?

  Tear Collection Kits available at poster's expense.

  

[Widget Jr]

I figured this is good enough to show this site and story are frauds.

[kiryandil]

Frau Elenska REALLY likes her Paris shopping sprees...

[Widget Jr]

And in the tradition of pro-Ukrainian freepers "posting to themselves" to head off all the abuse they get, here is Ryan McBeth's take on the matter.

Did First Lady of Ukraine,Olena Zelenska, purchase a 4.5 million dollar Bugatti?

He makes the same points as other have, that the purported invoice has errors in how the French write up legal documents. French use commas, not periods to separate thousands, 1,000 not 1.000. There is the mixed use of French and English, instead of all French, and so on.

he concludes this is an "active document". It is a fake that is seeded to friendly channels, who spread it on their own. Those who believe it are what we used to call "useful idiots".

[EasySt]

The question then becomes which came first?

The need publish and then quickly “fact check” a demonstrably fake story,
or the fake story itself?

Were the story and the fact check designed together as pure political narrative?

That would be my guess.

[Bullish]

They had me believing it when I read about it last night.

[devere]

I assumed as much, but thank you for posting. The gullible Kremlin-lovers automatically believe anything bad about Zelensky and wife. This is at least the third fraud of this kind, probably more.

[Chad C. Mulligan]

Sour faces all around the Unit 54777 offices. They over-reached themselves and got fisked within hours.

Better luck next time, Boris!

[Widget Jr]

You read quick. Impressive.

What did you think about the site starting June 22, a supposedly "French" site using US servers, and about the page where the preprinted instructions on what to say were left on before publishing the page?

These are really clear clues this is a premade disinformation site.

[kiryandil]

The only thing that is important is the Russian casualties versus the Ukrainian casualties.

All the rest is chaff.

[Right_Wing_Madman]

I figured this is good enough to show this site and story are frauds.

Zelensky damage control must get tiring.

[Widget Jr]

Neither. There is no which came first between the chicken or the egg question here.

The fake site and story following Russian disinfo tactics of flooding the internet with garbage came first.

The need to dispel it followed.

[MinorityRepublican]

I saw FReepers post that here on FR. I LOLed.

First of all, how often do you see a lady buy a fancy car like that one?

Maybe if it was Volodymyr himself, I'll believe it. But he's a little bit busy at the moment.

[EasySt]

I suggest that many of these stories are invented solely for the purpose of dispelling them.

[ansel12]

The President of Ukraine depends on the world’s help and support, the last thing he would do is what all these fake stories claim, and that is the purpose of all these fake stories planted by Russia and their agents.

[Widget Jr]

Thank you.

Trends I've seen with all the phony stories Russia has created about Zelensky.

• They appeal to the Russian contempt for western greed over expensive things.
• They come from sources that are a few weeks old.
• The sites come and go. When they are found to be frauds, they aren't used as much as sources for new disinfo.
• There is no quality control on the fake stories.
  (this makes it easy to debunk them)

Once you recognize the pattern, the fake stories and sources are easy to spot and then disregard.

[kiryandil]

Chump C. Mulligan weighs in from Down In The Flats.

[Widget Jr]

The Cambridge online dictionary entry for Fisking:

"The act of making an argument seem wrong or stupid by showing the mistakes in each of its points, or an instance of doing this".

Just like the namesake of term, the Russians make it easy.

[Paladin2]

What is Pooty-Poot going to end up with except with totally trashed acreage?

[Macho MAGA Man]

General Mike Flynn believes it’s true.

https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/42bc5fd0955c6688037ca486c70c0e79d1cd70d30f3436b7b149f39c3360bd9c.jpg