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  • 2022-07-21 (xsd:date)
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  • There’s no evidence that Ukraine’s president has a net worth of $596 million (en)
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  • Rumors about Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s wealth continue to proliferate on social media, and the latest post being shared on Facebook takes aim at his supposed net worth. The July 19 post features an image allegedly showing Zelenskyy's net worth as being $596 million, with a salary of $780,000 and a monthly income of $11 million. This, ladies and gentlemen, is what corruption looks like, the Facebook post says. No evidence is provided by the post on how it determined the Ukrainian leader's salary, monthly income and net worth. The post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook .) The image source for the Facebook post is a screenshot from a website called CAknowledge that says it’s based in India. The site is filled with blog posts detailing the net worth of celebrities and describes itself as one of the leading websites in the field of (chartered accountant), (company secretary) and (cost and management accountant) as well in other fields like banking and other similar professional exams. Like the Facebook post, the site doesn’t provide evidence on how it determined Zelenskyy’s net worth, salary and monthly income. It also claims, without proof, that Zelenskyy owns a dozen real estate properties and several luxury cars and yachts, and that he owns stock in companies like Apple, Microsoft, Meta and Amazon. PolitiFact previously rated False a similar claim that said Zelenskyy owned a $35 million home in Florida and had an overseas bank account worth $1.2 billion. The claim came from a source that appeared to be backed by the Russian government. Zelenskyy does have some assets — or at least he did before becoming Ukraine’s president in 2019. A trove of financial documents called the Pandora Papers was made public in 2021 and detailed how the wealthy hide their assets through offshore tax havens and, in a few cases, money laundering. Zelenskyy and several associates oversaw multiple offshore companies , according to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, or OCCRP. People close to Zelenskyy used the companies to buy several expensive real estate properties in London. The papers didn't reveal how much money the companies held and made no references to Zelenskyy receiving $11 million a month, owning luxury yachts or holding stock in multiple tech companies. The documents did reveal that his assets included some cars and property , but it did not go into specifics. An April 2022 report by Forbes found that Zelenksyy's actual net worth is somewhere between $20 million to $30 million. The news outlet estimated that Zelenskyy has an $11 million stake in Kvartal 95, a television production company he helped start before his presidency. Forbes determined his real estate holdings were worth $4 million and made up of an apartment in Kyiv that he lives in, two apartments that he owns, two complexes that he co-owns and a piece of commercial property. Zelenskyy also has a shared bank account with his wife, first lady Olena Zelenska, that has about $2 million, plus two cars and a few pieces of jewelry that are worth less than $1 million combined, according to Forbes’ report. Our ruling A Facebook post shared a screenshot from a website claiming to show Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s net worth as being $596 million while receiving a monthly income of $11 million and a salary of $780,000. The website featured in the Facebook post offered no corroborating evidence for the claim. Leaked financial documents showed Zelenskyy did have some assets, but nowhere near what's being claimed on the website and Facebook post. A report by Forbes found his net worth to be much smaller, around $20 million to $30 million. We rate this False. (en)
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