will neal
@willneal.bsky.social
writer, investigative journalist | 2025 Livingston Award finalist, Amnesty Media Award shortlistee | 2024 John Schofield Trust fellow | contact via willneal.org/
When they kick you out of Georgia and you make it 9,000 miles to Argentina before the universe starts mocking you…
October 31, 2025 at 2:39 PM
When they kick you out of Georgia and you make it 9,000 miles to Argentina before the universe starts mocking you…
“[The UK] urgently needs more comprehensive registers, detailing what these companies are and what their assets are being used for,” he went on. “If the government is serious about supporting democracy and human rights abroad, it should take action on this immediately.” 17/
March 31, 2025 at 3:39 PM
“[The UK] urgently needs more comprehensive registers, detailing what these companies are and what their assets are being used for,” he went on. “If the government is serious about supporting democracy and human rights abroad, it should take action on this immediately.” 17/
“It is deeply concerning that a British-based company is actively involved in undermining legitimate opposition and peaceful protests in Georgia through its running of the Pro-Russian Imedi TV,” MacCleary told Byline Times for this story. 16/
March 31, 2025 at 3:39 PM
“It is deeply concerning that a British-based company is actively involved in undermining legitimate opposition and peaceful protests in Georgia through its running of the Pro-Russian Imedi TV,” MacCleary told Byline Times for this story. 16/
Those calls now appear to be gaining traction in the UK. Liberal Democrat MP James McCleary and Labour’s Blair McDougall have both pushed for action against Hunnewell, with McDougall asking “whether it is time for a National Crime Agency investigation” into the group. 15/
March 31, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Those calls now appear to be gaining traction in the UK. Liberal Democrat MP James McCleary and Labour’s Blair McDougall have both pushed for action against Hunnewell, with McDougall asking “whether it is time for a National Crime Agency investigation” into the group. 15/
Amid Georgia’s spiralling political and human rights crisis, both Rukhadze and Hunnewell’s broadcaster in the South Caucasian country, Imedi TV, have faced repeated calls to be targeted with international measures for their alleged support of Ivanishvili’s authoritarian regime. 14/
March 31, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Amid Georgia’s spiralling political and human rights crisis, both Rukhadze and Hunnewell’s broadcaster in the South Caucasian country, Imedi TV, have faced repeated calls to be targeted with international measures for their alleged support of Ivanishvili’s authoritarian regime. 14/
By 2017, Hunnewell was also receiving funding for a separate litigation action against the Royal Bank of Scotland from Tri Star Capital Ventures, a British Virgin Islands offshore now known to have been owned by the former Chelsea FC owner. 13/
March 31, 2025 at 3:39 PM
By 2017, Hunnewell was also receiving funding for a separate litigation action against the Royal Bank of Scotland from Tri Star Capital Ventures, a British Virgin Islands offshore now known to have been owned by the former Chelsea FC owner. 13/
Founding partner Irakli Rukhadze in particular appears to have been instrumental in negotiating a series of loans totalling almost $300 million from Abramovich to the Patarkasishvili family during the early days of the recovery deal. 12/
March 31, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Founding partner Irakli Rukhadze in particular appears to have been instrumental in negotiating a series of loans totalling almost $300 million from Abramovich to the Patarkasishvili family during the early days of the recovery deal. 12/
Hunnewell’s founders were later sued by a group of their former colleagues for effectively cutting them out of the recovery deal, with documents from those proceedings in turn revealing how Hunnewell’s relationship with Abramovich actually seems to pre-date the 2019 MTS lawsuit. 11/
March 31, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Hunnewell’s founders were later sued by a group of their former colleagues for effectively cutting them out of the recovery deal, with documents from those proceedings in turn revealing how Hunnewell’s relationship with Abramovich actually seems to pre-date the 2019 MTS lawsuit. 11/
That story also explored how the firm was set up in 2011 to help track down the assets of late Georgian tycoon Arkady Patarkatsishvili, a former partner of Abramovich, on behalf of Patarkatsishvili’s family following his sudden death in 2008. 10/
March 31, 2025 at 3:39 PM
That story also explored how the firm was set up in 2011 to help track down the assets of late Georgian tycoon Arkady Patarkatsishvili, a former partner of Abramovich, on behalf of Patarkatsishvili’s family following his sudden death in 2008. 10/
In 2019, Abramovich was already on a list of more than 200 Kremlin-linked US adversaries published by the first Trump administration. But the MTS lawsuit also ran on until April 2022, *after* Abramovich had been sanctioned by the UK following the outbreak of war in Ukraine. 7/
March 31, 2025 at 3:39 PM
In 2019, Abramovich was already on a list of more than 200 Kremlin-linked US adversaries published by the first Trump administration. But the MTS lawsuit also ran on until April 2022, *after* Abramovich had been sanctioned by the UK following the outbreak of war in Ukraine. 7/
Other MeritServus documents reveal Pro-Alpha in fact represented only the first link in a shifting chain of corporate ownership, going up through at least six other offshore entities before arriving at the controlling interest behind it all: Abramovich. 6/
March 31, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Other MeritServus documents reveal Pro-Alpha in fact represented only the first link in a shifting chain of corporate ownership, going up through at least six other offshore entities before arriving at the controlling interest behind it all: Abramovich. 6/
Combing the data from that leak, our story reveals how prior to joining the lawsuit against MTS, Hunnewell had entered into a secret agreement to act as a legal proxy for a Cyprus offshore named Pro-Alpha Investments Ltd – the firm that had actually bought the shares in MTS. 5/
March 31, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Combing the data from that leak, our story reveals how prior to joining the lawsuit against MTS, Hunnewell had entered into a secret agreement to act as a legal proxy for a Cyprus offshore named Pro-Alpha Investments Ltd – the firm that had actually bought the shares in MTS. 5/
That’s because the truth would remain hidden until a massive hack saw millions of documents leaked from inside an obscure Cyprus offshore corporate services provider, MeritServus. 4/
March 31, 2025 at 3:39 PM
That’s because the truth would remain hidden until a massive hack saw millions of documents leaked from inside an obscure Cyprus offshore corporate services provider, MeritServus. 4/
Though a New York court would rule against Hunnewell’s pursuit of damages in January 2021, and again at appeal in 2022, there was little reason for a judge to question whether the UK group had actually sustained those losses as it claimed. 3/
March 31, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Though a New York court would rule against Hunnewell’s pursuit of damages in January 2021, and again at appeal in 2022, there was little reason for a judge to question whether the UK group had actually sustained those losses as it claimed. 3/
In 2019, UK private equity group Hunnewell Partners brought a US legal action against Russia’s largest telecoms provider, MTS, claiming to have sustained losses exceeding $13 million to its investments at the firm as a result of revelations the giant had paid bribes to an Uzbek official. 2/
March 31, 2025 at 3:39 PM
In 2019, UK private equity group Hunnewell Partners brought a US legal action against Russia’s largest telecoms provider, MTS, claiming to have sustained losses exceeding $13 million to its investments at the firm as a result of revelations the giant had paid bribes to an Uzbek official. 2/
Irakli Rukhadze claims he was forced into taking Imedi TV off the Patarkasishvili family’s hands. You’d think him having “constantly sought” a loss-making business on their behalf, where he then served as director, had nothing to do with its “huge political value.”
civil.ge/archives/654...
civil.ge/archives/654...
January 24, 2025 at 7:09 AM
Irakli Rukhadze claims he was forced into taking Imedi TV off the Patarkasishvili family’s hands. You’d think him having “constantly sought” a loss-making business on their behalf, where he then served as director, had nothing to do with its “huge political value.”
civil.ge/archives/654...
civil.ge/archives/654...
Protest march in Tbilisi last night, peppered with US flags to mark Trump’s inauguration. Much vested in his return from both sides in Georgia; fair bet we’ll be catching wind of a closed-door diplomacy war between the Helsinki Commission and Orban’s goons in the weeks to come…
January 21, 2025 at 9:31 AM
Protest march in Tbilisi last night, peppered with US flags to mark Trump’s inauguration. Much vested in his return from both sides in Georgia; fair bet we’ll be catching wind of a closed-door diplomacy war between the Helsinki Commission and Orban’s goons in the weeks to come…
MP James MacCleary has tabled a motion in parliament calling for the British government to follow the US in imposing sanctions against Bidzina Ivanishvili.
January 16, 2025 at 6:28 AM
MP James MacCleary has tabled a motion in parliament calling for the British government to follow the US in imposing sanctions against Bidzina Ivanishvili.
After last night’s protests outside the judicial shindig in Tbilisi you’re likely to hear a lot about ‘radical elements’ whipping up violence against public officials. But here’s another vid from y'day eve: GD MPs Irakli Zarkua and Viktor Sanikadze whaling on each other at a restaurant in Abu Dhabi.
January 13, 2025 at 10:56 AM
After last night’s protests outside the judicial shindig in Tbilisi you’re likely to hear a lot about ‘radical elements’ whipping up violence against public officials. But here’s another vid from y'day eve: GD MPs Irakli Zarkua and Viktor Sanikadze whaling on each other at a restaurant in Abu Dhabi.
December 14, 2024 at 12:47 PM
A crew with opposition channel TV Pirveli were just assaulted live on air along the backstreets around Georgia's parliamentary building in Tbilisi.
#GeorgiaProtests
#GeorgiaProtests
December 7, 2024 at 6:25 PM
A crew with opposition channel TV Pirveli were just assaulted live on air along the backstreets around Georgia's parliamentary building in Tbilisi.
#GeorgiaProtests
#GeorgiaProtests
We’re now seeing armed, unmasked assailants clashing with protesters on the streets of Tbilisi. Dozens of arrests last night, reportedly including a boy with epilepsy and a Dutch journalist.
December 7, 2024 at 9:09 AM
We’re now seeing armed, unmasked assailants clashing with protesters on the streets of Tbilisi. Dozens of arrests last night, reportedly including a boy with epilepsy and a Dutch journalist.