FACT CHECK: Post Claims Zelenskyy Bought $200 Million Casino Resort In Cyprus
A post shared on Facebook claims Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy bought a $200 million casino resort in Cyprus.
Verdict: False
There is no evidence for this claim. It appears to have originated from a fake website.
Fact Check:
Social media users are sharing a claim that Zelenskyy bought a $200 million casino resort called the Vuni Palace Hotel and Casino.
“Zelensky spent $200 MILLION to buy himself a 5 star casino resort on the beaches of Cyprus through his company ‘Film Heritage Inc,'” reads part of the post. (RELATED: No, Video Does Not Show The Taliban Shooting Down A Pakistani Helicopter?)
There is no evidence for this claim. No credible news outlets have reported on this. The publication that did report on this, odatv, appears to have deleted its original article on the claim.
This claim appears to be from a website that was created in May 2024 and references Film Heritage Inc., which is a company that Zelenskyy had a stake in, according to Greece Fact Check. The website, when it was originally created, did not mention Film Heritage Inc.
The actual Vuni Palace Hotel and Casino website does not mention Film Heritage Inc. A “person in charge” told Greece Fact Check that the hotel was working and that claims that they were sold to Zelenskyy were false.
The Ukrainian Embassy in Cyprus put out a statement denying the claim, saying it was “fake information” and “yet another lie aimed at discrediting Ukraine and its leadership in the eyes of the world community.”
“The mentioned fake story claims that the company which acquired the «Vuni Palace Hotel and Casino», located in Kyrenia, Cyprus, supposedly belongs to Volodymyr Zelenskyy. However, the publication provides no evidence to support its claim. The information itself is false. Its dissemination is also intended to create diplomatic tensions between Ukraine and Cyprus,” the statement partially reads.
Nikos Christodoulides, the President of Cyprus, told Greece Fact Check that the claim was under investigation but that “so far nothing of the sort has emerged.
“When the investigation is completed, in cooperation with other countries, with other Services, we will be able to say more, but at the moment I can tell you, up until five minutes before I came here, I have been informed that there is no such thing. We’ll see later,” Christodoulides told the outlet.
