Tag: latest business

A Fox News camera operator and a local producer who were covering the war in Ukraine have died after the vehicle in which they were traveling was struck by incoming fire, the network announced Tuesday.

Camera operator Pierre Zakrzewski’s death was announced in a memo to employees by Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott that was shared with BuzzFeed News. Scott said Zakrzewski, 55, died after coming under fire in Horenka, a village northwest of Kyiv, on Monday.

Scott later confirmed that Ukrainian journalist Oleksandra “Sasha” Kuvshynova was also killed in the same incident. The 24-year-old had been working for Fox as a producer, assisting the network’s crew.

Fox News correspondent Benjamin Hall was also injured in the attack and has been hospitalized in Ukraine.

“Pierre Zakrzewski was an absolute legend at this network and his loss is devastating,” anchor Bill Hemmer told Fox News viewers on Tuesday morning.

London-based Zakrzewski, who was Irish, had been in Ukraine since February, having previously covered multiple wars for Fox, including the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria. In December, Fox News awarded him an “Unsung Hero” award to recognize his work.

“[Zakrzewski’s] talents were vast and there wasn’t a role that he didn’t jump in to help with in the field — from photographer to engineer to editor to producer — and he did it all under immense pressure with tremendous skills,” Scott wrote in her memo. “He was profoundly committed to telling the story and his bravery, professionalism, and work ethic

To pass the time, guests played board games and cards with one another. They sang karaoke and held a trivia competition. The band, who apologized to fans that they would be unable to make their next show in Essex, even sang a few more tunes. Some meals were provided for free, but other food was sold at half price. Alcohol continued to flow — it is a pub, after all.

“We were all drinking solidly for three days,” Longthorp said. “I think they got their money’s worth.”

As word spread of the pubgoers’ predicament, tavern owner Nicola Townsend began doing media interviews. She appeared on the British morning TV shows, on Sky News, the BBC, and on the radio. She was interviewed by the New York Times. The story made headlines in Italy, Germany, and Sweden. All the while, she was still trapped.

“It’s like having a very large group of friends ’round for dinner,” Townsend told the Telegraph newspaper. “They’ve formed quite a friendship — like a big family is the best way I can describe it. One lady actually said: ‘I don’t want to leave.’”

Guests lavished praise on the hardworking staff, who kept them safe and fed them warm roast dinners. Patrons passed around a collection tray, raising hundreds of dollars to thank the seven employees for their unexpected three-day shifts.

By Monday morning, the snowplows had cleared the neighboring roads and guests could finally depart. Longthorp said she was thrilled to get home and change out

One of the companies in the network, Netherfield, was involved in a complex offshore transaction that raised $50 million for a company controlled by Igor Shuvalov, one of Putin’s key advisers. The deal was reported in Barrons in 2011. The story did not name Abramovich as the owner of Netherfield, but the State Street investigators ultimately found that it belonged to him. In the months after the story ran, Netherfield was closed down, and its investments were moved to a newly formed company in the British Virgin Islands, the State Street investigators found.

Cash used for the network’s investments came from accounts at a small commercial bank in Austria called Kathrein. But when some investor accounts were set up, Kathrein did not name Abramovich as the ultimate owner of the money on any documentation. Kathrein did not comment on this story, citing Austrian bank secrecy laws.

A firm called Concord Management appeared to have been set up to oversee the investments. Yet State Street had trouble finding basic details about Concord — including whether it even existed.

Investigators were “unable to identify or verify the existence of CONCORD and the entity has a non-functional website,” they wrote in one suspicious activity report. “Several of the individuals named as contacts have a limited internet presence.”

“Additionally, the address provided for CONCORD … is a commercial office park.”

In a statement sent to BuzzFeed News, a spokesperson for Concord Management said the company “provides independent third party research, diligence and monitoring of