DISINFO: Zelenskyy's wife bought one of the most expensive sports cars in the world
SUMMARY
The wife of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky purchased a Bugatti Tourbillon, one of the most expensive sports cars in the world. Elena Zelenska was shown a new hypercar two weeks before its official presentation. She ordered a car and became the first owner of an exclusive Bugatti. A total of 250 cars of this brand are planned to be produced. The car cost Elena Zelenska 4.5 million euros, and she will receive it only in 2026.
RESPONSE
Disinformation aiming to tarnish Ukraine and its president with alleged corruption.
This story is completely false. It was initially reported on a pro-Kremlin French-language site Veritecachee who claimed that a show of the new car was organised for members of the Ukrainian delegation during a visit to Paris in early June. There, Zelenska was allegedly impressed by the supercar and pre-ordered it.
The Veritecachee website allegedly refers to an employee of the Bugatti car dealership in Paris, Jacques Bertin, and “a copy of the invoice for the new car of the wife of the President of Ukraine.” Despite the fact that it was a deep fake video, the man is not real and this was never said, the lie became viral.
The AI-generated video features a non-existent employee of the Bugatti dealership in Paris claiming Olena Zelenska purchased its new model, the Bugatti Tourbillon, for 4.5 million euros (around $4.8 million) on June 7. The clip has several markings of a deep fake, from cuts in the video to the strange accent and lip-and-mouth movements.
As several investigations revealed, it is a fake story, on a fake news website, designed to spread widely online, with its origins in a Russia-based disinformation operation. Read more here, here and here.
Bugatti issued a denial, calling it "fake news", and its Paris dealership threatened legal action against the people behind the false story.
This is not the first time that the wife of the President of Ukraine has become a target for fake news. In October 2023, Russian media spread misinformation that Zelenska spent more than a million dollars on precious jewellery from the Cartier house in the US. Olena Zelenska, was also a target of disinformation during a visit to Paris in January 2023. She was accused of having spent 40,000 Euros in luxury boutiques, without any evidence being provided. A false montage showing her on board a private jet was also circulated to damage her image.
See other similar cases in our database: Zelenskyy bought a British mansion from King Charles III for 20 million pounds; a Reporter who found Zelenskyy’s Mother-in-Law's villa found dead; Zelenskyy’s fortune is worth at least USD 2 billion; Olena Zelenska, spent more than 1 million dollars on jewellery with EU money; Zelenskyy's mother-in-law uses war money to buy luxury houses.