UN official fired after handing over $58m to man and $3m to his daughter to ... trends now
The United Nations fired one of their top officials after discovering he was a part of a scandal that involved the intergovernmental organization loaning $61million to a British father and daughter 'for charitable projects' after diplomats met them at a party in New York.
Vitaly Vanshelboim is a Ukrainian citizen who served as Assistant Secretary-General and Chief Executive of UNOPS Sustainable Infrastructure Impact Investments, a program meant to join forces with private banks to operate a for-profit investment bank.
Vanshelboim is alleged to have given $58million from the agency to three businessman David Kendrick and his 22-year-old daughter Daisy. Kendrick, the founder of Sustainable Housing Solutions (SHS), was supposed to use it for projects like building houses in developing countries.
It's unclear how much money actually went to those projects and the UN is claiming $22million of it is still missing, but Daisy Kendrick and her company We Are The Oceans (WATO) allegedly gave $3million to produce the pop song 'Oceans' performed by singer Joss Stone, who was not paid and has said she did it for free because she thought it was a fundraising project.
Vitaly Vanshelboim (pictured), a Ukrainian citizen who served as Assistant Secretary-General and Chief Executive of UNOPS Sustainable Infrastructure Impact Investments, a program meant to join forces with private banks to operate a for-profit investment bank. Instead Vanshelboin is alleged to have given all $61million to businessman David Kendrick and his 22-year-old daughter Daisy
The UN agency also gave Daisy Kendrick, who interned at the UN after graduating from Northeastern University in Boston, the $3 million to create an ocean-themed video game by the makers of Angry Birds and a website raising awareness about environmental threats to oceans, the New York Times reported.
Kendrick's businesses - three of which received loans but have been named as a single entity by his lawyers - have failed to pay back more than $22 million to the organization, money which is meant for aid, and the repayments are overdue, according to The New York Times.
Kendrick and his daughter were introduced to UN officials at a party in the Upper East Side apartment of magazine editor Gloria Starr Kins in 2015 by Paulo Zampolli, an Italian-born businessman who claims he introduced former President Donald Trump to his third wife Melanie.
It was after this party, hosted by UNOPS head Grete Faremo, that the agency loaned $58.8 million - the agency's entire investment portfolio at the time - to three companies appearing to be connected to Kendrick between 2018 and 2020 under a UN scheme called S31.
These investments included lending $8.8million to a business investing in a wind farm in Mexico, $35 million to building housing in developing countries, and $15million to a company for renewable energy projects.
But auditors, who raised alarms that the UN agency had concentrated its loans on one person, wrote in a report that Kendrick's companies had admitted to using the UN's loans to pay off other loans.
'A large portion of the $15 million deposit had been used to discharge its pre-existing debts and liabilities,' the auditors report said.
Daisy Kendrick (pictured) and her company We Are The Oceans (WATO) allegedly gave $3million to produce the pop song 'Oceans' performed by singer Joss Stone
Stone (pictured) was not paid and has said she thought it was a fundraising project
Grete Faremo (pictured left), who has resigned due to the scandal, and the fired Vanshelboim (pictured center) are seen in 2016 with Paolo Zampolli (pictured right), who connected the UN program with Kendrick and has claimed to have introduced former President Donald Trump to his wife Melania
Vanshelboim - who on his LinkedIn page describes himself as a 'SERIAL OVERACHIEVER IN GLOBAL EXECUTIVE LEVEL MANAGEMENT' had been placed on administrative leave because of the investigation back in May.
Faremo, executive director for the UN Office for Project Services, previously resigned in June.
'Without knowing the full story, it happened on my watch,' Faremo wrote in a letter to employees in May 2022. 'I acknowledge my responsibility and have decided to step down.'
Faremo, a former justice minister of Norway, earlier told the newspaper: 'I want to get to the bottom of what has happened, and rigorous investigative processes are under way. We know this
