Russian TV Passes Off Corrupt Petersburg Entrepreneur as ‘American Journalist’

Russian state television has repeatedly featured a St. Petersburg businessman on programs that falsely portrayed him as an American journalist “Greg Vainer,” reported the Moscow Times. The entrepreneur Gregory Vinnikov was outed by Russian-American journalist Gennady Katsov after he and a fellow Russian reporter recognized Vinnikov on television.

According to Moscow Times, this is not Vinnikov’s first claim to fame. The paper writes that in 2012 he made headlines and millions after scamming his Russian-Americans clients at a travel agency in New York City. He fled to Russia with the money in 2012.

Since his return to Russia, Vinnikov has appeared on Channel One, NTV, Channel Five and several local St. Petersburg stations pretending to be an American journalist.

Read full story at The Moscow Times.