"An inadequate scandal" - Sobchak posted an interview with Gafarov, from where he escaped.

      Famous journalist Ksenia Sobchak published an interview on her author channel, which she conducted with the fugitive businessman from Naberezhnye Chelny, Erik Gafarov, last summer. It was also revealed that Gafarov hastily left the filming without waiting for it to finish. To jump ahead, we note that the entrepreneur literally bolted after a call from one of the so-called investors, and later claimed that the interview was biased. The conversation began with Ksenia Sobchak asking how Gafarov ended up in the Netherlands, where he sought political asylum.

      – I found myself in a very difficult situation in Turkey; I needed to somehow save my life and the lives of others. I had problems with documents, and the only plane I could get on was flying to Amsterdam, – Gafarov replied. – Today I am a political refugee here.

      Moreover, Sobchak inquired about how the Gafarov&Partners project operated, which was later recognized as a financial pyramid.

      – I created many different projects; some were successful and some were not. My last project in Russia was incredibly successful; we created a mega startup in the province that began to develop very quickly, was super popular in Tatarstan, Naberezhnye Chelny, and achieved large turnovers in eight to nine months – 120 million dollars. We succeeded, and we were robbed by deputies, law enforcement, and the mafia. They tried to kill us, kidnapped us, tortured us, shot at us; there were assassination attempts. That's the story.

      – Look, you told your story well, and it’s no coincidence that you told it the way you did. If one doesn’t know some small nuances, even I, as an independent journalist, felt sorry for you. Because I understand – a person built some cool businesses, 120 million dollars, and law enforcement squeezed him, took the money away. A very familiar story for some businessmen. But look, you didn’t mention during this presentation that it was a betting business, – Sobchak clarified.

      – Yes, the business was on bets. Here it is written (demonstrates the inscription on the sweatshirt), the whole country knows this company! I dressed up, put on this hoodie, and this is a big symbol for me. This sweater cost me tens of millions of dollars; they tried to kill me for it, kidnapped me, tortured me… I know that in Russia they are trying to portray us as something evil, but I came here to show the truth, to confirm it with facts, evidence, and to name names. And to explain that this is good. Yes, we did business in a field that is condemned in society – betting, – Gafarov replied.

      After that, Sobchak voiced the main complaints about the work of that very fund. One of them was the profit that Gafarov allegedly guaranteed.

      – Not a single penny to anyone ever. If someone can show that we entered into a contract with guaranteed profit with someone, or I personally guaranteed profit to someone, you can put handcuffs on me right now, and I will fly with you to a Russian prison. If someone can confirm this, – Gafarov said.

      – Here’s what we can confirm right now. You know that the fund's website has long been blocked, but we found an archived version, – Sobchak noted and showed a screenshot, which featured a profit calculator depending on the investment and their term. To which Gafarov replied – the image is cropped, and supposedly there is an inscription at the bottom that the figures are approximate statistics that cannot be relied upon.

      The second complaint about the fund, which Sobchak voiced, was about the lack of losing bets, and the third was about the embezzlement of money.

      – The media accuses us of supposedly not placing bets but embezzling that money for ourselves. This is a lie; you have been beautifully deceived. More than 200 media outlets did not do their professional work. Their task is to inform society, not to create propaganda, to use labels, – Gafarov countered. – The investigators who seized our equipment can take the trouble to open our laptops and see for themselves how this happened, to whom, what amounts were made to which wallets. What bets were placed, who has what money on deposit. It’s all transparent; you just need to lift your ***, spend 10 minutes, and open the laptop, and everything will become clear.

      Then, after a call to a former investor of the fund, Gafarov wanted to end the interview. In his opinion, it turned out to be biased, and he asked to delete all information where his image appeared. “If you don’t delete it, I will call the police,” – Gafarov said.

      After a brief verbal altercation with Sobchak, Gafarov decided to show the consequences of torture in Turkey.

      – This is a heated iron, second-degree burns, – Gafarov said. – Do you know why?

      – Because you were tortured, – Sobchak replied.

      – No, because journalists treat their work this way, – Gafarov replied.

      After that, the conversation turned to the claim that Gafarov allegedly sent 10 thousand dollars to the release editor to cover the costs of the interview. But this information was not confirmed. Then the conversation shifted to the relationship between Gafarov and Ravil Minnekhuzin.

      – If our interview hadn’t turned into some strange, inadequate scandal, I would have certainly asked Erik many more important questions. But I won’t be allowed to do that now, so I still want to ask him some of them now. I’m sure he will have the opportunity to answer them on his social networks, which he actively maintains, – Sobchak asked Gafarov a series of questions, addressing him through the video camera.

      Let us remind you that a new criminal case was opened against Gafarov related to the attack on the investor of the Gafarov&Partners financial pyramid, Maxim Kulagin. Photo: Evgeny Odinokov/RIA Novosti