The Aleksey Vayner story continued to erupt today, splattering its hot flow all over the internets and even onto a real, inky fingers newspaper. Here’s a quick rundown of all the latest news on Aleksey Vayner.
• Under the name Aleksey Garber, he was the subject of a withering profile in Yale’s Rumpus. [IvyGate]
• The New York Sun runs an article on the Vayner video. Not much by way of new facts here but notable because the story has now officially broken out of the confines of the internet and email forwards. [New York Sun]
• Vayner is sending out cease and desist letters to bloggers posting his photos and video. [IvyGate]
• A woman who seems to be Vayner’s sister was profiled on CNN Money a year and a half ago. She’s a real-estate investor and seems as enamored as Aleksey with motivational speaking. [CNNMoney.com]
• IvyGate calls Vayner the “Lord of Lies” in an item citing “Vayner's fraudulent investment firm,” “Vayner's fraudulent charity,” and “Vayner's fraudulent book about the Holocaust.” Here’s what they say. The firm: might not exist at all, Aleksey seems to lack proper licensing and may have plagiarized the firm’s website. The charity: probably totally bogus and sports a seal of approval from a charity rating organization that it never earned and has been asked to remove. The book: entire section seems copied from an encyclopedia. [Ivy Gate]
• Aleksey Vayner is super popular...on FaceBook. He's got 743 friends!
Anyone know Aleksey? Or have more stories about him? Send them to tips (at) dealbreaker (dot) com.
[Previous DealBreaker coverage of Aleksey Vayner]
Posted by Dan Bush , Oct 09, 2006 1:49PM
Did you bench that weight? No. No you didn't. Tell me that you, a little twit, benched in the four hundred range. Go ahead and throw lies my way. You're a shrimp. My sister has more body mass than you. I am 21. I have been bodybuilding for 4 years. I just was able to get up 410X4 about a week ago. There is no way. Also, congats on your SUCCSESSFUL ruining of your IBD chances.
Posted by TimThompson , Oct 09, 2006 2:03PM
Yikes, Dan. Maybe you should cut down on the 'roids until you get that temper back under control.
Posted by Nate , Oct 09, 2006 2:32PM
I think his bogus charity (detailed here: http://www.ivygateblog.com/blog/2006/10/lord_of_the_lies_aleksey_vayner_outdoes_himself.html) is the worst part. It looks like he was illegally collecting funds under the guise of community improvement and the name of a legitimate group.
It's one thing if he's an arrogant douchebag, it's another if he's a thief.
Posted by Mike , Oct 09, 2006 3:20PM
This is by far the funniest Aleksey bio on any of his websites (this one from his charity site). Read it!
http://www.empowerachild.org/web/aleksey.php
Posted by Dan Bush , Oct 09, 2006 4:26PM
And there is no way he put up the 140s on an incline. Putting up 140 dumbells on an incline bench is like putting up 310 on incline. 310 on incline bench can be equated to 350-360 bench. No way. This kid's world is falling down on him. This shit gives us Ivy prospective bankers bad names.
Posted by WildGorillaMan , Oct 09, 2006 4:52PM
I posted the video link on the weightlifting board I co-admin, expecting him to get torn apart by the forum's goonimals for the pathetic 495 "bench press" with his ass wrestler-bridging in the air, and three "spotters" shrugging the weight for him.
http://powerandbulk.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=15345
Sadly, internet fakers are a dime a dozen these days, and the vid didn't elicit a single *yawn* or *WTLW*
Posted by sftrader , Oct 09, 2006 10:09PM
I patiently waited all weekend, quietly preparing a multitude of quirky responses to Alexey, for all my friends at Dealbreaker to laff at. I crafted haikus to Alexey, UBS replies to his resume, thank you letters from graduates of Empower a Child - and yet here on Monday night I still sit as naked as Alexey did when he came to our great nation with only a copy of "Think and Grow Rich" tucked under his arm.
Therefore Dealbreaker, I must now admit that I have no words that are commensurate with Alexey's antics. This is the funniest thing I have ever seen.
Thanks Dealbreaker- I am normal
Posted by Some Guy , Oct 10, 2006 9:23AM
Dan Bush..
Wow.. Just wow.. Course the whole 410x4 sounds like utter BS also.
Posted by Whitey , Oct 10, 2006 9:36AM
this is an obvious joke albeit poorly executed.
funny how you question the weight but not the 140mph serve.
Posted by tj , Oct 10, 2006 2:21PM
Maybe this is only creepy to me, but his girlfriend listed on facebook would have just graduated highschool this past summer. Aleksey started at yale in 02 (i was a senior there at in his residential college and definitely remember him) which puts him a might bit older than her
Posted by AJ , Oct 10, 2006 2:30PM
Maybe I'm just a bad person, but the girlfriend looks sorta hot
Also assuming she must be absolutely retarded
Posted by tj , Oct 10, 2006 2:32PM
Maybe this is only creepy to me, but his girlfriend (listed on facebook) would have just graduated highschool this past spring (i was a senior in his residential college when he stated yale in 02 and definitely remember him) which means this worldy CEO/ProAthlete/ninja/massage therapist/model/philatropist also has a taste for the barely legal
Posted by dk , Oct 12, 2006 1:18PM
In spending several days following your articles on Mr. Vayner, it has come to mind that the people that should truly be ashamed of themselves are those who feel the need to smear someone in the same manner that is equivalent to tabloid magazines. Perhaps his approach is different than some and we all know that ignorant minds fear those who are different. If anyone reads anything about Mr. Vayner, perhaps they should know that he is an individual who has chosen a healthy life-style, is drug and alcohol free, does not buckle under peer pressure, exercises, studies and perhaps is an overachiever. Perhaps if all of you spend your time and energy more productively, Wallstreet MIGHT look at you. Perhaps he has made some mistakes, but that is how people learn. It really is time to focus on the real issues at hand in our world, hunger, diseases, poverty, etc.
Posted by In the Industry , Oct 12, 2006 2:45PM
DK...
If you had really being following this story you would have picked up a few major items of note. If AV has only made -- some might think -- an overly self-absorbed video, this would have been a very minor sensation and he would not have drawn quite so much attention to himself.
The fact is that he invented a fake charity, plagersized a novel and an essay on hedge funds, created a very fake investment firm and claimed to have ten years investing experience.
That makes his behaviour not only pathological, but potentially criminal. And he is old enough to know better.
I deal with charletons a lot in my particular field and if we can weed out a few of them before they go on to really hurt people and rip them off, I am all for it.
Posted by turk , Oct 12, 2006 3:56PM
I am utterly disgusted that this person exists and walks the same earth as I do.
I am also sad that he will live perhaps another 40 to 60 years, in which time he will abuse and rip off countless business associates/partners and destroy many people's lives.
Posted by Money river , Oct 13, 2006 2:27PM
He probably made his girlfriend's facebook page too c'mon this guy can't keep a girlfriend he lives in fantasy land he's a retard.