Back in June 2019, I was served with a legal threat - a 'letter before court action' I think they call it in the world of law - by a law firm (Woods Whur) representing Yuri Lopatinsky (also known as Yuriy Lopatynskyy). The legal threat followed the publication of a report I wrote in February 2019 called '$cottish $camon' which was featured in The Ferret and The Sunday National. The letter was dated 30 May 2019 but it was not served on me - delivered to my home address by a legal representive who made me sign for it to prove that I had received the threat - until 28 June 2019. Here's the letter (I blackened out my address to stop salmon farmers from throwing rotten fish at my windows):
As a 'veteran' campaigner I'm used to legal threats and have fought more than my fair share of lawsuits (win, lose, draw and ongoing). To be honest, I read the Woods Whur letter a few times and then went back to the offending '$cottish $camon' report and did not see anything "ill-founded" or "defamatory". I did not consult with a lawyer and I did not remove the report as Woods Whur law firm had demanded. In March 2019, I'd even recorded a video outside Yuri Lopatinsky's properties in Charlotte Square in Edinburgh which quite literally surround the First Minister of Scotland's residence at Bute House.
I put the legal threat in a drawer and pretty much forgot all about Yuri Lopatinsky's legal threat - occasionally citing the letter in various blogs: in November 2020 when questioning the 'provenance' of Scottish salmon and in November 2021 when it was revealed that The Scottish Salmon Company had hired a private investigator to spy on Corin Smith and myself.
I didn't think much of Yuri Lopatinsky - especially since he had sold his ownership in The Scottish Salmon Company to Faroese/Norwegian giant Bakkafrost in 2019 for a profit of EUR 370 million - until I was phoned up last month by Gordon Blackstock of The Sunday Mail. To cut a long story short - the spy story is still being told with many more Russian skeletons to come out in the wash - it turns out that Yuri Lopatinsky is closely connected to the Russian security agencies, the FSB and SVR (the new KGB) and enough dirty Russian money and oligarchs to fill a Siberian gulag with. Here's the front page story published in The Sunday Mail (27 March 2022):
The photograph of Yuri Lopatinsky - confirmed by Bill Browder (who wrote about Yuri Lopatinsky as his Moscow broker in the first edition of his 2015 book 'Red Notice' - his name is mysteriously changed in the second edition you can buy in bookshops) - was sourced from this 2019 video from Joli Vin which also features Angus MacMillan (formerly an 'organic' salmon farmer in the Outer Hebrides):
Here's a video update explaining more about Yuri Lopatinsky's legal threat; Liam Byrne's outing of Lopatinsky as closely connected to Russian security agencies and money laundering revelations via the AVISMA fraud scandal:
Now it seems that Yuri Lopatinsky's lawyers have changed. Here's an email from Andrew Woods at Woods Whur:
From: Andrew Woods <andrew@woodswhur.co.uk>
Date: Wed, Apr 27, 2022 at 3:09 PM
Subject: RE: Lopatinsky's Laundromat (Part 2): Dishonour Among Thieves
To: Don Staniford <salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com>, Paddy Whur <paddy@woodswhur.co.uk>, Amanda Usher <Amanda@woodswhur.co.uk>, Christopher Rees-Gay <chris@woodswhur.co.uk>
Cc: Andrew Woods <andrew@woodswhur.co.uk>
Don
Further to the below I am e mailing to confirm that we do not act for/represent the above (However the surname is spelt) and he is not a client of the firm. Mr Thompson left the firm in November 2020.
Regards
Andrew
Andrew Woods
Woods Whur 2014 Ltd
Tel: +44 (0)113 234 3055
Mobile: 07738 170138
andrew@woodswhur.co.uk
St James House, 28 Park Place, Leeds LS1 2SP
This email was in response to:
From: Don Staniford [mailto:salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 26, 2022 11:16
To: Andrew Woods <andrew@woodswhur.co.uk>; Paddy Whur <paddy@woodswhur.co.uk>; Amanda Usher <Amanda@woodswhur.co.uk>; Colin Manchester <colin@woodswhur.co.uk>; Christopher Rees-Gay <chris@woodswhur.co.uk>
Subject: Lopatinsky's Laundromat (Part 2): Dishonour Among Thieves
Does Woods Whur still represent money launderer Yuri Lopatinsky?
A press release has just been issued via: Lopatinsky's Laundromat - More Dirt on the "Mysterious Millionaire Oligarch With Links to Russian Spy" & Russian spy agencies!
Download report in full via: Lopatinsky's Laundromat (Part 2): Dishonour Among Thieves (26 April 2022)
$camon Scotland sent a letter today to Scottish Ministers and the UK Government on the public monies trousered by Lopatinsky's companies:
Letter/FOI request to Scottish Ministers & UK Government on Public Monies Given to Yuri Lopatinsky's Companies
Tweet via: https://twitter.com/TheGAAIA/status/1518881702478761984
Best fishes,
Don
And this email:
Further to previous correspondence on Yuri Lopatinsky, I've drafted:
I emailed back via:
From:
Don Staniford <salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com>Date: Wed, Apr 27, 2022 at 4:31 PM
Subject: Re: Lopatinsky's Laundromat (Part 2): Dishonour Among Thieves
To: Andrew Woods <andrew@woodswhur.co.uk>
Cc: Paddy Whur <paddy@woodswhur.co.uk>, Amanda Usher <Amanda@woodswhur.co.uk>, Christopher Rees-Gay <chris@woodswhur.co.uk>
Thanks - but Woods Whur did act for Yuri Lopatinsky (Yuriy Lopatynskyy) in May 2019 when James Thompson sent the threatening letter?
What money laundering checks did Woods Whur carry out on your client Mr Lopatinsky/Lopatynskyy?
And here's the reply:
From: Andrew Woods <andrew@woodswhur.co.uk>
Date: Wed, Apr 27, 2022 at 6:14 PM
Subject: RE: Lopatinsky's Laundromat (Part 2): Dishonour Among Thieves
To: Don Staniford <salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com>
Cc: Paddy Whur <paddy@woodswhur.co.uk>, Amanda Usher <Amanda@woodswhur.co.uk>, Christopher Rees-Gay <chris@woodswhur.co.uk>, Andrew Woods <andrew@woodswhur.co.uk>
Don
I will not be providing any further information which is confidential. We do not act for or represent this person.
Regards
Andrew
Andrew Woods
Woods Whur 2014 Ltd
Tel: +44 (0)113 234 3055
Mobile: 07738 170138
andrew@woodswhur.co.uk
St James House, 28 Park Place, Leeds LS1 2SP
As if to hammer home the threatening point, Yuri Lopatinsky's solicitor James Thompson is an expert in the area of "violent and unnatural deaths". Here's a press release issued in October 2018 by Woods Whur:
Here's the LinkedIn profile of James Thompson:
Further information on the sinister nay spooky case of Yuri Lopatinsky was published yesterday (26 April 2022):
Yesterday (26 April 2022), $camon $cotland sent a letter to Scottish Ministers and the UK Government asking for more information on Yuri Lopatinsky including the amount of public monies given to his companies:
It seems that pressure is building against the 'Moscow broker'. The Ferret reported (27 March 2022):
Scottish Labour MSP Sarah Boyack told The Sunday Mail (27 March 2022): “This is a worrying revelation. Every effort must be made to counter the influence of Russian and Russian-aligned millionaires in Scotland and the rest of the UK.”
Here's Liam Byrne MP's comments under parliamentary privilege in the House of Commons on 17 January 2022:
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