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Haute yacht: 197-foot feadship yacht paraffin listed for $57 million.

Haute Yachts , News

by Alison Cavatore

Formally owned by Mike Kittredge of Yankee Candle Company, Paraffin is a 197-foot yacht that is back on the market for $57 million.

Kittredge sold Yankee Candle Company in 1998 for $500 million and named his Feadship superyacht Paraffin. The extremely luxurious yacht was first launched in 2001 and subsequently refitted in 2010. Kittridge and his wife, Lisa, redid the yacht to maximize entertainment options by adding a small bar in the entry foyer, traditional raised panel mahogany interior, a 400 bottle wine cellar with storage for one glass per bottle, as 12-person gym, a steam room, a whirlpool, accommodation for 12 guests and 17 crew, a large bath outfitted in yellow Onice marble and heated floors, a large walk in closet, a full-beam VIP cabin (with an extra bed, games room, flat-screen TV and home movie system) and enough space for 20 to dine.

The large Master Suite spans the full beam of Paraffin on the main deck and all guest accommodations feature full CD/DVD/entertainment centers with video on demand. All rooms on board are totally sound-isolated from the hall to ensure vibration free quiet and privacy, even when the yacht is moving.

Fraser Yachts is now selling the yacht for $57 million.

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Feadship-superyacht-Paraffin

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Source: James List

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Class Matters

Old Nantucket Warily Meets the New

By Geraldine Fabrikant

• June 5, 2005

Correction Appended

NANTUCKET, Mass. - In spring, along with the daffodils, crowds on the ferry and workers raking the beaches, comes the ritual of real estate gossip. What properties changed hands over the winter? And who could possibly be paying those out-of-sight prices?

That 15-acre waterfront parcel for sale for $15 million? It was snatched up after only one day on the market. Turns out the purchaser was Steven Rales, the billionaire entrepreneur who owns at least 61 acres next door and bought the parcel to protect his privacy and waterfront views, said Dalton Frazier, a local real estate agent.

Have any other palatial estates expanded? Not so long ago H. Wayne Huizenga, the billionaire founder of Blockbuster and owner of the Miami Dolphins, wanted more elbow room and bought a neighboring house for $2.5 million. Richard Mellon Scaife, the publisher and heir to a banking fortune, bought an extra house too; he needed it for the staff.

The real estate frenzy, even in the dead of winter, is only the most visible reminder that over the past decade or so this 50-square-mile, fishhook-shaped island off the Cape Cod coast has come to be dominated by a new class: the hyper-rich. They emerged in the 1980's and 1990's, when tectonic shifts in the economy created mountains of wealth. They resemble the arrivistes of the Gilded Age, which began in the 1880's when industrial capitalists amassed staggering fortunes, except that there are so many of them and they seem to be relatively anonymous.

Like their precursors, they tend to be brash, confident and unapologetic. They feel they have earned their money, and they are not shy about spending it. They construct huge mansions, outdo one another in buying high-end status symbols like mega-yachts (100 years ago it was private railroad cars) and not infrequently turn to philanthropy. Their wealth is washing over the upper reaches of society as it did a century ago, bringing cultural and political clout as they take up positions on museum boards and organize presidential campaign fund-raising dinners.

And they seem unconcerned about being accepted by the old money. If the blue bloods want to mix with them, fine. But if not, the hyper-rich are content to stick with their kind. If they cannot join an exclusive country club, they form their own. They are very good at creating a self-enclosed world where the criterion for admission is not the Social Register, but money.

Once a low-key summer resort, Nantucket is rapidly turning into their private preserve, joining the ranks of other enclaves like Palm Beach, Aspen, the Hamptons and Sun Valley. Now that the hyper-rich have achieved a critical mass, property values have zoomed so high that the less-well-off are being forced to leave and the island is becoming nature's ultimate gated community.

"It's a castle with a moat around it," said Michael J. Kittredge, a 53-year-old entrepreneur who realized a fortune when he sold his Yankee Candle Company seven years ago for about $500 million. He was relaxing in the living room of his 10,000-square-foot house, which has a basement movie theater and a 2,000-bottle wine cellar. A separate residence a quarter-mile away houses staff members and a gym.

"Successful people want to be with other successful people," Mr. Kittredge said. "Birds of a feather," he added. "On Nantucket you don't feel bad because you want a nice bottle of wine. If you order a $300 bottle in a restaurant, the guy at the next table is ordering a $400 bottle."

Dressed in blue jeans and a pink button-down shirt, he looked across the breadth of his swimming pool at a spectacular water view. The island, he said, is rapidly dividing into two types of people: "the haves and the have-mores."

New-Fashioned Values

Nantucket, with its vistas overlooking cranberry bogs and more than 80 miles of beaches, has always had its share of rich people. In the first half of the 19th century, owners of whaling ships amassed fortunes from oil and built the still well-preserved Federalist and Greek Revival mansions on upper Main Street.

During the last century, Vanderbilts, Mellons, duPonts and other wealthy families built residences here. Over time, as inherited wealth smoothed the rough edges, their descendants morphed into American high society and evolved a signature style of living based on understatement and old-fashioned patrician values.

Some of the scions of these older families are still here. They spend their time sailing, playing tennis and sometimes recalling the halcyon days of crossing the moors behind packs of beagles to hunt down rabbits. The mix of the old aristocratic families and the hyper-rich often plays out as a none-too-subtle tug of war between class and money.

Nina Chandler Murray, an 85-year-old relative of the Poor family from Standard & Poor's, the investment credit rating firm, is convinced that the world of the elite was more genteel in the old days.

"Coming from a New England background, you had a honed discipline of what was expected," Dr. Murray, a psychologist, said over iced tea and chocolate chip cookies on the porch of her hillside home above the harbor. "Showing off money was a sin. It was not that status was not important, but marriage was very closely controlled and predetermined, and everyone knew where everyone else fit."

A family name alone was enough to place someone in the pecking order. Wealthy people dressed down. Women eschewed heavy jewelry. The uniform for a man was a plain shirt, faded "Nantucket red" Bermuda shorts and Topsiders. Now, Dr. Murray suggested, the rule is: If you've got it, flaunt it.

"What has happened in America is that achievement is so important that everyone wants everyone else to know what they have done," she continued. "And in case you don't know, they want to tell you with a lethal combination of houses, cars and diamonds."

Dr. Murray was appalled at a recent dinner party when a woman leaned over to her and said, "My husband paid $250,000 to join the golf club, and he doesn't even play golf."

Work Hard, Spend Hard

Mr. Kittredge, who began his candle-making business at age 16 in his mother's kitchen and says he was raised in a "lower-class to lower-middle-class" home, holds attitudes typical of many of the newcomers. When prodded he will say that he worked hard for his money and that others can do the same. He is unapologetic about spending it lavishly and says that he has paid his dues in the form of taxes, which he estimates at $500 million so far. He also says that the chasm between the old-timers and the newcomers is inevitable.

"Money makes a lifestyle," he said. "It creates a division between the old money and the new. It is a little bit of class jealousy. We go to a cocktail party and a guy is telling my wife about his airplane. So finally the question comes up: 'How do you get over to the island?' and she says, 'We come by plane.' And he says, 'What kind of plane?' and she says, 'A G-IV.' And so the wind comes out of the guy's sails."

"The old money guy has a twin-prop airplane and that is pretty incredible," Mr. Kittredge continued. "For his time, that is pretty great. Now he is talking to a guy who is half his age who has a transcontinental jet. That is the end of the conversation.

"Or you meet someone and they start telling you about their boat. He has a 45-foot boat and he is very happy with it. Then he'll say, 'Do you have a boat?' And you say, 'Yes.' 'Well, what kind of boat do you have?' And you say, 'A Fed Ship.' And he says, 'How big is it?' That's how people rank them. So I have to say, 'It's 200 feet.' It's the end of the conversation. Is there envy? Yes, could be. Was he a wealthy guy in his day? Absolutely, but relative to today -- no. The two worlds can mix as long as they don't talk too much."

The accouterments of wealth play a different role for the old-money clans than they do for the new wealthy, says Nelson W. Aldrich Jr., author of "Old Money."

"For many self-made men," Mr. Aldrich said, "homes, boats and even membership in expensive clubs are trophy signs of wealth. But for the older money, a boat may well be part of a tableau that has to do with family, with his grandparents and his children. It is part of his identity. If he walked away from the conversation, it was because he thought he was talking about his boat as part of his life. Instead he found he was talking about money, and he doesn't like being reminded that he lives in a competitive world."

Over time, some say, the new money will not prove much different. "Ultimately, the new money becomes as insular as the old money because it gains the power to exclude," said Michael Thomas, a novelist who, like his father, was a partner at Lehman Brothers and whose mother came from an old New England family. "Once you have the power to exclude, you have what people have been seeking in old money."

The single greatest change brought by the hyper-rich is in the cost of housing. The average Nantucket house price last year jumped 26 percent, to $1.672 million, said H. Flint Ranney, a veteran real estate broker.

Last fall one waterfront residence, with its own elevator, wine cellar, theaters and separate guesthouse, sold for $16 million, the year's record.

"Shame has somehow gone out the window," Mr. Thomas said. "There is no incentive to exercise control."

A handful of the new affluent indulge their fantasies with gusto. Michael S. Egan, the founder of Alamo Rent-a-Car, built his own baseball field, complete with a batting cage and stands. Roger Penske, the automotive tycoon and former race car driver, tussled for months with the Historic District Commission until he finally won permission to build a faux lighthouse that joins the two wings of his multimillion-dollar home. The investment banker Robert Greenhill likes to fly his Cessna jet to the Nantucket airport or his Cessna seaplane to his waterfront dock.

The rise in real estate values has, of course, benefited many of the old-timers. With some of their fortunes eroding, they find they are sitting on an extremely valuable asset, a realization that adds a touch of ambivalence to their protests against changes that are all too obvious.

One such change is at the airport. On high summer weekends, more than 250 Challengers, Gulfstreams and Citations a day might land there, vying for parking spaces. Some jets drop off passengers for a round of golf and whisk them away after.

In easternmost Siasconset, the gray-shingled fishermen's cottages that occupied the corners of plots of sea grass and wildflowers are giving way to mansions in private cul-de-sacs. Here and there hedges have sprouted up, tall as windsurfers, to partition the property parcels. They separate the community, contributing to the ineffable sense that something familiar and precious about the ethos of the island is disappearing.

"At least one new family has built a hedge to avoid people seeing them as they pass by," said Wade Green, 72, who has summered here for years. "Those open paths had an old-fashioned elegance to them. It is part of an old and fading spirit of community. Blocking them off is an unfriendly and antipublic thing to do."

Not all the changes here are striking. Downtown, with its cobblestone streets and absence of traffic lights, could still pass as a quaint New England fishing village. But some harbingers horrify the old-timers: upscale restaurants, boutique windows displaying expensive designer jewelry and the arrival of the first ever chain store, a Ralph Lauren shop.

On the sidewalks, class speaks through clothes. "The old money wears Lily Pulitzer, J. McLaughlin and CK Bradley," said one saleswoman, who wanted her name withheld to avoid offending customers. "They wear gold hoops, and if they buy new jewelry it is pearls or they upgrade their diamond rings. The new money wears Juicy Couture, Calypso and big necklaces. They even go to different restaurants. The old people go to 21 Federal and the new people go to the Pearl. They don't want to mix. They want to show off for each other."

But the lines cross. A handful of the hyper-rich gravitate toward Lily Pulitzer to give themselves a blue-blood look. And some pedigreed teenagers lust for Juicy Couture.

Daisy Soros, wife of the harbor designer Paul Soros and sister-in-law of the financier George Soros, has been coming to Nantucket since the 1960's, an era when few women, new money or old, dressed up. She thinks that the newcomers are beginning to influence the culture.

"Everybody is building monster houses now, and they are all dressing up," Mrs. Soros said. "Now even I wear Manolos," she added with a laugh.

Some say that too much is being made of all these distinctions. "The only people who are truly class conscious," said Roger Horchow, who realized his fortune when he sold his catalog business to Neiman Marcus in 1988 for $117 million, "are the second tootsie wives of men with big bankrolls."

Why Wait? Build a New One

When there is a division between the old and the new, it is apt to express itself on the most time-honored of battlefields: the putting green, the tennis court or the marine berth.

The existing clubs are still the preserves of the old wealth, but new clubs are springing up to welcome newcomers, as well as some longtime residents who grew impatient with waiting lists. For years the Sankaty Head Golf Club had a waiting list that seemed to extend for decades. So in 1995, Edmund A. Hajim, an investment banker in Manhattan, and others created the Nantucket Golf Club, assiduously designed to look as if it had been around forever. It became such a hit that its list is now full, too, even at a cost of $325,000 (80 percent reimbursable upon departure), as opposed to the $30,000 it costs to join Sankaty Head.

In the same way, the old Nantucket Yacht Club has spawned a rival, the Great Harbor Yacht Club. About 300 families have already bought memberships, which now cost $300,000.

Some Nantucketers applaud the new clubs.

"Why shouldn't they start a club if they can't get into the old ones," said Letitia Lundeen, who was raised in the social whirl of New York and Washington and now runs an antiques store here.

The resentment of new money riles Liz Petkevich, whose husband, J. Misha Petkevich, an investment banker and former Olympic figure skater, helped found the new yacht club.

Her husband worked hard for what he achieved, she said. "Does that mean we are better than anyone else? No. But we should not be penalized because we cannot get into the old yacht club."

In the old days, the clubs were homogenous and dominated by white Anglo-Saxon Protestant families.

"When I first came here it was the tail end of the 'grande dame' era," said David L. Hostetler, a sculptor, who arrived in 1971. "The place was dominated by WASP women in Bermuda shorts. There were hardly any Jews."

Today the island's elite is diversified enough to support a synagogue where membership has reached 250 families and where the yarmulke worn during services is Nantucket red and decorated with miniature whales.

One place where the old and the new do mix is charity events. As in cultural and philanthropic institutions from San Francisco to New York City, the old money has made room at the table for the new money to replenish the coffers. There are more and more fund-raising events, and they are no longer the low-key affairs they once were. Last year the annual cocktail party and auction for the Nantucket Historical Association instituted valet parking and a classical quartet in black tie.

Some appreciate the infusion of money and energy that the newcomers have brought. "The old money doesn't like to spend money because they worry about whether they can make it again," Ms. Lundeen said. "Even when they can spend it, they often think it's vulgar and unnecessary. The newcomers have brought the island up to par with their demands."

Everything New Is Old

Old-time Nantucketers are given to trading what one of them called "barbarian stories." Did you hear that Rick Sherlund, a Goldman Sachs partner, annoyed some of his neighbors when he hired Jackson Browne to entertain at his anniversary party? Or that Jon Winkelried, another Goldman Sachs partner, had the nerve to close off a small road that people had been using for as long as anyone can remember? Or that Louis V. Gerstner, the former I.B.M. chief executive, hired a Boston litigator to help him push through a plan for a large new house on his $11 million waterfront plot?

Aggressive behavior, Dr. Murray said, is natural to the species. "And after all, why should they give it up?" she said. "Look where it has gotten them. That is exactly how they made their money."

One Nantucketer was L. Dennis Kozlowski, the former chief executive of Tyco International, on trial a second time on charges of criminal larceny, accused of looting the company of tens of millions of dollars. His lavish New York apartment, with its $6,000 shower curtain, became a symbol of the over-the-top corporate lifestyle.

To some, the multimillion-dollar party that Mr. Kozlowski gave on Sardinia to celebrate his wife's birthday -- replete with a vodka-spewing ice sculpture fashioned after Michelangelo's "David" -- was a modern echo of the lavish celebrations of the Gilded Age.

Subtler distinctions between old and new money lie in the attitude toward work. The financier David Rubinstein bought a 15-acre waterfront property, tore down the existing house, as many wealthy buyers have done, and put up an 8,000-square-foot home. The stunning view lets him watch the sun rise and set, and yet he has boasted to friends that he spends only 12 days a year here; a rock on his front lawn reads: "I'd rather be working."

Robert E. Torray, who is a co-manager of a mutual fund family and has been flying here on his company's Gulfstream since the 1980's, is either on the golf course or working the phone in his cranberry red library. He likes it here because there are Wall Street moguls everywhere and wherever he goes he can talk business.

That is hardly the attitude of some veteran summer residents, who find comfort in the thought that they can occasionally be fogged in without worrying about the office. For them, being rich means a license to break schedules and to play. "If you are working," said Nicki Gamble, whose husband, Richard, is an heir to the Proctor & Gamble fortune, "it is very nerve-racking. The way to be here is not to be working."

Caught by a Boom

The high cost of housing is squeezing middle-class people off the island.

The former principal of Nantucket High School, Paul Richards, and his wife, Martina, a nurse, moved last year to Needham, Mass., after renting here for five years. "The expense of that together with having two little children made a home beyond reach," Mr. Richards said. "It was frustrating to be driven away from two jobs that we very much enjoyed, but a starter home for our family would have cost over $600,000."

Linda Finney Williams, administrator of the Nantucket Zoning Board of Appeals, who has a 19-year-old son in college and an older daughter in law school, said, "I'm hanging on by my fingernails."

"The cost of living has risen so much that it's very hard on us."

The demand for labor is so great that every weekday roughly 400 workers fly in from the mainland for construction, gardening, plumbing and other services. The commute may be a nuisance, but the money makes it worthwhile. It also explains why building is so expensive; the additional costs are passed along to customers.

John Sheehan, a 65-year-old construction worker who rises every day at 4:30 a.m. to catch a plane from Hyannis, does not complain. "I have always been in the lower-middle-class area," Mr. Sheehan said. "But the times are good for me now. I'm making more money than I ever did and I'm living more comfortably."

To try to stem the outflow of workers the Nantucket Housing Office, a private nonprofit group, has proposed a one-time "McMansion" tax of $8 per square foot on any construction space exceeding 3,000 square feet.

The bill has several more hurdles, but if it is approved, the proceeds would be used to build housing for families making $120,825 a year or less.

Some real estate agents worry that the hyper-rich will resent the tax, but so far wealthy homebuilders seem to regard it as a pittance compared with the other costs they incur.

Despite the money to be made, some shop owners and other locals miss the way the island used to be.

Though she applauds their self-confidence, Ms. Lundeen, the antiques dealer, says she is sometimes appalled by what she considers the cavalier ignorance of some women who are suddenly rich. "They don't want to learn," she said. "I had a monogrammed tray and when I proposed it to a customer, she said, 'Why would I want other people's monograms?' These women have never inherited anything."

Robin Bergland, a young florist who moved here from Manhattan, has stopped providing flowers for weddings. "The final straw was a wedding where a Wall Street executive tried to bill me for the wedding gown and medical expenses," she said. "He charged that the roses I used to decorate their party tent ruined the hem of the bride's dress and caused her aunt to trip and break her leg.

"I got threatening phone calls daily. I was terrified until I gave the case to my lawyer and they went away. There's no question it was unlikely to have happened five years ago."

The old summer people "used to try and fit in," said Arlene Briard, a taxi driver who has lived here 35 years. "They didn't want to differentiate themselves by class or by a look that said how much money I have. When I sold TV Guides to people, I'd walk into a house, sit down and have a lemonade with people or play tennis with them at the yacht club. Now they get in my taxi and find a way to tell me that they belong to the Nantucket Golf Club.

"Class has a certain grace," Ms. Briard said. "Just because you can go to Chanel and buy a dress does not mean you have class. A person who just pays their bills on time can have class."

About the Series

These articles are the ninth part of a series examining the role of social class in America today. A team of reporters spent more than a year exploring ways that class -- defined as a combination of income, education, wealth and occupation -- influences destiny in a society that likes to think of itself as a land of unbounded opportunity.

Wednesday: From Gatsby to Seinfeld

ON THE WEB: nytimes.com/class

A longtime resident, a real estate agent, a historian, an airport manager and an innkeeper talk about life among the hyper-rich on Nantucket. Also, interactive graphics, a forum for reader responses and the series so far.

Class Matters Correction: June 10, 2005, Friday A front-page article on Sunday about the life of the rich in Nantucket and a front-page article on June 1 about affluent families who often relocate because of their employment both misspelled the name of a clothing brand emblematic of the upper middle class. It is Lilly Pulitzer, not Lily.

Correction: June 23, 2005, Thursday A front-page article on June 5 about the life of the rich in Nantucket referred incorrectly to a type of yacht owned by some. It is a Feadship -- that is, from the Feadship yards in the Netherlands -- not a Fed ship.

Michael Kittredge II, Candle Pioneer and Philanthropist, Dies At 67

Michael Kittredge II, the founder of Yankee Candle Company in South Deerfield, Massachusetts, has died after several years of failing health.

The self-made business leader was known as an innovator and philanthropist, as well as a fun dad and generous friend. 

Though Kittredge would become a legendary business giant before the age of 50, his beginnings were humble.

He grew up poor in South Hadley in a “very much a rags-to-riches story of the American dream,” according to his son, Michael Kittredge III.

As a teenager in the late 1960s, Kittredge worked in a burger joint while learning how to make candles from melted crayons in his basement. His parents had little faith in his plan to create a candle company.

“They just wanted him to take the safe road. Be a janitor. [They'd say,] 'Cut this candle stuff out. What are you doing with that?'” said his son, Michael. “Initially, all he wanted to do was save enough money to buy a cool car and maybe impress a girl someday.”

He went quite a bit further than that, transforming the Yankee Candle Company into one of the biggest employers in Franklin County and one of the most prolific candle producers in the world -- known especially for scented candles.

"Prior to him doing that, scented candles existed. They just were more of a novelty and they were more of an, ‘Oh, that's funny. [It] smells a little bit like root beer,” said the younger Kittredge. “But he put the maximum amount of fragrance in and kind of created a whole 'nother industry of household fragrance.”

Kittredge also pioneered a type of experiential shopping, attaching a Christmas and toy store to the candle shop, including a replica of a Bavarian village that he had once visited in Germany. 

“It’s recognized as one of the most active tourist attractions in the commonwealth,” said Diana Szynal, executive director of the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce. “It certainly has had an impact also on other businesses in the area. And it means that Franklin County is recognized as a destination.”

Szynal also happened to get her first job at Yankee Candle in the 1980s, and remembers Kittredge as a friendly, hands-on boss.

“I can remember him taking a small group of us sales associate out to Fitzwilly’s in Northampton one night, and just getting a table and some appetizers and just chatting with us," she said.

Kittredge was known for a personal, charismatic style of management. At one legendary company breakfast, his son Michael said, Kittredge intentionally placed a piece of trash in the middle of the crowd.

“Most people would go by and not pick up the garbage, but one person stopped and picked it up and they looked at it and it had a note on it from him,” he said. “And the person who picked it up got a big cash prize in front of everybody at the breakfast.”

In many ways, the company was Kittredge’s family, his son said, “because he lost his parents pretty early on before they got to see his successes."

Kittredge ran the company until he sold it in 1998 for a reported $500 million. His son Michael said that's when the family began to live more luxuriously. 

“He wanted to make our lives so much better than what he had as a child growing up,” he said.

Kittredge would rent the Batmobile -- the one from Hollywood -- for his children's birthday parties. He owned dozens of vintage cars, a yacht, a private jet and an elaborate wine cellar in their house.

His longtime friend Rob Cohn said much of Kittredge’s lifestyle stemmed directly from his modest youth.

“He would tell me stories about Thanksgiving when his aunt told him he was eating too many shrimp, and these shrimp were like the tiniest little shrimp you’ve ever seen,” Cohn said. “So when Mike started having parties, the shrimp were so big, they [required] four or five bites.”

Still, there was enough wealth left over that Kittredge gave a lot of it away. He became a major philanthropist around western Massachusetts. He donated large sums of money to institutions such as Holyoke Community College and Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton, which both named buildings after him.

Szynal said Kittredge bought an ambulance and police cruiser for South Deerfield, as a way to compensate for the town services his company used.

He also bought expensive gifts for close friends, according to Cohn, who said his own house is full of furniture and artwork given to him by Kittredge.

“He was so well guided by his past and present and what he could do for others,” Cohn said. “It gave him more joy than Santa Claus.”

Kittredge had three marriages and three children, and in his later years, he helped his son start another candle company, Kringle Candle, in Bernardston. 

Kittredge also struggled with serious health problems, including several bouts of cancer and a disabling stroke in 2012. He died July 24 from liver failure.

Kittredge's son Michael said he plans to carry on with the lessons he learned from his father, in business and in life.

“He liked to make everything fun,” he said. “If it wasn't fun, it wasn't worth doing.”

Michael Kittredge II was 67 years old.

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The Fun Factor

This article has previously been published in the 18th edition of PILOT.

In the year 2000 Feadship came up with a new slogan: ‘There are yachts and there are Feadships’. Obvious to those who recognise the truth of the statement, getting this motto accepted by the no-nonsense Feadship directors was not so easy. As a member of the Feadship board then and now, Dick van Lent decided to call a Feadship owner to ask his opinion...

When the slogan ‘there are yachts and there are Feadships’ landed on my desk, my initial reaction was that it was too arrogant. That evening I called my friend Michael Kittredge, for whom we were on the point of completing the build of the 60-metre Feadship Paraffin. Mike was renowned for his exceptional understanding of marketing within his own line of business, and I had seen first-hand how good he was with people and presentations. His answer was clear: ‘If clients don't feel comfortable with this slogan then they’re probably not Feadship clients.’ I was convinced. 

I often get asked what the essence of a Feadship is. People expect me to start talking about quality and the ways that Feadship has managed to consistently set standards to which the rest of the luxury motoryacht industry aspires. Or to name-drop some of the many incredible projects with which I’ve been involved since starting at the Feadship Kaag Island yard in 1974. There is, of course, much I could write on these points, but for me the essence of the Feadship experience can be summed up in this story about the slogan. 

Close friendships

It was no coincidence that I had become such good friends with Michael Kittredge during a build. Throughout the decades, the Van Lent, De Vries and De Voogt families have struck up some close relationships with many owners. The warmth of the informal contacts between clients, their families and the Feadship directors and project managers is a very important part of the success of any build. Feadship directors have attended weddings, been present at christenings, even gone on holiday with clients that became pals. 

I once went to the fiftieth birthday party of one of our clients... In New Zealand!

Convivial atmosphere

These first meetings are also a great time to get to know each other. Many of the meetings involved in turning ideas from creative dreams to on-paper reality have happened in our Tante Kee restaurant opposite the yard, as well as at similar venues close to the other Feadship yards in Aalsmeer and Makkum. There are serious benefits to be accrued when multi-million-euro projects are conducted in a convivial atmosphere. I cannot stress enough the importance of owner involvement in a successful project. The more you do together, the cosier it becomes and the more you go on to create. If there are two things that set Feadship apart they are the resources we use – both material and human – and the enjoyment that owners have building with us. 

Honest and frank

The Dutch are known for their frankness and you shouldn't believe those who say anything is possible on a superyacht. It's not – we will make sure that a Feadship is comfortable and safe, and if the client’s ideas might compromise that comfort or safety then we’re not afraid to say ‘no’. The same applies to keeping to budgets and schedules: It is part of the experience at Feadship to also know that your boat will be ready on time at the price you agreed. 

Adding value

The fun part of a Feadship build is also that every owner is doing his own thing. Each Feadship benefits enormously from these individual touches. Our role is to build custom superyachts but we cannot do that if the owners don’t have original ideas. Open a yacht magazine and every yard claims to be a bespoke builder: the truth is that there are very few of us left. 

There are yachts and there are Feadships.

Personal business

Building a Feadship is a personal business. The client who was here yesterday said “I always want to make sure that I can always look my clients in the eye.” And I replied that we are the same. We are, of course, quality-driven, but Feadship also prides itself on being relationship- driven and service-driven. People think they can buy everything for money, but it’s very hard to ‘buy’ a truly memorable experience. That is why we put so much effort, energy and creativity into this aspect. 

Social occasion

After the initial meeting we spent a good year working on possible designs and features. The owners really took the time to do everything their way and we had an exciting time with lots of social occasions with their children and friends. Once the hull was completed at the Feadship yard in Rotterdam it had to be transported to the yard on Kaag Island. The owners and a party of friends wanted to watch the hull as it passed the locks at Gouda. So we arranged a meeting to have breakfast together with members of the Feadship team in the historic city centre. A truck then arrived containing forty bicycles and they had great fun cycling along to watch the hull arrive and go through the dock. 

Meet Moon Sand in all her glory

Feadship owners look forward to disappearing act

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Friends, family remember late Yankee Candle founder Michael Kittredge

BERNARDSTON — Family and friends, employees and acquaintances — the scores of people who honored Michael J. Kittredge II over the weekend recalled a man who always thought of others first.

On Saturday, an open house memorial was held for the late Yannkee Candle Co. founder at Kringle Candle Company, owned by Kittredge’s 29-year-old son, Michael J. “Mick” Kittredge III. Michael Kittredge died unexpectedly of liver failure in July at age 67.

According to Mick Kittredge, his father represented the American Dream, having grown Yankee Candle from a small business at his family’s South Hadley home to a “household name” brand that employed thousands of people. However, to Mick Kittredge and the many others who attended the memorial Saturday, Michael Kittredge should be remembered for much more than his success.

“Yankee Candle is the story that most people want to hear about — Yankee Candle is a household name now,” Mick Kittredge said. “But the thing that I keep hearing from people is, whether they knew him or were security at his company or workers, he made them feel like the most important person in the room.”

Mick Kittredge said his father’s deep care for his workers drove his success as a businessman, and Mick Kittredge hopes to emulate that trait. He recalled his father doing things like anonymously funding a “make-a-wish” for an employee’s sick child.

“The company could not have grown as much as it did without motivated employees,” Mick Kittredge said. “I try to be like Dad as much as I can, but no one can be like him. He left impossible shoes to fill.”

With about 100 people gathered at Kringle Candle’s Country Barn Saturday afternoon, Mick Kittredge said many people came who he didn’t even know, and others who came said they didn’t know his father. Throughout the day, crowds gathered in front of a slide show display of Michael Kittredge doing what he loved, including traveling and playing musical instruments — at one end of the room was a floral display with a photo of Michael Kittredge happily playing a slick blue electric guitar.

“He had the most wonderful sense of humor,” said Susan Clopton, who met Michael Kittredge in 2000 when they began serving on the Bement School board of trustees in Deerfield.

Article continues after...

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Clopton said she will remember Michael Kittredge as having a strong collaborative nature when it came to getting things done. He was easy to work with, felt responsible for the school’s children and valued others’ work and input, she said.

Upstairs at the Country Barn, others stood in front of a camera and recorded short video clips of thoughts and memories of Michael Kittredge — the video clips will not be published or released, but will be made into a video for the family, including Mick Kittredge and Michael Kittredge’s two other children, Kylie, 15, and Casey, 13.

“Not many people say things like, ‘I love my boss,’” Kylie Kittredge said. “I think that’s what made him unique. I get to say, ‘That’s my dad.’”

Kylie added that while the occasion was a sad one, it was inspiring to see how many people came to recount nice memories of her father.

“All of them have in common that they all loved my dad,” she said.

Reach David McLellan at [email protected] or 413-772-0261, ext. 268.

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The CEO Bought a Yacht?

Then it’s time to sell..

Bill Miller has compiled an astonishing long-term record as manager of the Legg Mason Value Trust . He is one of the only big-time mutual-fund managers to have beaten the S&P 500 for 15 years running. But as Barron’s reported on Saturday, his streak is in danger. Through yesterday, according to Morningstar , the fund was down 10.14 percent, compared with a 2.78 percent gain for the S&P 500. Miller has clearly been the victim of some bad luck and poor stock selection. But Barron’s offered an alternative theory why Miller is flagging: This summer he bought a humongous yacht.

When someone who’s supposed to be looking out for public shareholders is instead mulling over wallpaper samples for staterooms, it’s time to sell. The yacht has long been the classic indicator of someone who has so much money that he doesn’t need to make any more. Unlike a jet, which can speed busy executives to their offices efficiently, a yacht has no useful purpose. And who has time to play with such an over-the-top toy? Someone who doesn’t work weekends figuring out how to make money for other people. A classic 1940 investment book, aimed at debunking the practices of Wall Street, was called Where Are the Customers’ Yachts? Today, you should ask: Where are the shareholders’ yachts? If you look at the recent record of CEOs who have become yachtsmen, it’s clear that when they buy a boat, it’s the shareholders who usually get soaked.

Check out Power & Motoryacht ’s list of the 100 largest U.S. yachts , connect them to the CEOs or chairmen of publicly held companies or mutual-fund managers who own them, and then see how their companies and funds have performed since the vessel was acquired. (For the consumer-porn voyeurs out there, the magazine also compiles a list of the largest yachts in the world .)

The largest boat in the United States, Rising Sun , belongs to Oracle founder and CEO Larry Ellison . It was completed in 2004, and it is 452 feet long. Here’s a chart of Oracle’s stock against the S&P 500 since January 2004—a slight underperformance.

The second-largest American yacht, Octopus , completed in 2003, belongs to Paul Allen , the co-founder of Microsoft who left the company in the early 1980s and has acquired an eclectic group of assets, including the Seattle Seahawks and the Portland Trail Blazers . Allen also owns the fourth-largest American yacht, the 300-foot Tatoosh , built in 2000. Since 1998, Allen has been chairman of the board of publicly held cable company Charter Communications . During Allen’s boat-buying spree, Charter’s stock has been a disaster : It has lost about 90 percent of its value since January 2000. Since the beginning of 2003, the stock has basically remained flat , in large part because, at about $1.40, it literally can’t fall much more.

Ron Perelman, the financier who has long headed the publicly held cosmetics giant Revlon, checks in at No. 26 on the list, with the 188-foot Ultima III , which he bought in 1998. Alas, Revlon since 1998 has been a Titanic (the boat, not the movie) . It has lost more than 90 percent of its value since its corporate chieftain became a maritime captain. And it’s hard not to reach the conclusion that Allen and Perelman regard both yachting and running public companies as expensive hobbies, not as their life’s work. That may be very entertaining for them, but it’s costly for their shareholders.

(This year’s list doesn’t include one former fixture on the list. In 2000, hard-charging Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski bought a 130-foot sailing yacht, Endeavor . In June 2002, Kozlowski was forced to step down amid charges of corruption; he was convicted last year. As this chart shows, from the beginning of 2000 until Kozlowski’s resignation, Tyco’s stock fell nearly 70 percent.)

There are some exceptions to the Yacht of Doom Rule. Leslie Wexner, chairman and CEO of Limited Brands , has owned the nation’s third-largest boat, the 315-foot Limitless (get it?), since 1997. The stock of the parent company of the Limited and Victoria’s Secret has done remarkably well in the last nine years . Andrew McKelvey, the CEO of Monster.com , in 2005 purchased the 160-foot Discovery , and his stock has done well . Michael Kittredge, founder and chairman emeritus of Yankee Candle Company, has owned Parrafin (No. 18) since 2001, and the company’s stock has handily outpaced the S&P 500 since then.

In the end, the results are less than heartening. The successes in the bunch don’t come close to making up for the disasters. Does the yacht warning mean investors should dump shares in Bill Miller’s Legg Mason Value Trust? No. It’s very difficult for small individual investors to find managers with excellent long-term records. And Miller’s long-term record is still phenomenal. Besides, there are signs that his approach to yacht ownership differs from those of Allen and Perelman. Many gazillionaires are content to see their boats and crew sit idle while they party elsewhere. Miller, according to Barron’s , plans to rent his vessel out for charters. After all, he’s a value investor.

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Yankee Candle Founder Michael Kittredge Had an Impressive Net Worth

Michael Kittredge had a net worth at least in the hundreds of millions, possibly even $2 billion, as the Yankee Candle founder.

Sep. 2 2022, Published 11:20 a.m. ET

Michael Kittredge, who made a fortune from his company Yankee Candle , died in 2019 at the age of 67. A 60-acre portion of his Massachusetts estate has been listed for sale for $23 million. Kittredge started Yankee Candle Co. as a teenager and built it into a very successful company. What was Kittredge’s net worth upon his death?

Kittredge had said he made his first candle at age 16, melting crayons to make a present for his mother. When a neighbor liked the candle, she bought it from him and Kittredge began to build the business from there.

Michael Kittredge

Entrepreneur

Net worth: $2 billion (unconfirmed)

Michael Kittredge was the founder of Yankee Candle Co., which now has several hundred physical stores and a thriving online business. The company sells candles as well as other scented home items such as air fresheners, wax melts, room sprays, and various related accessories. Kittredge died in 2019, and a portion of his estate is now being offered for sale.

Birthdate : February 1, 1952

Birthplace : Holyoke, Mass.

Spouses : 3 (all divorced)

Children : 3 (1 son, 2 daughters)

Yankee Candle has hundreds of stores and sells well online.

Michael Kittredge made his wealth from founding the Yankee Candle Company.

Kittredge started The Yankee Candle Company, Inc. initially when he made a candle as a 1969 Christmas present for his mother. The teen rapidly began impressing neighbors with the product. The company website says it now has over 300 company-owned stores, plus significant online and catalog sales.

Although his net worth isn’t officially documented, some sources claim Kittredge was worth about $2 billion upon his death.

Kittredge had stepped away from the business in 1993 after a bout with cancer, and in 1998 he sold 90 percent of the company for $500 million to a private equity company, leaving behind the company he built after 29 years. That firm took Yankee Candle public a year later.

Kittredge helped his son, Michael "Mick" Kittredge III, found the Kringle Candle Company.

Michael "Mick" Kittredge III, son of the Yankee Candle founder, followed in his footsteps with the Kringle Candle Company.

Michael Kittredge’s luxury estate is listed for $23 million.

Although the home Kittredge had bought in 1984 was priced at $144,000 and only three bedrooms, the candle company founder converted it into a luxurious mansion and estate. As The Wall Street Journal reported, the elder Kittredge bought up surrounding properties and financed massive renovations. His son Mick Kittredge said, “It was like having Disneyland in the backyard.”

Mick estimated that his father spent about $50 million on updating the home and estate over time. Now it spans a 25,000-square-foot main house, two guesthouses of 4,000 square feet, a pool, a clubhouse, and two car barns.

Kittredge had an impressive car collection.

At the family estate, Kittredge built two car barns that hold a combined 80 vehicles. He had a car collection of vehicles that were all registered and ready to drive, though he lamented not having enough time to drive them all.

“Every car in here is a ‘statue’ to me, representing the best mankind has developed,” said Kittredge in an interview with The Chase Magazine . His first car, a gift from his parents, was a ‘59 Ford . He later collected a wide range of vehicles, including Porsches, Ferraris, Aston Martins, Jaguars, and Bentleys.

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‘Disneyland’ Leverett estate of Yankee Candle founder Michael J. Kittredge II for sale at $23 million

• Published: Sep. 01, 2022, 5:41 p.m.

10-13-11 - Bernardston- Republican staff photo by Don Treeger- The Kringle Candle Company is opening their Christmas Barn and Farm Table Restaurant. Here, Michael Kittredge II, shows candles in the company's line for men.

• Jim Kinney | [email protected]

LEVERETT — The home of Yankee Candle founder Michael J. Kittredge II has two car barns with space for a total of 80 classic cars, a concert space where Hall & Oates once performed, 16 bedrooms, a nine-hole golf course, pool, indoor water park and an two-story arcade.

All on 60-plus acres at 113 Juggler Meadow in the Franklin County town of Leverett, it could be yours for $23 million.

Three years after his death, Kittredge’s son, Michael J. “Mick” Kittredge III, who founded Kringle Candle in Bernardston with his father, is putting the property on the market. The news landed this week in major national publications, including The Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times, which headlined its story, “In Massachusetts, a candle mogul’s stunning spread lists for $23 million.”

The elder Kittridge founded Yankee Candle as a 17-year-old in the garage of his childhood home in South Hadley. He made his first candle out of melted crayons as a gift for his mother.

Kittredge built up the company to include a factory , warehouse, a Christmas wonderland flagship store in Deerfield and a network of mall storefronts across the country. He sold 90% of the Yankee Candle in 1998 for an estimated $500 million. He died in 2019 at 67 years old after suffering a debilitating stroke.

His son told The Wall Street Journal he’s selling the property because it’s simply too big for one person.

Kittredge said his parents bought what was originally a three-bedroom colonial-style home in Leverett for $144,000 in 1984. Then, over the years, the elder Kittredge built and added land, eventually amassing more than 60 acres in Leverett and Amherst.

What evolved was a fantasy just as whimsical as the flagship store.

“It was like having Disneyland in the backyard,” Mick Kittredge told the Journal.

The property is offered through Johnny Hatem Jr., of The Sarkis Team at Douglas Elliman Real Estate .

The Journal said an adjacent apple orchard and third 10-acre parcel with a large home and guest house are being sold separately.

In 2019, just a month before his death, Kittredge auctioned off more than 400 pieces of his art and collectibles collection. That followed the sale of his Nantucket compound “ACKlandia” for $19 million.

Related content

Art, artifacts from Nantucket estate of Yankee Candle founder Michael Kittredge II up for auction

‘A tremendous impact’: Yankee Candle founder Michael Kittredge gave time, expertise as well as money to Holyoke Community College

Michael J. Kittredge II, founder of Yankee Candle, dies at 67

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6 metre yachts

Russia's Nuclear Deterrent Command Center Imperiled by Winter Freeze—Report

A Russian nuclear deterrent command center in Moscow has been imperiled by power outages that have impacted more than one-quarter of the region's cities amid freezing temperatures, a Russian Telegram channel has reported.

The VChK-OGPU outlet, which purports to have inside information from Russian security forces, reported that the 820th Main Center for Missile Attack Warnings—part of the Russian Space Forces, a branch of the country's Aerospace Forces—near Solnechnogorsk in Moscow is without power.

It serves as the space forces early warning network against potential ballistic missile attacks.

The development comes as Russians are reported to be suffering from power outages in their homes in the Moscow region caused by technical issues at plants amid subzero temperatures.

On January 4, a heating main burst at the Klimovsk Specialized Ammunition Plant in the town of Podolsk, which is about 30 miles south of central Moscow. Since then, tens of thousands of Russians are reported to have no heating in their homes.

Affected areas include the cities of Khimki, Balashikha, Lobnya, Lyubertsy, Podolsk, Chekhov and Naro-Fominsk, a map published by a Russian Telegram channel and shared on other social media sites shows.

Other Russian media outlets reported that in Moscow, residents of Balashikha, Elektrostal, Solnechnogorsk, Dmitrov, Domodedovo, Troitsk, Taldom, Orekhovo-Zuyevo, Krasnogorsk, Pushkino, Ramenskoye, Voskresensk, Losino-Petrovsky and Selyatino are also without power.

The Telegram channel said that at the 820th Main Center for Missile Attack Warnings, "the crew...is on duty around the clock."

"It is here that the decision on a retaliatory nuclear strike is executed," the channel said.

Newsweek could not independently verify the report and has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry by email for comment.

Power outages have also been reported in Russia's second-largest city, St. Petersburg, in the country's western Voronezh region, in the southwest city of Volgograd, and in Rostov, which borders Ukraine, a country that Russia has been at war with since February 24, 2022.

On Sunday, two shopping malls in St. Petersburg were forced to close because of problems with light and heating, reported local news outlet 78.ru. Hundreds of other homes in the city have had no electricity, water or heating for days amid temperatures of -25 C (-13 F).

Russian authorities have also been forced to compensate passengers of a train that ran from Samara to St. Petersburg (a 20-hour journey) without heating during -30 C (-22 F) temperatures. Videos circulating on social media showed carriage windows frozen over. A passenger also said the toilet didn't work during the trip because of frozen pipes.

Do you have a tip on a world news story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about the Russia-Ukraine war? Let us know via [email protected].

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Luxury yachts and other myths: How Republican lawmakers echo Russian propaganda

Two senior Republican lawmakers, the chairs of the House Intelligence and Foreign Affairs committees, say their colleagues are echoing Russian state propaganda against Ukraine.

Researchers who study disinformation say Reps. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, and Michael McCaul, R-Texas, are merely acknowledging what has been clear for some time: Russian propaganda aimed at undermining U.S. and European support for Ukraine has steadily seeped into America’s political conversation over the past decade, taking on a life of its own.

McCaul, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told Puck News he thinks “Russian propaganda has made its way into the United States, unfortunately, and it’s infected a good chunk of my party’s base.”

Turner, chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, told CNN that anti-Ukraine messages from Russia are “being uttered on the House floor.”

For the past decade, since Russia’s first military incursion into Ukraine in 2014, Moscow has spread propaganda and disinformation in a bid to undercut U.S. and European military support for Ukraine, according to U.S. and Western officials.

Some of the arguments, distortions and falsehoods spread by Russia have taken root, mostly among right-wing pro-Trump outlets and Republican politicians, researchers say, including that Ukraine’s government is too corrupt to benefit from Western aid and that the Biden family has alleged corrupt ties to Ukraine.

Russia, in keeping with traditional propaganda techniques, seeks to make its case and tarnish Ukraine through a mixture of outright falsehoods, half-truths, inferences or simply amplifying and promoting arguments already being made by American or European commentators and politicians, researchers say.

The propaganda is sometimes spread covertly, through fake online accounts, or openly by Russian officials and state media. As a result, the origin of some allegations or criticisms is often opaque, especially when a certain accusation or perception has gained wide acceptance, leaving no clear fingerprints.

Early in the war, a false story boosted by Russian propaganda — that the U.S. had helped Ukraine build biological weapons labs — gained traction on right-wing social media and was touted by then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

Russia also is conducting a parallel propaganda campaign in Europe. Belgium’s prime minister said Thursday that his government is investigating alleged Russian bribes to members of the European Parliament as part of Moscow’s campaign to undermine support for Ukraine. Czech law enforcement officials last month alleged that a former pro-Russian member of Ukraine’s parliament, Viktor Medvedchuk, was behind a Prague-based Russian propaganda network designed to promote opposition to aiding Ukraine.

Here are some examples of Republican lawmakers using arguments often promoted by Russian propaganda:

Buying yachts

When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with members of Congress behind closed doors in December to appeal for more U.S. help for his country’s troops, some lawmakers raised questions about Ukraine allegedly buying yachts with American aid money.

Zelenskyy made clear that was not the case, according to Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, a strong supporter of arming Ukraine. “I think the notion of corruption came up because some have said we can’t do it, because people will buy yachts with the money,” Tillis told CNN. “[Zelenskyy] disabused people of those notions.”

Where did the yacht rumor come from?

Pro-Russian actors and websites promoted a narrative alleging Zelenskyy bought two superyachts with U.S. aid dollars. One Russia-based propaganda site, DC Weekly , published a story last November that included photos of two luxury yachts, called Lucky Me and My Legacy , which it alleged were bought for $75 million.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a vocal opponent of military aid to Ukraine, in November retweeted a post about the alleged yacht purchase from the Strategic Culture Foundation, a Russian-based propaganda outlet directed by Russia’s intelligence services, according to the Treasury Department. The U.S. has imposed sanctions on the organization, accusing it of spreading disinformation and interfering in U.S. elections.

Another outspoken critic of aid to Ukraine, Republican Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, also made a similar claim.

In a December interview with former President Donald Trump’s White House adviser Steve Bannon, Vance claimed that members of Congress wanted to cut Social Security benefits to provide more aid to Ukraine, and that money would allegedly be used for Zelenskyy’s ministers to “buy a bigger yacht.”

“There are people who would cut Social Security, throw our grandparents into poverty. Why? So that one of Zelenskyy’s ministers can buy a bigger yacht?” Vance said. “Kiss my ass, Steve. It’s not happening.”

The tale of Zelenskyy’s luxury yacht, however, turned out to be totally false . The yachts cited in the DC Weekly article remain up for sale , the owners told The Associated Press.

Two academics at Clemson University, disinformation researchers Darren Linvill and Patrick Warren, found that DC Weekly ran numerous stories copied from other sites that were rewritten by artificial intelligence engines. The articles had bylines with fake names along with headshots copied from other online sites. DC Weekly appeared to be a Russian effort to launder false information through a seemingly legitimate news site as part of an attempt to undermine U.S. support for Ukraine, according to the researchers .

Asked by reporters about Vance’s comments, Tillis said: “I think it’s bullshit. ...If you’re talking about giving money to Ukrainian ministers — total and unmitigated bullshit.”

Greene’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Vance’s spokesperson said the senator was making a rhetorical point about how he opposed sending U.S. assistance to what he sees as a corrupt country, but was not asserting the yacht stories online were accurate.

Vance’s office referred NBC News to an earlier response to the BBC on the same topic:

“For years, everyone in the West recognized that Ukraine was one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Somehow everyone forgot that just as we started sending them billions of dollars in foreign aid.”

Enabling ‘corruption’

Russian state media for years has painted Ukraine as deeply corrupt, and has argued that the U.S. and its allies are wasting money and military hardware by assisting such an allegedly corrupt government.

“This is absolutely a line that they have pushed, and then once it appears in the Western ecosystem, other [Russian] media picks it up and it gets recycled back,” said Bret Schafer, a senior fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy.

This line of argument has gained traction partly because Ukraine does face a genuine corruption problem.

Russia’s effort to focus attention on corruption in Ukraine reflects a long-established propaganda method of using facts or partial truths to anchor a broader assertion or accusation, sometimes making a leap in logic, Schafer and other researchers said. Russia’s message amounts to: Ukraine is corrupt, therefore U.S. and Western aid will be stolen and wasted.

Schafer said it was ironic for Russia, a country mired in corruption and kleptocracy, to be leveling accusations about corruption.

Republican Rep. Mary Miller has said she strongly opposes more assistance for Ukraine because it amounts to sending cash to “corrupt oligarchs.”

“With Zelensky coming to DC this week to ask for more money, I will continue to vote AGAINST sending your tax $$ to corrupt oligarchs in Ukraine for a proxy war that could have ended in ‘22,” Miller wrote in a post on X in December.

The Illinois lawmaker also echoed another assertion that often appears in Russian media, that the Biden administration allegedly undermined efforts by Russia to avoid war with Ukraine.

 “A peace deal was on the table that [Ukraine] and [Russia] were both ready to sign, but Biden said NO,” she wrote.

There was in fact no proposed peace agreement that Russia and Ukraine were prepared to sign before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, according to U.S. and European officials. As Russian troops massed on the border of Ukraine, Western governments urged Russia not to invade and warned there would be economic and diplomatic consequences.

Reuters has reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected a possible deal to avert a war that had been discussed with Kyiv by Russia’s envoy to Ukraine. The Kremlin said the report was inaccurate and has said Russia tried for years to arrive at an understanding with Ukraine.

As for corruption in Ukraine, Zelenskyy has vowed to tackle the problem, sacking senior officials in some recent cases. But some civil society groups have criticized his approach and Ukrainians say corruption is the country’s second-most serious problem, after the Russian invasion, according to a poll conducted last year.

In an annual survey, Transparency International said Ukraine made progress toward addressing the issue and now ranks 104th out of 180 countries on its Corruption Perceptions Index , climbing 12 places up from its previous ranking.

Ukraine is not alone among countries that receive U.S. and other foreign aid but struggle with corruption. Supporters of assisting Ukraine argue it would undermine America’s influence in the world and its humanitarian efforts if Washington withheld foreign aid from every country where there were reports of corruption.

Miller’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

The Biden family and Ukraine

Republicans have repeatedly alleged that President Joe Biden and his son Hunter have corrupt ties to Ukraine, and that they sought $5 million in bribes from the Ukrainian energy company Burisma to protect the firm from an investigation by Ukraine’s prosecutor general.

There is no credible evidence for the allegations. A key source for the accusations against the Bidens is a former FBI informant, Alexander Smirnov, who was arrested in February on federal charges of fabricating the bribery claims. Smirnov says he was fed information by Russian intelligence.

Republicans had heavily promoted Smirnov’s allegations against the Bidens, seeing them as crucial to a planned impeachment effort against the president that has since fizzled .

“In my estimation, that is probably the clearest example of Russian propaganda working its way into the American political system,” said Emerson Brooking, a resident senior fellow at the Digital Forensic Research Lab of the Atlantic Council.

GOP Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona cited the false bribery allegations in expressing his opposition to providing assistance to Ukraine.

“In exchange for … bribe money from Ukraine, Joe Biden has dished out over $100 billion in taxpayer money to fund the war in Ukraine. I will not assist this corruption by sending more money to the authoritarian Ukrainian regime,” Gosar said in a statement in October.

Gosar’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Dan De Luce is a reporter for the NBC News Investigative Unit. 

Syedah Asghar is a Capitol Hill researcher for NBC News and is based in Washington, D.C.

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Princess Michael’s Russian tycoon friend shot dead in Moscow

A wealthy Russian businessman who became friends with Princess Michael of Kent has been murdered in an apparent contract killing.

Mikhail Kravchenko, who owned a large chain of furniture stores, was shot at least six times in the chest and head when his car was ambushed yards from his home in the village of Peredelkino, just outside Moscow. Police are investigating whether he could have been the victim of a business dispute with rivals.

Mr Kravchenko, 46, was returning to his house in the early hours of Sunday morning when his Mercedes was overtaken by another vehicle, which then blocked the road in front of him. Police said that two men with handguns opened fire on his car.

Mr Kravchenko was hit in the chest

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Michael jackson's neverland ranch restored for biopic filming, michael jackson neverland ranch restored cameras roll for biopic.

Michael Jackson 's infamous Neverland theme park is dusting off the cobwebs to film scenes for a new biopic about the late singer's life.

As you can see in the aerial shots ... the film company behind the biopic has restored signature features from when Jackson owned the 2,700-acre ranch near Santa Barbara -- the Ferris wheel, merry-go-round and circus tent all got colorful makeovers.

Everything's buzzin' with life and fun at the revamped Neverland Ranch ... with a whole lineup of other fairground rides, such as a hot-air balloon ride and even a red train.

Filming was in full swing Friday with camera crews set up, and extras fully immersed in their roles as balloon sellers, ride operators, and food stall vendors.

Michael stopped living at Neverland after 2003, when Sheriff's deputies executed a search warrant related to the child molestation case. Although he never returned, his estate still co-owned the Ranch until 2020 -- that's when Ron Burkle -- a Jackson family friend -- purchased it for a reported $22 million.

The MJ biopic has his nephew , Jaafar Jackson , playing the King of Pop ... and, since the Jackson Estate is behind the film, it will feature loads of Michael's hits.

A first-look trailer for the movie was unveiled at Lionsgate's CinemaCon panel earlier this month -- but hold onto your hats, as it's only halfway through production.

Fans will have to wait until 2025 until the movie hits theaters.

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