Gutsol had to find financing elsewhere, and her father (a member of the Ukranian parliament, no less) was just the solution. Mikhail Gutsol is also a criminal, for the record. In 2009 he actually killed a pedestrian while driving under the influence. He never saw jail because Ukraine has one of the most corrupt political systems in the world and because Gutsol is good friends with Vadim Rabinovich. Now this man essentially owns FEMEN. Ukrainians have taken to calling FEMEN “Rabinovich’s boobs”.
Rabinovich, an Israeli expat in Ukraine (he forbid Gutsol to picket the Israeli embassy in 2011), also has a sketchy record with the Ukrainian penal system: excluded from the KOMSOMOL for “amoral behaviour” in 1974, arrested for the first time in 1980 for large-scale theft of governmental funds, then found a cushy job as the owner of several large crystal factories in the USSR, and sold a large quantity of Soviet weapons abroad, he was arrested again in 1982 for more theft. He did well, however, seeing as he owns a number of Ukrainian tv channels, papers, and publishers.
He always had an eye on Ukraine’s politics (having supported several political parties at the same time during the The Orange Revolution) and world politics (having sold the Taliban two hundred T-55 and T-62 tanks with his friend - you might’ve heard of him - Viktor Bout, transporting them to Kabul by plane via Sharjah). He’s a real class act.
Rabinovich is also well known for his philanthropic activities: but many Jewish leaders believe he is trying to buy positive publicity to make up for the negative publicity that his financial and political activities have drawn.
