A US military veteran who claimed battlefield victories as a fighter in Ukraine and gained fame through media interviews and dramatic Twitter posts was reportedly lying about his exploits all along to create a false image from which he could profit after the conflict.
James Vasquez, who accumulated more than 400,000 followers on Twitter and was regularly quoted by the likes of CNN and the New York Times, falsely claimed battlefield achievements as his own, Business Insider reported on Sunday.
The outlet, which cited allegations by four other foreign volunteers in Ukraine, also confirmed through the Pentagon that Vasquez had lied about his military history when he claimed to have had combat deployments as a US Army sergeant in Iraq and Kuwait. As it turned out, he served as an electrical systems repairer in the Army Reserve and ended his stint there as a private first class.
Vasquez\u2019s social media posts, purported to be about his exploits on the front lines, often went viral.\u00a0\u201cHe bragged about capturing Russians and taking out tanks, was regularly interviewed by the news media and made catchy claims \u2013 including that he imagined the \u2018punchable\u2019 Tucker Carlson when preparing for battle,\u201d\u00a0Business Insider said. Even Adam Kinzinger, then a US congressman, insisted that Vasquez\u2019s Twitter account needed to be verified because\u00a0\u201che\u2019s legit, and too many folks are trying to create fake accounts with him.\u201d
However, Vasquez was making up his claims by going to areas where battles had recently taken place, shooting videos with destroyed equipment and claiming achievements as his own, other foreign fighters claimed. In one case, he claimed on Twitter that he was heading to Soledar, where intense fighting was reportedly raging, but Ukrainian forces had withdrawn from the area days before.
The accusations against Vasquez apparently began to surface earlier this year. Sarah Ashton-Cirillo, an American who works in the media department of Ukraine\u2019s Territorial Defense Forces, said in a March Twitter post that Vasquez could not have legally gone on combat missions because he didn\u2019t have a contract with the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU).
\u201cI met James Vasquez three times for a total of about four hours,\u201d\u00a0she told Business Insider.\u00a0\u201cDuring our last meeting, in the presence of another person, he gave himself up and confirmed what I had known since last summer, that he was never a member of the AFU.\u201d
Other fighters told the outlet that Vasquez bragged about becoming a millionaire when the conflict ends. One volunteer claimed,\u00a0\u201cJames said, and I quote, \u2018I\u2019m never gonna go back to work as a handyman. I\u2019m probably never gonna have to work again after his war. I\u2019m gonna be famous.\u2019\u201d
Vasquez sought donations, in some cases for a purported Ukraine charity called Ripley\u2019s Heroes. He also allegedly leveraged the death of Ukrainian-born British fighter Viktor Yatsunyk by falsely claiming to have lost his\u00a0\u201cfriend.\u201d\u00a0Canadian volunteer April Huggett said,\u00a0\u201cHis stolen valor knows no end.\u201d
Business Insider was unable to reach Vasquez for comment on the allegations. He admitted to the New York Times in March that he had misrepresented his military record and had been kicked out of the US Army.\u00a0\u201cI had to tell a million lies to get ahead,\u201d\u00a0he said.
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