Ruslana Korshunova Suicide: The Conspiracy
Chris Mohney
June 30, 2008
Though the death of 20-year-old Kazakh model Ruslana Korshunova after falling from her New York balcony has been officially ruled a suicide, wags had already predicted that cranks would immediately seize on conspiracy theories involving the Russian mafia. From digging through Korshunova's blog entries to Zapruder-filmic analysis of death scene photos, no menacingly Slavic stone shall remain unturned. And of course, when you do look under the biggest, heaviest, most lichen-encrusted rock, you'll find Geraldo Rivera airing footage of Korshunova's corpse on a stretcher.
Beyond that, the basic premise of the conspiracy theory is that the Russian (and one assumes, Kazakh) underworld colludes with their semi-legal oligarchic corporate counterparts and corrupt government officials to traffic in high-dollar model flesh. It’s hard to find anyone willing to articulate this theory coherently, much less put their name to it. But here’s a reasonably complete, if bonkers, version. All spelling sic:
“But another theory has been delved upon by some authors of the fashion industry who claim that Ruslana´s death might be related to the model wanting out desperately and not being allowed to do so by the Paris-NewYork-Moscow mafia that controls teeange models. Some reports have linked the economic giant Gazprom with creating a web of model managment and discovery with a a tightly controlled escort spinoff that sets up supermodels with corporative tycoons.”
You may or may not recall that Gazprom is the Russian gas conglomerate that’s enjoyed many years of scandal; it’s also been the object and subject of Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin’s malign influence. The idea of such an outfit getting involved in a “web of model management” is kind of hilarious, though morbid given the present topic. Korshunova’s mother traveled all the way from Kazakhstan to retrieve the body, apparently without interference from the “Paris-New York-Moscow mafia.” Histrionics seem limited to the creeps, as even Korshunova’s main fansite merely colored the page black and noted “You will be missed.”
Comments (22)
Posted by Joe on Tue Jul 1, 2008 at 02.33 am
Hi. Im a journalist and Im worthless. I cant get any real stories posted because there are none that Im qualified to report on. I know nothing about nothing. However, In lite of me try to sell a story by print a photo of a half-naked average looking “supermodel”, I think it might sell if I claim to have “sources” (my cat Scratches) who claim to know (que up Darth Vader music)of a mafia connection. However there is a typo. The ultra secret everyone run-and-be-scared mafia is not “Paris-New York-Moscow” it is the Des Moines-North Pole-Cape Town-Kush-Canes Mafia. Shame on the guy who wrote this article. He should know better, We go to the same bathhouse and this was already clear up.
Posted by null void on Tue Jul 1, 2008 at 10.12 am
1) was the construction netting torn or cut? If so, with what?
2) were there truly no witnesses?
3) what kind of medicine was she taking for for stomach problems, what were the ingredients, and were any known to possibly have depressive side effects?
4) how high was the balcony ledge and was there anything pulled up to it like a stool?
5)If the door was locked from the inside as the police stated, what kind of a lock? Openable from the outside with a key? Openable another way?
There are many clues to be investigated if someone has the time and energy to do so.
Posted by your name on Tue Jul 1, 2008 at 01.55 pm
Americans are surprisingly naive about the presence of organized crime and human trafficking. I’ve had some personal dealings with another immigrant mafia organization. I promise you, the mafia is alive and well, probably healthier than any time since the Great Depression. Look to the new immigrant ghettos in NYC, Paris, London and Toronto.
Posted by jsokol on Tue Jul 1, 2008 at 03.26 pm
It’s possible that she might have committed suicide because she felt trapped by the Russian modeling cartel.
She may have wanted out of modeling or her modeling “Agency” (Russian mafioso pimps), but then been coerced, or threatened. It’s unlikely that her “Agency” would murder their meal ticket however. But who knows? They are not nice people. This practice needs to be stopped.
Also the police calling it a suicide, could be a ruse to throw people off the scent. Just a theory ...
It’s very sad that such a beautiful life would end so tragically. Perhaps this will help put an end to this seemy underworld of Eastern European flesh pedaling.
Posted by Aware on Tue Jul 1, 2008 at 11.20 pm
It’s easy to dismiss the speculation of a few individuals who lack command of the English language simply because of their inability to articulate something that’s plainly visible to anyone who cares to look. The naive condescension of the author is typical of the new sheltered NY class of pseudo journalists.
Posted by gulag on Wed Jul 2, 2008 at 04.25 am
here is a complete account of what has happened and how this conspiracy theory started http://www.riveronmedia.blogspot.com
Posted by makessense on Fri Jul 4, 2008 at 12.22 pm
RE: “the economic giant Gazprom with creating a web of model managment and discovery with a a tightly controlled escort spinoff that sets up supermodels with corporative tycoons.”
That’s what I thought when I heard this story what with Palfrey and a trooper suicided in a garage and the Spitzer spectacle. I did a search and found an old pic of Rusiana entered in the 2008 Glamour Miss Universe contest. The site is an ‘ONLINE DATING SERVICE.’ Only thing I found about the ‘contest’ is that it was a way for girls to earn money. Rusiana needed extra cash? Not likely.
Posted by Dorothy on Sun Jul 6, 2008 at 07.38 pm
I don’t believe it’s suicide neither,this young PRETTY lady had to much going for herself and to just end it like this.No signs from friends and family come on people don’t be fool by this cover up.
I think this young lady was murder,suicide my ass,come on people don’t believe that she took her own life.I hope and pray the truth will come out.My prayers goes out to her family.
Posted by tom on Wed Jul 9, 2008 at 07.20 pm
when she was so depressed and reading and writing poems and der soul she would have wrote a note…
Posted by James Bergier on Thu Jul 10, 2008 at 07.44 pm
Apologies for the long post:
The death of this young girl is deeply sad, indeed that of ANY young person.
There are 2 arguments, namely she was the correct age when serious mental health problems begin to manifest, had expressed the fact that she was extremely short of money, was struggling with the end of a love affair, was in pain from a “mystery” stomach complaint and perhaps thought that, as successful as she was, would never be in the top tier in her industry and could find no way out (she had expressed her desire to leave the industry a year ago) - she was presumably intelligent (if she could speak Russian, Kazakh, English & German, she was “discovered” photographed at 14 when she was part of a local German language study group in Kazakhstan
Posted by James Bergier on Thu Jul 10, 2008 at 07.46 pm
and doubtless neglected her education in favour of earning a living as a model. Her ex boyfriend described her as perfectionistic and as someone who beat herself up when things didn’t go her way. Her so called “life coach” (at 20???) in Moscow has come forward saying that she had previously had some mental health issues. The physical evidence, such as has been released to the media, could be a red herring and she landed in the middle of the street in an odd freakish turn of events instead of hitting the canopy of her building below and bouncing onto the street at a closer distance.
Sadly, 75% of suicides don’t leave a note.
There are legitimate questions here for the other side however.
Posted by James Bergier on Thu Jul 10, 2008 at 07.47 pm
None of her friends, nor indeed her family, nor either of her 2 lovers, have reported that her emotional stability had changed visibly in the preceding weeks of her life. They have all stated that she seemed happy. Indeed all the people she came into contact with in the last 24 hours prior to her death say the same.
The “writings” on her blog are those of a typical late teen who is attempting to come to terms with her identity and not really immediately indicative of suicidal thoughts or intentions. She had no previous history of attempts or of anything other than transient mild depression (common with anyone who works in a reject industry like acting, writing or modeling).
Posted by James Bergier on Thu Jul 10, 2008 at 07.48 pm
Then there is the fact that she was supposed to have suffered from vertigo, therefore unlikely to climb onto a balcony, determinedly hack her way through thick plastic safety netting with a kitchen knife, climb onto scaffolding of a neighbouring building (90 feet up) manoeuvering herself to an even higher level and throw herself off that when a gun, or pills (there were pills in her flat), or the subway, or the Brooklyn bridge at night would be equally effective & considerably easier. She would also have had to take a running jump to land in the middle of the street which is dual carriageway and probably 60 feet wide (she fell from 90 foot up so that’s quite a swing out for someone “jumping” from such a low height).
Posted by James Bergier on Thu Jul 10, 2008 at 07.51 pm
Added to which, statistically, as a young female, she is 85% more likely to have committed suicide without disfiguring herself, as would occur following a high fall.
She was reportedly taking legal action against an agency who had defrauded her out of $500,000 in earnings (not something you would readily undertake if you were about to end it all). Perhaps the “dark circles” under her eyes were more to do with worry about this and its consequences and not her heartbreak over unrequited love. Unless the right questions are asked here, it is doubtful that the truth will come out. I would be strongly of the opinion that there is not conclusive evidence of suicide and that you cannot rule out foul play until such evidence is presented. Has there been an inquest into her death?
Posted by James Bergier on Thu Jul 10, 2008 at 07.52 pm
Has a coroner decided that she irrefutably died by her own hand, and if so with what evidence?
I support her family, I’m afraid, in insisting that matters are looked into more thoroughly.
That her death was determined absolutely as suicide within 48 hours of her death on flimsy circumstantial evidence is strange. Do the NYPD not wish to make further investigations because she is from a poor foreign family on a different continent who are effectively powerless to lobby for justice?
I’m also horrified that IMG models, one of the biggest agencies in the world, would not even pay to have her body shipped home. SHAME ON YOU.
Posted by Ainur on Sat Jul 12, 2008 at 09.47 am
I am student from Kazakhstan, and local media writes that she could rebate /earn back/ up to $500,000 if the court would rule in her favor. A kazakh show-businessman Roman Aleksandrov reported that Ruslana has found quite suddenly that her agents were robbing her, underpaying her honorariums /earned salaries/. He reported also that Ruslana filed a lawsuit to earn her money back, and because the did not survive until that court hearing, we can only ‘believe’ she ‘just committed a suicide’, and forget about any agents, any financial greed that surrounded her…
Posted by Dee on Sun Jul 13, 2008 at 04.48 am
I can’t believe if she was depressed and so afraid of heights she would have had the presence of mind to figure that if she jumped from her terrace she might live so she had better climb over to the other building.
Maybe she was brought there and pushed off. And who was it that said she tried to kill herself several times before, was it the Russian man she med at the place she went to get her head on straight. Maybe he works for the mob and that place is owned by the mob. Someone find out who killed this poor young woman. And shame on her employer for not paying for her funeral.
Posted by James Bergier on Mon Jul 14, 2008 at 01.49 pm
There is no getting away from it, $500,000 is a lot of money, by anyone’s standards. Is it enough to be worth a young girl’s life?
Hopefully the US media will run with this story & pressure will be applied to investigate further Ruslana’s death.
Perhaps her family in Kazakhstan can petition to have another autopsy carried out?
They should be able to determine if she was dead before she hit the ground.
That there are no witnesses to this death is peculiar, given that it was 2.30pm on a Saturday. And what about the money? Will her family be continuing with her case?
Posted by Dee on Tue Jul 15, 2008 at 03.50 am
I doubt her mother will be able to investigate this case. If it was the Russian mob, they will go after her as well. Besides, I thought she was discovered by Americans. How would the Russian mob be involved in her career. And who was taking all her money?
I still think someone killed her. I just don’t think she was the kind of person that would jump off a ledge and land in front of everyone. She was a private person, quiet and shy. And, again someone so afraid of heights would probably choose a less dramatic way to die.
Posted by James Bergier on Tue Jul 15, 2008 at 07.16 am
According to PRAVDA it isn’t just one agency but a network of them who were involved, her manager was in Russia. Basically, she was lied to about how much she was paid for her assignments. As she worked on credit, as most models do, until she got an actual contract with a big client, it was very easy for someone to hide the money as she was unaware of the structure of her payments. As she had just signed to Nina Ricci, that’s probably when the fraud was discovered. She was discovered by Models 1 in London.
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Posted by B on Mon Jun 30, 2008 at 09.16 pm
Geeze. Really over complicating the situation.
The facts (as the public currently knows them):
There is nothing (thus far) reported that proves, or even directly suggests, suicide.
No note, no friends reporting distressed behavior or comments, nobody who saw her Jump.
The police (as reported to us) Do Not Know what happened. And THEREFOR have ruled the death a suicide. They have no proof that it was, but they have no proof that it wasn’t.
Therefor, It was.