It’s long been understood that there’s profit to be made in war. New allegations against the founder of a mercenary group operating in Ukraine suggest there’s no shortage of individuals willing to capitalize on the Western establishment’s rabid pro-Ukraine fervor for personal gain.
While the Russian state-aligned RT has its own narrative to sell, its coverage of a lawsuit against Andy Milburn, founder of the mercenary Mozart Group, illustrates that there’s more to the Ukraine story than the likes of CNN and The Washington Post are willing to admit.
Milburn is being sued by former Mozart chief financial officer Andy Bain on claims of harassment, embezzlement, and scamming, as well as for sexually harassing female employees.
The Mozart Group is a recent creation, having been founded in March of 2022 by Milburn, a former U.S. Marine, for the ostensible purpose of providing training and extraction of civilians in Ukraine. The name is a play on the well-known Wagner Group — Russia’s private military arm.
While Milburn assured that any of his men who engaged in combat with Russian forces would be fired on the spot, he let it slip in media appearances that his aim is to “kill Russians.”
“Why do we train guys? It isn’t simply to defend themselves, it’s to kill the enemy,” Milburn said on the show Going Underground on January 28. “Everything we’re doing is exactly within the parameters of NATO policy. The West is providing Ukraine with lethal weapons that kill Russians.…When we train soldiers that is their goal. It’s why we teach them how to operate their weapons.”
The story of a veteran inserting himself into such a sensationalized foreign conflict was too much for the press to resist. The New York Times was just one of many outlets that glowingly praised Milburn’s crusade, writing: “Driven by the same pro-Ukrainian spirit that has put yellow and blue flags flying across the Western world, Mr. Milburn feels strongly that this is a just war.”
But despite the puff pieces, and despite Milburn’s belief that Mozart Group “is filling a niche no one is filling,” things didn’t pan out according to his confidence that government funding would prove “an absolute no-brainer.” The funding for his group has been far less than anticipated and has come only in small amounts from Americans of Ukrainian ancestry and from a humanitarian organization wanting Mozart to assist with evacuations.
Bain’s suit alleges that “on multiple occasions” Milburn “has taken actions which have and will continue to cause harm to the company.”
Among the accusations is “threatening and harassing a private business owner who volunteered a newly refurbished apartment for Mozart Group.” At this residence, Milburn allegedly held many late night parties and had a stray, untrained dog that defecated freely on the floor. When the owner evicted Mozart from the apartment due to these conditions, Milburn allegedly threatened him, texting “you have no idea who you are dealing with” and warning the man that he would “not escape unscathed.”
Bain also claims that Milburn made “unwanted sexual advances and propositions to a female office manager” and then “preemptively labeled her as a liar” when she rejected him.
In another instance of questionable behavior with women, Milburn is said to have hired a Ukrainian woman he met on a dating app, “and with whom he had a prior personal relationship,” as his personal assistant. He allegedly paid her an annual salary of $90,000 — which Bain maintains “is at least four times more than the usual compensation rate for a Ukrainian based employee in such position.”
RT further describes the accusations against the Mozart Group’s founder:
Bain further charges that Milburn embezzled donations and enriched himself through a number of scams. For example, he is said to have secretly meddled with donation links on Mozart’s website, so money intended for the organization was actually redirected to another company he set up. Yet another business entity with an almost identical name to Mozart Group’s is also apparently being established “to confuse donors and continue to facilitate the diversion of funds.”
It could be the case that certain donors knew their money would be spent on highly dubious, if not outright criminal activities. Milburn allegedly solicited cash from private companies, “promising to use those funds to pay bribes to senior military leaders to make military decisions favorable to safeguarding specific private assets, irrespective of damage such decisions may have to Ukraine’s military position,” therefore “forcing the Ukrainian government to divert badly needed Ukrainian counter-intelligence resources to track his illegal activities.”
And in what is of great significance in light of the highly sensitive political situation between Russia and the West, Bain claims Milburn has been lying about his assurance that Mozart will not engage in combat. Rather, they are allegedly a full-blown mercenary group planning on expanding their operations.
Furthermore, Milburn reportedly did not get the necessary approvals to make Mozart compliant with International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).
“Outside the scope of original business interest in Ukraine, [Milburn] sought commercial contracts for military training in Armenia which would divert resources from Ukraine, having done so knowingly and deliberately without United States Department of State registration or approval in violation of ITAR,” the lawsuit reads.
Last month, the Biden White House announced a new set of sanctions against the Wagner Group.
Wagner and its founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin (a Russian oligarch with close ties to Putin), have been sanctioned by the U.S. for years now. But the new set of sanctions is related to the organization’s prominent role in the present war in Ukraine. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby claims North Korea is giving the Wagner Group weapons and munitions, which would constitute a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions.
