Around 5,000 people were on the list and inquiries from people desperate to leave flooded in.įlyaway also claims that GoFundMe did not release the funds in time leaving some flights unable to take off. The sheer volume of people caused severe administration issues. Within less than two hours, the GoFundMe page had soared past its $500,000 target, Marcus told his followers In total, Operation Flyaway has spent more than $5.2 million of the $7.2 million on flights and ground operations and claims to have helped rescue 435 people. He has two previous aliases - Milton Cross and Nicholas Freeman - and spent eight months in jail in 1999 after stealing car from Hertz with fraudulent credit card, then shoplifting $400 worth of goods while on probation Steele is under federal investigation for allegedly taking payments for flights, canceling them and then creating fake wire transfer records in incidents unrelated to the Afghanistan evacuation. Kiwijet is yet to deliver on any of the flights, but insists they will take off. New Zealand businessman Nicolas Steele struck the largest contract with Flyaway for four flights with his Kiwijet charter company that would have rescued 1,120 people. Instagram star 'Quentin Quarantino' - aka 26-year-old Tommy Marcus - helped raise $7.2 million to fund evacuation flights out of Kabul but has failed to charter a single flight with the donations, according to a report Meanwhile, a staggering $2.84 million was given to ex-con who is currently under investigation by federal authorities for wire fraud and identification fraud. Instagram star 'Quentin Quarantino' - aka 26-year-old Tommy Marcus - helped raise $7.2 million to fund evacuation flights out of Kabul but has failed to charter a single flight with the donations, according to a report.Īn investigation by the Washington Post revealed that the mission dubbed Operation Flyaway has so far spent just $545,000 of the money it raised to help charter a flight with the expertise of a non-profit that successfully evacuated at-risk people from Afghanistan.Īlmost half of the funds - $3.3 million - raised by the influencer's followers - has been lost on flights that were booked, only to be canceled and not refunded. Published: 00:28 GMT, 30 September 2021 | Updated: 00:48 GMT, 30 September 2021Īn influencer who shot to fame by posting memes has been accused of wasting millions of dollars that were raised to help Afghan refugees flee from the Taliban on flights that never materialized. In total, Operation Flyaway has spent more than $5.2 million of the $7.2 million on flights and ground operations and claims it helped rescue 435 people.Kiwijet's contract with Operation Flyaway is yet to deliver on any flights.Nicolas Steele of Kiwijet is accused of taking payments for flights, canceling them and faking wire transfer records in incidents unrelated to Afghanistan.
A total of $2.84 million was spent on a contract with a charter company ran by an ex-con businessman currently under investigation for fraud.A staggering $3.3 million was lost on canceled flights that were not refunded.The mission has so far spent just $545,000 of the funds to directly pay for charter flights that have evacuated Afghans.Within less than two weeks the 26 year-old's appeal had raised more than $7.2 million.Operation Flyaway was launched on August 17 when Quentin Quarantino - real name Tommy Marcus - issued an appeal to his 690,000 Instagram followers.Influencer who shot to fame by posting memes is accused of wasting $3.3m of $7.2m he raised to fly people out of Afghanistan, and $2.84m given to ex-con fraud suspect for flights that never materialized
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