Who is Vitaliy Grechin? American held for 'Butt Squad' pic in Dubai with 17 NUDE models says 'won’t apologize'
An American-Ukrainian businessman was recently detained in Dubai for posting a photo shoot of 17 models posing nude on a high-rise balcony in broad daylight in Dubai. As per reports, he referred to this “spur of the moment” picture as “art” and denied telling “his friends” to take off their clothes.
The women in the shoot have reportedly been released from jail and deported with a five-year ban on returning to the United Arab Emirates. The businessman, however, tested positive for Covid-19 while incarcerated. But he was soon released without any charges.
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Dubai police nab 15 women posing NUDE on skyscraper balcony in broad daylight as video goes viral
Who is Vitaliy Grechin?
The 41-year-old US businessman, as per The Sun, picked up the tab for the $13,500 all-expenses-paid trip for his so-called “Butt Squad”. Speaking to the tabloid, he said: “I live the way 90 percent of heterosexual males on this planet would like to live but don’t. And I don’t want to apologize for it.”
Photos of Grechin posing with former US President Barack Obama and Hollywood stars George Clooney, Sylvester Stallone, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Tom Hanks are part of his aura. He even claims that he met Obama at the White House, served with US Army Intelligence -- as per the US Army, he was a member of the US Army Reserve, serving as translator/interpreter from 1998 to 2005, holding the rank of “specialist” as his service ended -- and donated to the Democratic Party. He says he joined the US Army and did intelligence work in the wake of 9/11, helping translate Soviet-made weapons manuals used by the Taliban in Afghanistan. “I’m much more than a few naked girls on a balcony,” said Grechin.
Right now, because of his Covid-19 result, Grechin is reportedly “locked away” in a ten-day enforced quarantine. He said of it: “It’s not a prison but I can’t leave the room and everything I do is monitored.” Talking about the now-notorious “Butt Squad”, he said that his “friends” were not involved in prostitution and that the balcony pose was not a publicity stunt or promotion of any sort.
“It wasn’t planned or premeditated,” he said. “No one was forced to do anything. I organized the trip but not the shoot because there was no shoot. It wasn’t intended to be a publicity stunt. We didn’t have anything to promote. We have no idea who filmed it or why. They’re the ones producing the pornography and distributing it, not us... They were private photos of a private group of friends. They weren’t meant to be public.”
“What the girls did is wrong, based on the laws of Dubai,” he said. “But we are talking about a bunch of very young, excited, open-minded, regular girls who have nothing to do with escorting, modeling, or anything else. In Dubai, everything is on camera. If we had other guys coming over, if these girls were prostituting, it would all show up.” He also admitted to sleeping with two of the models: “I’ve had sexual relations with two of these girls. And not at the same time. We’re normal people.”
Grechin further said, “To understand the mentality of these women you have to understand the culture they come from. It’s a much more open society. They look at Instagram and Playboy magazine and feel sometimes it’s OK if you’re beautiful to show the outline of your figure. That doesn’t mean they want to participate in a filmed orgy or porn. There is a clear difference in our culture between something that is sexual and something that is aesthetically pleasing and beautiful.”