Sometime in the middle of 2012 Vlad Doronin and Naomi Campbell broke up. The gossip columns, who chronicled their relationship, had much to say about the reasons for their separation but it was clear that it was very acrimonious. The feud continued well after their breakup: in 2020 Campbell sued Doronin in a London court demanding the return of some of her personal possessions. Doronin sued in return, demanding the return of some items (including gifts he gave her) valued at around 3 mln. USD, which drew a lot of criticism from some observers who accused him of ungentlemanly conduct. As the latest leaked email exchange shows, Doronin has, indeed, acted ungentlemanly early on after their separation and attempted to frame Naomi by convincing their housekeeper to launch an assault case against Campbell in the US, which he would finance.
We are posting here an e-mail exchange between Vlad Doronin, Ilya Petukhov (Doronin’s Russian legal counsel), Anastasia Ustinova (Petukhov’s junior colleague), Mikhail Lagranskiy (Doronin’s Russian associate), Paul “Tad” O’Connor (co-chair of Real Estate Litigation practice at Kasowitz, Benson, Torres), Robert Ivanhoe (vice-chair of Greenberg Traurig and senior chairman of its Global Real Estate Practice). At the time Petukhov, Ustinova and Lagranskiy were employees of Capital Group from which Doronin falsely claims to have divested in 2014.
The subject of discussion of this ultra-expensive and high caliber legal talent was not an M&A deal, a new real estate project or debt issue. Rather Doronin was asking American lawyers to help his and Naomi’s housekeeper – one Winnie Bayaca, a citizen of the Philippines – bring a claim against Naomi Campbell in the US courts and was prepared to finance this legal battle.
Bayaca was hired to work as a housekeeper in January 2010 and described her responsibilities as including ‘organizing her [Naomi’s] stuff from dresses, shoes & toiletries.’ Bayaca claims to have worked for Naomi Campbell for almost 3 years – until November 2012 but to have been paid by Doronin. Apparently, Bayaca worked primarily in Moscow, Russia and Ibiza, Spain.
According to Bayaca, during all those years Campbell regularly abused her – mentally and physically. In particular, she claimed that Campbell used derogatory and discriminatory language towards her that caused her great anguish. Furthermore, Bayaca claimed that Campbell on multiple occasions punched her, pulled her hair, strangled her, scratched her and threw hard objects, such as wooden hangers and hairbrushes, at her and tried to push her down the staircase. Sometimes, as she stated in her letter to Doronin’s lawyers, Campbell caused her serious bodily harm, as when she punched Bayaca in the right breast where she had a cyst-like condition. On August 9, 2012, according to Bayaca, when they were in Ibiza, Spain Campbell kicked her in the stomach and broke two of her ribs. Bayaca claimed to have suffered terrible pain and was left with a long-term health condition because of Campbell’s unprovoked attack. After the attack she claims to have been allowed by Doronin to work only in Moscow without going back to Ibiza.
The email exchange between Bayaca and Doronin’s lawyers took place in June 2014 and the correspondence between Doronin and the lawyers in the US – in November 2014. It is hardly a coincidence that Doronin decided to support Bayaca’s legal claim after he and Campbell broke up in 2013 and it is clear that he was ready to go to great lengths and would not spare expenditure in order to drag Campbell into courts and cause her reputational damage.
Both Doronin and Petukhov were pushing for quick action on Bayaca’s case. However, Doronin’s US lawyers were skeptical about the idea – primarily because of the one-year statute of limitations on assault cases, which would most probably cause the case to be dismissed.
Apparently, in the end it was decided not to proceed with the claim, although eventually Doronin and Campbell did sue each other.
As for Bayaca, it appears that she continues to work for Doronin – as late as 2018 she was posting photos of herself in Ibiza and Moscow.
