Volodymyr Zelensky’s most important speech while in New York last week was not at the UN, but in a private room a few blocks away.
“Investing in Ukraine has to be good for you and good for us. I understand capitalism,” the Ukrainian president told what was described to me as a “star-struck” group of billionaire financiers, plus Henry Kissinger, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, and celebrity chef José Andrés.
Zelensky, of course, was in town to address the United Nations, the largely irrelevant multinational body that opens its General Assembly annually in September here in New York City. He’s a rock star on the global stage, having fought the evil of Vlad Putin to a standstill in his two-year battle to keep Ukraine from falling under the dictator’s thumb.
Yet his UN speech was oddly anodyne. He railed about Russia’s aggression and his nation’s need for continued assistance. He attacked the UN as feckless; it gives dictatorships like Russia a seat at the table, which is why it’s powerless to stop the war.
Tell us something we don’t already know.
For some real action, you needed to have been a fly on the wall a couple of days later on Thursday, around mid-afternoon. Under the guise of secrecy, at Ukraine’s Permanent Mission, Zelensky sat down with some of the richest men in the world. While Zelensky needs US government aid to keep fighting the good fight against Putin (he flew to DC later that night), he needs the dudes in that room — and their money — to make sure Ukraine survives and thrives once the fighting stops.
I wasn’t that fly, but my sources were, which is why the meeting arranged by megabank JP Morgan turned out to be not so secret. Mary Erdoes, head of wealth management, and her No. 2, Vince La Padula, came up with the idea to host Zelensky and the moneymen while the UN was in session. Both know the country from the ground up, literally. Erdoes has donated her time to building orphanages in the western part of the country; La Padula in February dodged bombs as he toured Kyiv.
Private investment
They’ve been hired as the country’s financial advisers, and their job is to raise a private investment fund to rebuild Ukraine with the goal of getting some money from the people in that room.
And you know there was a lot of money at least interested in rolling the dice on Ukraine when the “poorest” billionaire is worth just $2.1 billion. That would be Dan Lubetzky, who runs the company that created KIND nutrition bars.
He was seated near former mayor and financial data entrepreneur Mike Bloomberg, worth an estimated $96 billion; Ken Griffin of the Citadel investment empire, worth around $35 billion; Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google, who comes in at around $20 billion; the aforementioned Kraft at $11 billion; Jonathan Gray, the president of private equity powerhouse Blackstone and likely successor to Stephen Schwarzman, worth around $7 billion; Barry Sternlicht, of Starwood Capital with $4 billion in bank, and Bill Ackman, the high-profile hedge fund operator worth nearly $3.6 billion.
Henry Kissinger was invited not for his money but because he’s Henry Kissinger, of course. Kraft is a JP Morgan client and has also been involved in humanitarian efforts in the country, as is Chef Andrés. Larry Fink, the head of BlackRock, didn’t make the cut, but I am told he sent another BlackRock exec to attend. The CEO of the world’s largest money management firm had his own private one-on-one with Zelensky to figure out the country’s private-money dilemma.
Bloomberg was most engaged, peppering Zelensky with questions about the economy, and the historical significance of standing up to dictators. Zelensky apparently said all the right stuff in making his money pitch — and his pitch to keep fighting. He compared negotiating with Putin to Europe’s initial ill-fated negotiations with Hitler. He also said he understands capitalism, which doesn’t really work without the rule of law. Private capital demands a return, which will be elusive if it’s siphoned off by a vast system of corruption.
Ukraine isn’t Russia, of course. Putin runs the place like a Mafia don, business leaders run under his protection and kick up money to their Godfather. When they don’t, they often die. Ukraine’s brand of crony capitalism is a bit softer. Again, it’s not as bad as the Russian variety, but it’s also a no go for significant private investment.
The corruption question, I am told, was raised by Ackman, whose hedge fund often sniffs out investment fraud, and Zelensky’s more complete answer should give the moneymen pause before opening their checkbook. In answering, he used a Ukrainian word for “wall,” which an aide later translated for him and the group into English. As Zelensky described it, based on the system of government in the country there was a limit — or a “wall,” so to speak — blocking him from doing everything he wanted to do on the corruption problem.
My sources say the comment didn’t generate a direct response. Then again, no one made a firm monetary commitment. The chat then shifted to Zelensky’s more compelling pitch: The war will end someday, and Ukraine has an educated workforce, and a resilient people. The western part of the country is peaceful and open for business.
It’s hard not to pull for Zelensky; everyone in that room, I am told, would like to play a role in rebuilding the country. I am also told that first, he has to take down that wall.
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