Law&Crime Sidebar - OnlyFans Model Found Brutalized on Side of Road in Dubai: Officials

Episode Date: April 7, 2025

Ukrainian model Maria Kovalchuk, 20, was reported missing after attending a party in Dubai in early March. Ten days later, she was found barely alive on the side of a road. An investigation is now underway to figure out what happened to her while she was missing. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber discusses it all with international law attorney David Tafuri. PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Find out if you're overpaying on car insurance with FinanceBuzz's FREE tool at https://financebuzz.com/sidebar. Drivers save an average of $600+ per year! Just answer a few quick questions to unlock your lowest rates.HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea & Jay CruzScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wonderry Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. A young model vanished after an alleged party only to be found days later beaten, broken, and barely alive. Police say it was an accident, but her family fears something much worse. I'm going to be sitting down with an international law attorney to get to the bottom of what happened to OnlyFans model, Maria Kovalchuk. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Hey, so before we get into this, I want to tell you about something exciting happening here at Law and Crime. We officially launched our YouTube memberships program for the most dedicated

true crime enthusiasts. As a law and crime member, you get access to awesome perks like badges, custom emojis, including, yes, one of my face, early access to premium content like Prime Crime and members-only live streams where you can engage with your favorite hosts and guests. So, the link in the description to check out all three levels of membership become an official long crime member today. So check it out and I'll see you on the members only live streams. All right, back to the story. What began as a promised modeling opportunity in one of the world's most luxurious cities has devolved into an international scandal with Ukrainian authorities now investigating what

they believe may be a brutal case of human trafficking. This all involves 20-year-old Ukrainian only fans model Maria Kovilchuk. Now, Maria apparently attended a party in Dubai back on March 9th, and for days following that party, there had been no sign of her. So naturally, her family began to fear the worst until police made a disturbing discovery 10 days later on March 19th. It was Maria. She was alive, but she was in terrible shape, brutally battered with injuries. And Dubai authorities believe that she sustained this from a dramatic fall. However, her family and Ukrainian police are looking into society. something far more sinister, human trafficking. Now, before I go any further into this, I want to

bring on a special guest. We're joined by international lawyer, David DeFurie, to talk more about this. David, thanks so much for taking the time. First, on a light note, your book collection eclipses mine, and you told me that it's actually every law passed by Congress. I mean, it's one thing to have a legal guest. You're really showing all them up. Look at that. That's right. And people throw these books away now. And I think they have. a good look to them. They have a fine aging to them. And David has read every one of them. So, David, because of that, now I can talk more about this. This is a really disturbing situation. Can you talk to me just generally what you know of human trafficking, sex trafficking, particularly

overseas, what we should be thinking about there, generally speaking before we get into the details of this case? Sure. Well, first of all, there's a lot of facts missing from this case. And it's not clear how they have, how, you know, observers are already concluding that this was human trafficking. So there's a greater awareness over the last decade or two about human trafficking, and it's gone on for centuries. But there's growing laws and organizations, NGOs, who are trying to prevent human trafficking, trafficking of young women like this, which is very important.

And also police and investigators are being trained on human. human trafficking cases so that they can recognize them more quickly. Unfortunately, it happens in countries like the UAE. And let's talk about that. So let's go back to March 9th. And that is when Maria, who was known online as Mary Lou, told friends she was invited to this hotel party in Dubai. And according to the Daily Mail, she'd even said that she was invited by two men who claimed they were representatives in the modeling industry.

And Maria reportedly told her mother that she was planning to attend this party and that she was even going to cancel a flight to. Thailand that was scheduled for March 11th where she was supposed to meet friends. And this is also according to reporting from the Daily Mail. But even though the outlet is reporting that she was canceling that flight, it's kind of unclear at this point if anyone actually knew this because when she failed to board the flight, her mother, Anna Kovych, apparently grew frantic, immediately contacted Dubai police to launch a search for her.

So for 10 agonizing days, there was no sign of Maria until March 19th, when she was found alive, but alone on the side of a road in Dubai and in a horrible shape, barely alive, suffering from life-threatening injuries. When emergency responders arrived, they discovered Maria had severe bruising and lacerations, multiple shattered limbs, even a broken spine. How is it possible that she could survive this? Well, according to people, she was rushed to a nearby hospital, underwent four emergency surgeries, and miraculously her condition stabilized. Hey, I just want to take a minute to really thank our sponsor, financebuzz.com, for helping make this episode happen. Now, this is your expert source for smarter financial

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So just click the link below in the description and pinned in the comments or scan the QR code on screen to see how much you could save. Now, Dubai Police released a statement following all of this. And their explanation for what happened has raised some eyebrows, particularly from Maria's family, because their official statement, as published in the mirror, released on March 21st, reads, Dubai police confirmed that the Ukrainian citizen previously reported missing is currently hospitalized, receiving medical care with her family present. A comprehensive investigation has revealed that she sustained serious injuries after entering

a restricted construction site alone and falling from a height. Dubai police continue to work closely with the family and relevant authorities to provide all necessary assistance. The public and media are urged to refrain from sharing unverified information and to respect the privacy of the individual and her family. during this challenging time. So Maria's family, along with Ukrainian officials, they didn't seem to buy this. They immediately rejected this explanation. That's according to reporting from the Russian news outlet shot. And they also rejected the idea that she attended any kind of party at

all. Speaking to the Daily Mail, her mother said there's an assumption that she went to a party. But the promoter who organized these parties did not see her. Maria was eventually found in hospital in serious condition. She has no documents, no phone, nothing. She underwent three operations and she cannot speak. Now, Anna didn't specify how she was made aware of who this party promoter was, and when she was asked why she didn't believe the Dubai authorities regarding this being from a fall, she told the Daily Mail that she couldn't comment due to the ongoing investigation. Now, just as an aside to this, there was a friend who was with Maria in Dubai, another model, Angelina Doroshenikova, who says that she was invited to the same party,

but the Daily Mail reports that she ultimately decided not to go and had returned to Russia days earlier. David made of questions here. You have these conflicting narratives, right, between Dubai and now Ukrainian authorities. What is the jurisdiction here? I mean, does Ukraine have any say in this whatsoever? Because my understanding is the national police of Ukraine are the one conducting this probe. That's right. That's my understanding, too.

And it's, I guess the police in Lviv, which is in Western Ukraine, which is where Maria's family is originally from. They, you know, whether they have jurisdiction over it depends on the law in Ukraine. But a country has a responsibility to look out for their citizens. Maria is a Ukrainian citizen. And so if she were the victim of a violent crime, they likely would have some jurisdiction over the incident. And also just the fact that the Leviv or national police in Ukraine are moving forward with an investigation will hopefully put more pressure on the police in Dubai and the investigators in Dubai to do a more thorough investigation.

Yeah, what is that pressure? Because, again, I think they would be coordinating with the consulate of Ukraine and Dubai. But are there any mechanisms in place for Ukraine to formally request evidence to send their officers over there? Anything, how that might work? Sure. There's a process known as an MLAT mutual legal assistance treaty. If there is an MLAT, a treaty between the UAE and Ukraine, then there is an agreement

on how to cooperate, and there's an obligation on both sides to cooperate with criminal investigations. I would also think that just simply the fact that the Ukrainians are moving forward with investigation and they could find facts that the police in the UAE overlooked, which would cause embarrassment for the UAE police, would motivate them to do a more thorough investigation. The blatant sort of glaring question is how did the Dubai police conclude she fell off the building if they found her on the side of the road? Who were the people that collected her when she fell off the building and dropped her on the side of a road instead of taking her to a hospital? Look, there's a number of weird things going on here.

I mean, the idea, if you take her mother's account, missing documents, missing phone, there's something called the Palermo Protocol, right? And it was implemented to prevent, suppress, punish trafficking. You wonder if this is an element of control when we talk about human trafficking. If she really didn't have this documentation on her, didn't have her phone, talk to us to how you think that could be relevant for a human trafficking investigation. Well, oftentimes, one of the ways that you maintain control over someone who you're going to traffic is you take their identity documents. And that makes it hard for them to travel on their own. You basically hold them hostage. If you have someone's passport and they can't get a new passport, they can't leave a country. And so that's kind of elemental in these trafficking cases.

In fact, oftentimes it's the first thing a trafficker will do is find a way to get the person to give them their passport and other identification. And what is the diplomatic pressure that Ukraine could apply? Like, could they go through Interpol? I know there's something called the UN Office of Drugs and Crime. Are those avenues that they could explore? Well, first of all, it appears from the facts that I've been able to glean about this case. The family did the right thing, which is they went to the Ukrainian consulate in Dubai, and they got the consul general for the Ukrainian consulate motivated to look into this case.

And it sounds like she did some good work, basically going to the Dubai authorities reporting that this woman was missing and ultimately going to the hospitals and in conjunction with the Dubai authorities finding her. So that's one way is you have your country's diplomats, especially if they're good diplomats that they are doing their job advocating for their citizens, they can cause a lot of trouble for a country that's not doing the right thing. And in this case, the consul general apparently was very helpful. And there's more to this story. There's more to the story that I haven't gotten into. So I want to go back to what the family believes. So as I said, the reporting indicates they reject that she was ever at any kind of party. And there's no. no concrete evidence as of yet that ties Maria to an event, but there has been a lot of speculation. And according to the New York Post, there are theories, theories that Maria attended

a cult-like event, a cult-like party that models and only fan stars frequent. And these are known as porta-pottie parties. And these are reportedly underground gatherings where influencers and models are allegedly offered up to $100,000 to participate in extreme and humiliation. scenarios, including degrading sexual acts that can even involve, yes, feces. Now, the Post reports that these women are essentially paid to be subjected to this horrifying abuse in order to satisfy the desires and the whims of wealthy men who are wealthy enough to pay for it. According to The Outlet Daily Star, Russian lawyer Katya Gordon actually spoke on the case, and in

her statement, which was aimed at urging influencers to avoid these events, she revealed that she believes Maria was at one of these so-called parties, these so-called porta-pottie parties, and her statement reads, model Maria Kovulchuk was found dying on the side of the road in the UAE after a party with Arab sheiks. The scandal with the porta-pottie parties has been raging for over a year. There are videos circulating on the internet where sheiks allegedly beat girls, cut their hair, and do all sorts of other things to them, girls, women, and their mothers. Don't go to such events for money.

You could even get killed. Now, that's her opinion. Okay, that's her opinion making this statement, just to make that clear. Now, Radha Sterling is a prominent lawyer who specializes in legal issues in the Middle East and is the founder of detained in Dubai, which, according to the organization's website, is the leading international authority on United Arab Emirates Law, told the mirror of these supposed parties and the dangers that exist for influencers, saying, we have received a number of complaints from influencers and artists who have been invited to Dubai for performances and events, to then be lured into parties where they have been expected to participate in sexual activities. Sex outside marriage has been legalized in Dubai, and events organizers have been quick to take advantage of the new relaxed laws. Women need to be aware that they may face confronting and even dangerous situations, and if there is a married man involved, they can still be charged with adultery. So, David, a lot of things here. Speculation, rumors, but is there anything to this analysis about what we should be thinking about, UAE law, and whether or not these parties could potentially exist?

So I wasn't aware of these parties before this case, and I bet a lot of your viewers were not aware either. So if, in fact, she did attend one of these parties, one good thing that could come of this case is raising to light that this is going on in the UAE. And likely if it's happening in the UAE, it's probably happening in some of the other Gulf countries as well. And it's something that endangers young women like Maria. We need more facts because, like you said, there's just some reporting. It seems to be coming from rumor, innuendo. Maybe there's some sources that are anonymous sources, and so that's why it hasn't been solidified yet. But hopefully we will get more facts on this.

You hope that she didn't go through something like that for 10 days. Hopefully, she wasn't under those circumstances for such a long period. I think it's also curious, but also creates some tension that she can't speak right now, Maria. Apparently, her injuries have made it so she's not able to talk. But hopefully she will be able to talk and tell her story. Yeah. And look, I'm not surprised that you're seeing the speculation and rumors, but again, that's what it is because, and there is a danger in investigation that this could, at least during the United States, if you have that, you know, conspiracy theories or rumors or speculation, it could actually affect an investigation in a negative way. So you hope that this will lead to further answers and not to track from what actually happened. But the United Arab Emirates back in November 2020, I believe, they decriminal. criminalized consensual heterosexual sex outside of marriage as part of these sweeping legal reforms that were aimed at modernizing its image, attracting foreign investment in tourism. Adultery is still considered a crime there, I believe, right? So when I look at UAE law, what do you, and I think that's even punishable with jail time and even deportation, and then a woman would be engaging in any sexual activity with a married man, they could face potential criminal penalties. Talk to me about what this all means.

for either this case or cases down the road? Well, the UAE has Sharia law, which is Islamic law. And like most Middle Eastern countries, most Arab Muslim nations, Sharia law plays a big part of the values that are embedded in the law. And so like you mentioned, there has been some liberalization in the UAE in Saudi Arabia as well. And in the UAE, they went as far as to decriminalize sex outside of marriage.

You could see how that was something they really needed to do because Dubai has become this international destination. There are a lot of young people that go to Dubai. It's attracted a kind of fun, jubilant atmosphere. And so you don't want to lose out on tourism because your laws are not aligned with laws around the world. So that's why they liberalize that. But of course, they're going to retain many of the concepts of Sharia law, such as the prohibition against adultery. So it doesn't surprise me that that is still on the books and that these women's women who attend parties like this could unknowingly violate the law because they were with a married man. By the way, in talking about UAE law, my understanding is they created a new decree that really clamped down on human trafficking, expanding the definition, implementing greater penalties, new measures to protect victims.

you wonder whether organizers could face prosecution under UAE's anti-trafficking laws, the people who allegedly organize these kinds of events or behind human trafficking operations. How confident are you in UAE trafficking prosecutions? So you're right that the UAE and a number of other countries in the region have passed strong anti-trafficking laws, which is an important step. The problem is they aren't always enforced, and oftentimes there's a gap between the law and what the law requires and the enforcement by the police and the prosecutorial authorities. And I don't know if the police in this case are taking the law seriously, but the fact that

they came up with this quick explanation of how she was injured, which doesn't explain why she was found on the roadside with no documentation, suggests that maybe these specific police and authorities are not looking at the law carefully and looking at their obligation to enforce that law. How transparent will this investigation be, either from the Ukrainian authorities or the UAE authorities? In my experience, the legal process in the UAE and other Middle Eastern countries can be quite opaque.

UAE is a civil law system, so it's a mix of the Sharia law and civil law to start an investigation, a victim or victim's family can make a complaint with the police. The police are then responsible for investigating, for bringing in witnesses. They can detain witnesses. The detention rules are a little bit more broad than they are in the United States. For instance, you can detain people for longer without having evidence of a crime. And so those would be all the things that would go on. With respect to Ukraine, Ukraine has a slightly different legal system.

Ukraine obviously is going to be impeded by. the fact that they're not there in the UAE. And so unless the UAE allows them to come and help with the investigation, I think they're going to be at a bit of a disadvantage. But again, the Ukrainian authorities, if they are able to get access to evidence and they're able to come up with conclusions that show that the Dubai authorities are wrong, the government of Ukraine could put pressure on the government in UAE. And let's think about the broader situation here. Ukraine is in the middle of a war, invaded by Russia defending itself against the war. So it's also noble that Ukrainian authorities are still looking at cases like this, trying to defend and

support their citizens abroad even while they're facing this, you know, existential crisis from the invasion by Russia. Well, it's also taking, it's gaining headlines, a lot of focus is going on this, particularly because of, I think, the social media aspect of it too. And I think as more and more attention is brought to this and there's more stories about this and people are talking about this. may influence what answers come out of this investigation and resources that are being put forward towards it. Now, I will say this, and I'll end on this point, while Dubai police insist that Maria's

injuries were accidental, the Ukrainian investigators, they are treating it as a potential abduction and assault, or at least that's what appears to be. And Maria's friend, who I mentioned before, Angelina Dora Schenkova, expressed relief that Maria was found, saying, we all hope for the best, and are very grateful to everyone who took part in the search and helped with information. And for now, Maria remains in a hospital with her mother by her side. She reported, again, can't speak following the surgeries. And as the investigation unfolds, of course, there are key questions. Did she attend one of these parties?

If so, who were the men who invited her? Or was this something else? Was this a complete accident like the construction site incident? Was this somebody else who attacked her? For now, we are just going to wait for more answers as this case develops. it to furry. Thank you so much for taking the time. Appreciate it. Thanks, Jesse. And that's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber.

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