False news about Pashinyan buying a house in Marseille, with an unknown website sharing the information

Over the past two days, information has been circulating in Armenian media and social networks that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has allegedly purchased a “luxurious mansion” in the French city of Marseille for EUR 3.1 million. The French-language article specifically states: “According to rumors, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has purchased a luxurious mansion worth EUR 3.1 million in Marseille.”

The article goes on with a series of assumptions, stating that “funds from the French Development Agency (AFD) and the Coordinating Council of Armenian Organizations in France (CCAF) may have been illegally diverted for the personal use of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.” It is also noted that the mayor of Marseille Benoit Payan “may have contributed” to Pashinyan’s purchase of a house there.

The Fact Investigation Platform has verified the source and content of this information and found that it is not evidence-based, is based on assumptions, and therefore is false, and the website distributing it is unknown.

This disinformation was actively spread in Armenian media by azg.am (1), yerkir.am (2), panorama.am (3), kentron.am (4). Pastinfo.am, in turn, republished the article, but with a question mark in the title, and yerevan.today first published the article and then removed it.

The article is based on an assumption

As for the content of the article, it is based solely on assumptions, the reader is not presented with any evidence, any investigation related to the organizations mentioned in the article, and the closeness with the mayor of Marseille is justified by the circumstance that the delegation led by the mayor was recently received by Prime Minister Pashinyan. The mayor of Marseille visited Armenia in early May and was received by Pashinyan on May 5. Benoit Payan presented the prime minister with a gift, the information about which was mentioned by Pashinyan in his declaration.

The French Development Agency (AFD), mentioned in the article, has provided support for improving Armenia’s tax administration in 2020-2024. This agency has been operating in Armenia since 2013, has its own office in Yerevan, and according to their official website, they currently have ongoing projects in Armenia.

Source of screenshot: AFD official website

“The activities of AFD in Armenia are focused on the following priority areas: rural development and water resources management, energy and energy efficiency, and public finance management,” the official statement says.

There is no study or information on the website of the French organization regarding possible misuse of funds in the programs implemented in Armenia. 

As for the Coordinating Council of Armenian Organizations in France (CCAF), which is also mentioned in the article, there is no information on misuse of funds on their official website either. By the way, one of the CCAF board members is Murad Papazyan, who was banned from entering Armenia, but after some time the ban was lifted.

The photo of the mansion posted in the article was taken from real estate sales announcements, but again without any evidence. No information is provided about the address of the mansion Pashinyan allegedly purchased.

As for the author of the article, according to open sources, there is a Canadian dancer named Josiane Bernier, while there is no reliable information that a journalist with such a name exists.

The source with the French domain is of unknown origin

Research by FIP.am has shown that infofrancaisedujour.fr is of unknown origin. The website, operating under the following IP address: 192.250.229.162, belongs to the provider Psychz Networks, which is located in the USA.

Note that being established in one geographical area, but spreading false information and disinformation from another area is a typical tactic for spreading disinformation.

However, our further investigation through SSL Labs revealed that this so-called French website uses Let’s Encrypt, which offers a zero-cost, secure, and protected domain certificate. Short-term certificates are valid for 90 days.

Source of screenshot: Let’s Encrypt website

FIP.am has found that the certificate for the infofrancaisedujour.fr website is valid for 90 days. The domain was validated on May 24 and will expire on August 22 (see the note in the image below – Ed.).

Source of screenshot: SSL Lab

By the way, Let’s Encrypt is very popular for creating low-budget, short-term, special-purpose websites.

About Psychz Networks

Psychz Networks is a US-based hosting provider founded in 2001 and operating as a subsidiary of Profuse Solutions, Inc. The company offers a wide range of services, including servers, colocation, and cloud hosting solutions. It has data centers in several US states, the UK, Barcelona, ​​Amsterdam, Moscow, Johannesburg, Tokyo, São Paulo, Sydney, and Moscow.

According to Scamalytics, this provider has a fraud risk score of 42 out of 100, which classifies it as a medium-risk ISP. This data indicates that 42% of web traffic coming from this ISP has a potential risk of fraud.

For instance, they can use Psychz Networks’ services (as it ensures confidentiality), and spread disinformation in any other country from Moscow, where this provider has a data center.

Thus, the information on the website that Pashinyan bought a mansion in Marseille is false. The article does not present any relevant evidence or data. It contains only assumptions. Moreover, it is a temporary website, and the reputation of the internet provider is considered questionable by professional platforms.

Hasmik Hambardzumyan