The Saddest Fake Spy in the World

Welcome to Whale Hunting, where we follow the money behind some of the world's most brazen financial crimes and expose the networks of people who enable them.

We broke the story of Gaurav Srivastava in our October 2023 investigation. Within weeks, it disappeared from Google.

The takedown arrived via a copyright claim from someone named "Sherrie Hagen," alleging our story had infringed on a Tumblr post. The name was fake. The Tumblr post had been backdated to appear as if it predated our publication. It even reproduced an illustration our creative director made — a picture of the subject holding ceremonial swords he claimed were gifts from heads of state, but which he had actually bought himself. We knew then that we had found something real. This is how you know you've struck a nerve: Someone immediately abuses the Digital Millennium Copyright Act...

Since then, the story of Gaurav Srivastava has grown into a federal RICO lawsuit alleging he stole over $43 million in cash. With that money, he purchased a $24.5 million Pacific Palisades mansion, sponsored a room at the Kennedy Center renamed in his honor, and funded a rehabilitation tour through the MAGA podcast circuit where he is backed by prominent political figures including a former Acting Director of National Intelligence. His wife filed for divorce in June 2025. His own lawyers have admitted in court that he never worked for the CIA.

He is, quite possibly, the saddest fake spy in the world.

This is a really fun tale. I've avoided doing the big overview write-through for a few months because I didn't want to give his absurd PR stunts any air time, but I think the time has finally come for everyone to have a chuckle over the brazenness of "Mr. G."

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