Rupert Davis
Former British Army officer (Rifles); Chairman then director of Stichting Mayday Rescue Foundation; associated with James Le Mesurier and the White Helmets support structure
| Rupert Davis | |
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| Born | April 1979 |
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| Nationality | British |
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| Occupation | Former British Army officer; company director; consultant |
| Known for | Chairman (later director) of Stichting Mayday Rescue Foundation; military and private-security background linked to the White Helmets support ecosystem |
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| Website | |
Rupert Davis (Rupert Charles Owen Davis, born April 1979) is a former British Army officer who served as Chairman and later director of the Dutch-registered Stichting Mayday Rescue Foundation, the principal vehicle through which James Le Mesurier channelled funding and support to the White Helmets (Syria Civil Defence). He is identified in contemporaneous records as Captain RCO Davis (556347) of the Rifles. His background includes roles at the BBC, Aegis Defence Services and Rio Tinto before his involvement with Mayday.[1]
Military and early career
Davis entered the British Army on a Short Service Commission on 7 April 1999 and retired on 11 January 2008, remaining on the Reserve of Officers. He is recorded as Captain RCO Davis (556347) of the Rifles. After leaving regular service he worked for the BBC from 2008 to 2010 as Deputy and Acting Head of High Risk. From 2011 to 2012 he was Head of Capability and Special Projects for Aegis Defence Services Ltd, in which capacity he was responsible for diplomatic protection during the Libyan war. From 2012 to 2015 he served as a functional head within Rio Tinto Exploration (RTX) Africa & Eurasia Region. He maintains a protected Twitter account under the handle @chameleonglbltd.[1]
Mayday Rescue
From approximately September 2016 Davis served as Chairman of the Stichting Mayday Rescue Foundation (the Dutch foundation that formally received certain donor payments for White Helmets support). Together with Per Fredslund Thiessen (Treasurer) and Katie Elias Dimitri Plathonoff (Secretary) he formed the “Board of Supervisory Directors” referenced on the Mayday Rescue website. On 13 February 2018 Thiessen and Plathonoff were removed; Davis ceased to be Chairman but remained a director, and Emma Winberg was appointed as director. Although the supervisory directors were not in paid employment by the Stichting itself, the Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media notes that they appear to have been employed by other Mayday Rescue entities controlled by Le Mesurier (including the Dubai commercial company Mayday Rescue FZ-LLC, which received the bulk of FCO payments).[1]
In April 2016 Davis registered Chameleon Global Limited at Office 32, 19-21 Crawford Street, London W1H 1PJ (a Mail Boxes Etc virtual-office address used by numerous companies).[1]
Context within the White Helmets support structure
Mayday Rescue (in its various legal forms) was the main implementing partner for Western government funding of the White Helmets from 2014 onward. The FCO later confirmed that its payments of approximately £43 million (2015–2018) were made to the commercial Dubai entity rather than the Dutch foundation. Davis’s role as Chairman/director placed him on the formal governance side of the Dutch vehicle during the period of peak funding and visibility. Subsequent investigations into Mayday’s finances (including the $50,000 emergency-fund episode and allegations pursued by Johan Eleveld) focused primarily on Le Mesurier and Winberg; Davis is not the central figure in those public accounts, but his presence on the board is part of the documented structure.[1][2]
See also
- James Le Mesurier
- Mayday Rescue
- Emma Winberg
- White Helmets
- ARK Group
- Stichting Mayday Rescue Foundation
External links
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media, James Le Mesurier: a reconstruction of his business activities and covert role SyriaPropagandaMedia.org, 16 December 2019.
- ↑ Martin Chulov, How Syria’s disinformation wars destroyed the co-founder of the White Helmets The Guardian, 27 October 2020.