Dear Ted Verity [editor, Daily Mail] and Chris Evans [editor, the Telegraph],

As national newspaper editors, responsible for overseeing the content of publications that are read by tens of thousands of people daily, you have an inalienable responsibility to ensure you are sharing factual and accurate information, and not promoting fraudulent enterprises or deceptive individuals. 

Unfortunately, some very alarming information has come to light exposing you as derelict in this responsibility, as relates to your promotion of a fabricated company and fraudulent individual, who has risen to some power and prominence on the back of his media-promoted deception.

On 15th October, 2022, the Daily Mail included in its online newspaper quotes from a person named Dean Schiavi, describing him as “of the tour operator, Tradewinds”. On 15th November, 2021, the Telegraph also quoted Mr Schiavi, describing him as "managing director of luxury specialists Tradewinds".

The Telegraph's endorsement in particular assisted Mr Schiavi in his rise to considerable significance and influence within right-wing and alternative media spheres as a "covid sceptic", with Schiavi quoted in the Telegraph as saying:

"We’ve noticed an obvious reluctance among our clients to travel to countries that have stringent Covid restrictions,” 

“People are wanting holidays that are just like the old days, and the fear seems to be that if a country has tight restrictions now then these could be escalated even further while people are holidaying there.”

“We are finding huge interest in the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Mexico.”

However, investigative research from the businessman and primatologist, Leo Biddle, who lives and works in Malaysia and has close ties to the travel industry, has uncovered that in fact the Tradewinds company, as well as Mr Schiavi's other listed companies, such as Travelcube, are inert entities that have never retailed a single holiday. 

They are, instead, nothing more than glossy websites advertising disarmingly low prices for destinations and resorts that, when questioned, confirm they have no relationship with Tradewinds or Travelcube, and would not honour any prices listed on the Tradewinds or Travelcube websites. 

Your journalists and editorial team clearly did not undertake even the most rudimentary of due diligence before endorsing Dean Schiavi and his non-operational "travel agency" in your respective newspapers, as all that is necessary to qualify that Mr Schiavi and his operations have never retailed a single holiday is a cursory glance at their companies house accounts.

These are unacceptable errors for respected national newspapers to make, especially when Mr Schiavi has used the endorsement and subsequent prominence your newspapers have equipped him with to serve as a deeply corrosive and manipulative influence in the highly contentious "alt right" social media sphere.

When the author of this letter politely challenged Mr Schiavi about certain dubious aspects of his operations - such as sharing what clearly appeared to be faked travel receipts containing private customer details on Twitter - I was met with an instruction to "fuck off" and described by Mr Schiavi as "a nasty piece of work".

This response - coming from his official Tradewinds business account - qualified yet further that Mr Schiavi was not an authentic professional operating a legitimate operation, as no genuine businessperson, much less the director of a luxury travel company, would use their professional account to speak to a member of the public in this way.

The deceptive and abusive Mr Schiavi has continued to attack me online for many subsequent months, recently resorting to making personal attacks on my appearance, and describing me as a "mentalist" who needs to "be sectioned".

In the last 24 hours, and following Leo Biddle's comprehensive exposé of Schiavi's fraud and deceit, Schiavi has responded by disabling his business website and locking his business Twitter account, thereby apparently confirming that all of Mr Biddle's observations are entirely correct.

You may or may not agree with all of Mr Biddle's politics, or his remarks regarding "covid" and other aspects of the news media, however, his evidenced research exposing Dean Schiavi and his inert companies is irrefutable. Please do confirm it for yourself, by contacting hotels listed on the Tradewinds/Travelcube websites - which are still available via the Wayback Machine - as Mr Biddle has done.

Given that you have lent considerable credence to Mr Schiavi by quoting him in your newspapers, without conducting due diligence to qualify that the person and operation you were promoting were legitimate, it is now incumbent on you to print a retraction and apology in your newspapers.

This is particularly so given that Mr Schiavi is, under a variety of online handles, promoting the extremely contentious and divisive political figure, Lucy Connolly, and attempting to validate her by making false claims such as that she booked a holiday with his company.

Clearly, Ms Connolly did not do this, since nobody ever has, including the commentator Bernie Spofforth, who claimed on Twitter that she had booked and enjoyed a holiday with the Travelcube entity. She references Mr Schiavi specifically by name.

I am not quite sure what the ultimate purpose of this elaborate con is, or why it is being promoted by national newspapers and prominent Twitter accounts alike, but if you are able to shed any further light on it - as well as printing a clear correction and apology in your newspapers - that would be much appreciated.

Yours sincerely,

Miri Finch

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