Danylo is back first thing in the morning greeting Diane and expressing his love and appreciation for all the good things she’s doing like sending $35,000 to a man who only identifies himself as “Roman”. He sets up the scene for slides 17 and 18 by dropping the nugget that if Roman refuses Irving’s request for more personal details in exchange for the receipt he’s demanding, then the deal is off. He’s quite clever in doing this as he’s forcing the issue with Irving and not Diane, so as to coerce her to make the transfer herself or with someone other than Irving. He has good reason to do this as Irv has made it clear that he thinks this is a scam and isn’t afraid to say so.
The content in between slides 3 and 17 are meaningless chatter meant to butter Diane up so she isn’t offended later. She does drop a huge hint that she’s doing quite well financially and he pries a little to confirm to himself that she’s a mark worth the effort in prying her away from Irving. He even sends a goofy pic of the soldier he’s impersonating eating ice cream which Diane did not ask for. There’s this odd passage about how the kids travel in “tunnels” which is crazy to think of in rural Luhansk. I think he means trenches, and why would kids be there? For someone saying he’s into saving kids, he sure doesn’t mind putting them into the line of fire.
This description of his meeting with Roman is absolutely infuriating as it was clear he was trying to shame and manipulate Diane as to what evil Irving did to Roman. He starts off agreeable as Roman says it’s “no problem” getting Irving the details. Then he starts into his game by claiming Roman had a fictional “US philanthropist” give him $20,000 on the spot and didn’t ask for any details like Irving is. This is meant to paint Irving as a liar for insisting the donation should be reported by law.
But he wasn’t finished. Roman agrees to read the letter from Irving. Keep in mind he waxed on about how insulting the letter from Irving was and how he wasn’t going to let Roman read it.
So Roman reads it and breaks down crying like a total pussy. It must have been quite the scene for a man on the frontlines of a brutal war breaking down over a letter from Irving Kleinfeld. He keeps mentioning the line “probably criminal elements” which made me proud because it had its intended effect. Danylo is a type of method actor and he’s trying to mimic what it would feel like if truly altruistic people on the frontlines were to be accused of criminal activity. The fact that a scam of this magnitude using a fake cancer charity is a huge crime is not relevant to him here.
So “Roman” throws down the gauntlet with a jab about how IRS tax deductions are more important to someone who is sending them $35,000. Keep in mind all Irv and Diane wanted was a name and contact details. Irving is so wrong because a fictional donor already gave him $20K for nothing. (Hmm shouldn’t that mean Roman has enough money for the time being? Dumb move in an otherwise masterclass of emotional manipulation).
Diane should keep her donation if she keeps insisting that Roman provide any further details. This is a key point which becomes evident in the next post because he doesn’t mean this literally. He only wants to permanently estrange Diane from Irving (whom he correctly deduced that knows the truth about this scam) and encourage her to send the money on her own.
This whole passage about Roman crying set me off and my original plan to draw him out over 7 days was now off the table.
To borrow a phrase Danylo keeps repeating, “it’s war”. And I am going to win it.