Press Gazette has raised questions about four more prolific finance journalists who have so far been unable to verify their identities and have written for a number of well-known journalism brands.
The new investigation follows Press Gazette’s report into four other finance journalists who together have more than 1,000 published articles and who, three months on, have not come forward to verify that they exist.
Again the questionable freelances have a history of writing positive stories about cryptocurrency launches and some appear to be linked to leading PR outlets for the blockchain industry Inbound Junction and Market Across.
Two of the four new journalists are highlighted in case studies on the website of Israel-based Inbound Junction, and several promote coins linked to the agency including the controversial Gladius coin which collapsed, losing investors money.
The four have appeared in top finance publications including Forbes, Entrepreneur, Information Age and The Next Web.
Press Gazette asked publications who have published work by the four to verify their credentials and none have been able to do so. All four have thin online profiles and few ways to contact them.
After being contacted by Press Gazette, Hacker Noon and Information Age have removed articles by the journalists.
Sadie Ann Williamson has had dozens of pieces published online, including in Entrepreneur, Hackernoon, IB Times, Venturebeat and Information Age.
Williamson bills herself as a blockchain expert, with a company called Williamson Fintech Consulting based in New Zealand – but its address on Quay Street is in a retail area, and no company of that name is listed in Google Maps.
Despite repeated contact attempts, no one at Williamson Fintech Consulting has replied.
Williamson’s LinkedIn page claims she worked for Deloitte in both Sydney and Auckland, but Deloitte’s press office told Press Gazette there was no record of anyone of that name ever having worked there.
Williamson also claims to have worked as a coach at Auckland’s Ponsonby Rugby Club for many years – but again, the club has no record of anyone of that name.
Press Gazette contacted the publications that published Williamson’s work and asked them to verify her existence: none have done so.
Williamson was cited by Israeli PR agency Inbound Junction as ‘earned media’, featuring their client Akeyless in Information Age. They said her coverage was part of a PR campaign that generated 117 articles and three million impressions.
Ralph Tkatchuk is another unusual ‘business expert’ with a thin online profile – who is also cited by Inbound Junction as ‘earned media’ promoting their Memcyco client.
Tkatchuk has written for Entrepreneur, CIO , Builtin and other publications and maintains an active presence on Linkedin and X.
But Tkatchuk has not responded to multiple attempts to get in touch via LinkedIn or Twitter, and his profile appears to be automated.
His profile image also bears a remarkable resemblance to another IT expert, also called Ralph.
That IT expert (who Press Gazette is not naming over privacy concerns) is American, and offers domestic computer repair services – it’s not clear whether he has consented to having his image used in this way.
A now-removed article on the website CIO shows Tkatchuk promoting the Gladius crypto coin – still visible via Wayback Machine.
Gladius was an enormously controversial crypto startup which collapsed in 2017.
Gladius raised $12.7 million through an initial coin offering but investors lost their money.
Nadav Dakner of MarketAcross (and of Inbound Junction) was marketing and PR partner, but was also said to be an investor.
The token did not launch but investors were never refunded their money, despite pressure from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Another widely quoted finance expert is Victor G Snyder, a prolific commentator who claims to work for ‘Boss Makers’, and whose mission is “empowering entrepreneurs to filter out the noise, achieve flow and tackle the challenges that will get them where they want to be – ultimately, to own success”.
Snyder’s financial advice has been published dozens of times in Entrepreneur, CEO World, Forbes, Small Biz Trends, Inc 42 and others.
But despite Boss Makers having operated for ten years, it has just nine followers on X and Snyder’s LinkedIn has been deleted.
The Boss Makers site has also been taken down, although it is visible via Wayback Machine.
Press Gazette contacted the publications which had featured Snyder, and some are currently investigating his profile. But at time of writing none had been able to verify him or put Press Gazette in touch with him.
Snyder (pictured above, bottom right) has not responded to emails via Boss Makers and, like Tkatchuk, his X account appears to be based in Israel, rather than the United States (the Boss Makers site claims he is located in Florida).
Daan Pepijn is another freelance tech writer who Press Gazette has so far been unable to verify. He has been inactive for some time, but previously contributed to The Next Web and others.
His LinkedIn account is based in Israel and he had not responded to a request for verification after four weeks.
In 2017, Pepijn also hyped the Gladius coin, writing: “Blockchain startup, Gladius.io, is empowering everyone else to fight back against black hat hackers in an innovating way.
“Gladius is essentially a decentralized network for DDoS protection and content delivery.
“The company seeks to disrupt the existing industry of cloud-based CDN and DDoS protection providers, which control their own infrastructure and which charge high monthly fees for protection.”
Press Gazette contacted Nadav Dakner, Elad Mor, Inbound Junction and MarketAcross via email. MarketAcross managing partner Itai Elizur responded: “InboundJunction works with hundreds of clients and thousands of contacts across news agencies, media brokers, third‑party providers and platforms (Haro, Whitepress etc.).
“We do not employ journalists, and our employees do not operate any of the profiles you referenced. We do not hold personal contact details for the individuals you mentioned and any activity associated with them appears to be years ago.
“For context, two former InboundJunction employees are currently the subject of ongoing civil proceedings brought by the company, which include allegations of breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and fraud. That litigation is a matter of public record. To the extent any information reaching you has originated, directly or indirectly, from them, we would ask that you weigh that context in considering their reliability and motivations.”
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