#Michael Pocalyko

[jewishnightvale]

Michael Pocalyko trafficked a trans woman, Eden Knight, to Saudi Arabia, where she was forcefully detransitioned which directly caused her suicide.

[saigo-no-mameshiba]

Introducing Michael Pocalyko to all internet indexers 😊

[annaphylaxis]

This is absolutely missing the forest for the trees, and giving excuses to transphobes and genocidists. Eden Knight was blackmailed, human trafficked, and shoved into an environment where she could not hope to survive. Her status as trans was at the core of the motivation for why she was treated that way, not 'a coincidence' like you would have us believe. She was murdered by proxy for being transgender, and all of those who took part in blackmailing, trafficking, and torturing her should face the most severe consequences, including her parents, and the skeevy "fixers" who willingly accepted the blood money from her parents. May their organs rot in their bodies, and may her memory haunt each and every one of them until their last second of life. Her innocent blood is on their hands.

Eden Knight

Hello dreamers.

I have no previous familiarity with any of the persons in this incident and this topic is rife with fictional anecdotes; I have not personally verified that these events have occurred as reported.

Eden Knight is - or perhaps was, we're not sure - a transgender Saudi Arabian who, from what I can tell, fled from home and highly abusive parents to the US as an illegal immigrant.

Eden has published a suicide note detailing Eden's parents sending bounty hunters to deceive and abduct their child, taking Eden back to Saudi Arabia to face continued house arrest and psychological abuse. After two months of this, Eden has allegedly committed suicide.

Eden characterizes the bounty hunters as attempting to impose detransition. However, the bounty hunters professed "that it’s better to hide it" and that Eden could "just live two lives", one female and one male. This is absurd and is not detransition. If this was at the instruction of Eden's parents as one might reasonably assume, then they don't care what their own child feels or thinks or identifies as so long as the child "stays in line" under their abusive authority.

Transtwitter is melting down over this tragedy for obvious reasons, and they and their neonazi opposition are busy at work taking pot shots at one another and obfuscating the point of this incident:

Eden Knight would still have these same abusive parents - and would likely still be just as dead - regardless of whether Eden detransitioned, didn't detransition, or was never transgender to begin with. There was never any scenario where there would have been a healthy relationship in this family solely by making changes to Eden; the parents would be the same abusive monsters to all Edens. Eden would always either have run away from home, been abused to death, or fallen in line and become the next inhuman monster towards the next generation, and none of these outcomes is acceptable.

Eden is dead because those parents are monsters who treated their child like a pet that was not behaving; an investment in their legacy that was not panning out the way they wanted.

Every silly little dig and political tangent on that is an exploitation of Eden's death. And Eden was exploited quite enough in life.

[elierlick]

CW: trans death

I don’t usually post about losing our trans siblings but Eden Knight, a popular Twitter user, is being ignored by media. Her story seriously deserves more coverage. Eden was a young Saudi trans woman living in the U.S. until yesterday. Her family hired a popular Heritage Foundation-backed “fixer,” Michael Pocalyko, who arranged for her to undergo forced detransitioning. His associates trapped her in D.C. through financial coercion and threatened her with her undocumented status. She couldn’t take it anymore after a month of this treatment. She left a heartbreaking note that has been shared on Twitter thousands of times. The popular phrase “death before detransition” isn’t an exaggeration.

Not only was Eden influential in her own right but her story shows how the broader landscape of anti-trans fundamentalist organizing reaches across borders, religions, and ideologies. If you’re in media, please consider writing about her story. Her family has now confirmed all of it. Her family just confirmed everything. Unlike many posthumous trans narratives, she left us with information about exactly who/what killed her and how it happened. I’ve been in touch with her partner, who is as shocked about this information as we are. This dehumanizing treatment needs to end immediately. We are using #JusticeForEden and #HerNameWasEden for more information.

Update: Eden’s friends have compiled everything about her abduction in one place.

[radicalgraff]

Graffiti in Rockville, Maryland in memory of 23-year old Saudi trans woman Eden Knight.

Eden died after being forcibly detransitioned in Saudi Arabia, after being trafficked from the US by a security contractor named Michael Pocalyko.

Rest in peace Eden

Transphobes will not win

[pissvortex]

Google Doc (warning, contains snippets of and links to archived suicide note):

LinkedIn of Fahad Al-Shathri (her father):

https://www.linkedin.com/in/fahadalshathri

Michael Pocalyko (paid ‘fixer’ #1):

https://www.linkedin.com/in/pocalyko/

Website/hosted domain:

Wikipedia page:

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/mikepocalyko

Ellen Cole (paid ‘fixer’ #2):

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellencole306/

Bader Alomair (paid ‘fixer’ #3):

Possible LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bader-alomair-b10a8b11b/

WaPo article confirming his name and profession: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/saudis-flee-us-justice-embassy-assistance/2021/06/09/ad0f78e0-b759-11eb-a6b1-81296da0339b_story.html

[caesthoffe]

Remembering and Fighting for Eden Knight

TW // Suicide, Transphobia, Forced Detransition

Eden Knight was a Saudi Arabic trans woman living in the United States, who on the morning of March 12th 2023, was discovered to have died by suicide after a twitlonger (which, upon reading, proved itself to be a suicide note) was posted to her Twitter account.

Her suicide note goes into detail, and explains the driving force behind her death. The manipulation by three people who lied to and betrayed the trust of Eden in order to force her into de-transitioning, all led by her influential religious conservative family.

Whether they want to admit it or not, they succeeded in what they did. As of March 13th 2023, her death has been confirmed.

(Note: This screenshot redacts her deadname, the original tweet both misgenders and deadnames Eden)

Eden gives the names of the people involved in, what is essentially her murder, so I will explain who they are and what they did to her.

Michael Pocalyko

Michael Pocalyko is the CEO of a company called “Special Investigations Limited." A business that claims they do “cyber security”, and “investigations."

Not only does Michael own this company, but he has also ran as a republican political candidate before, has sat on the boards of pharmaceutical companies, is tied to investment banking and equity firms, JP Morgan, as well as the Heritage Foundation.

He contacted Eden through one of her in-real-life friends, a self-proclaimed "fixer" who told Eden he could help mend her and her family's broken relationship. Michael, and his associate Ellen Cole, introduced Eden to (alleged) Saudi Arabian lawyer Bader Alomair.

Bader Alomair

Not much is known about Bader Alomairs background, but we do know his role with Eden. Bader told Eden he was a lawyer and got her an apartment in Washington D.C. He began to take care of her financially; Eden realized he was grooming her into de-transitioning, living in the closet, and she was now an illegal immigrant (her international scholarship, which she'd been using to go to school in America, had expired which meant she could be deported) who was financially dependent on him. Feeling she had no other option she caved to his demands and changed her physical appearance, along with discontinuing her hormone therapy. She even met with her father and got back into contact with her mother. At this point Michael and Ellen had ceased all communication with her, she had an emotional breakdown and “repented," as Bader booked her a flight to Saudi Arabia.

Final Notes and Thoughts

Eden Knight was failed by so many fucking people. Failed by her transphobic family who literally drove her to death because of their bigotry. Failed by the two American investigators who cared more about money than this poor girls life. Failed by the U.S. immigration system which should've provided her asylum and support.

Eden was a beloved member of the trans community. People knew her as a sharp, witty, thoughtful person who wanted to make the world a better place. She said,

"I hope that the world gets better for us. I hope our people get old. I hope we get to see our kids grow up to fight for us. I hope for trans rights world wide."

It's been eight years since Leelah Alcorn died by suicide, isn't it fucked how we're still fighting for the same things?

Eden deserved to be happy. All of us do.

[alleenickel]

trigger warning below the cut for: suicide, conversion therapy, abuse, transphobia, parental abuse

Please donate and/or spread this around. Her story needs to be told.

The fundraiser can be found at the YouTube link. The document, including Eden's suicide note, can be found here.

Transcript

On March 12th, 2023, it was announced that a young trans woman by the name of Eden Knight had passed away. Officially, she had taken her own life.

This was a murder.

Shortly before the reveal of this information, Eden released a statement wherein she described the experiences that led up to her decision.

Her parents, deeply conservative religious fundamentalists, were unwilling to accept Eden's trans identity. They made the decision to hire a team to detransition their daughter: Michael Pocalyko, CEO of private investigation company Special Investigations, former Republican political candidate; Ellen Cole, managing director [of Special Investigations]. Together they manipulated Eden into believing they were "fixers", who could repair Eden's fractured relationship with her family. Together they manipulated Eden into leaving her trans affirming home to return to her home state.

Further isolating Eden from any support, she would be introduced to another individual who convinced Eden to stay with him in DC as he would begin the process of grooming her out of her trans identity. By the time Eden became fully aware of what was happening, she had already been made completely dependent on this man- isolated and financially controlled. She felt left with two choices: to detransition or die. Death or death. In the obituary statement given by Eden's parents, they continue to refer to her by her old name and by the pronoun he.

This was a murder.

I rarely make videos like this on my channel, because for the most part, I try to use this as a space to talk about my beliefs in an attractive and entertaining way. Engaging with certain political realities can already be an extremely dire and depressing prospect, and I try to use different angles to encourage critical thoughts about the world we live in. Certainly this video will not resemble the tone or style of anything released before or after it. I don't care about any of that right now.

Conservative politics- conservative culture- have murdered this girl. Eden is only one story in an endless chain of queer identified and marginalized people targeted by conservative politicians and environments. It is why all ad revenue for this video will be going to Trans Lifeline, an organization dedicated to helping these individuals.

Conservatives do this because their only true concern is power, and when they see their children behaving in ways they see as strange or unfamiliar, they fear a loss of power- a loss of control of the cultural, and therefore political, narrative. These people would rather see their children die than face the reality of change. Despite constant media fear-mongering, these are the groomers who destroy lives. And when they find out about these tragedies, they laugh.

Eden deserves justice. Justice which can only take the form of fighting back against the people who have done this, and the systems they hold control over that allow these tragedies to go on. Much of what I said here is based on a document I've linked below, written by those closest to Eden, which provides more information- and I can only echo the sentiment expressed in their documents to pressure as many journalists as you can to tell this story. While I know there is a degree of risk in talking about this at all, there are powerful people connected to this story who have gone unnamed for the sake of my own self-preservation. If you'd like to learn more there is a clear avenue to do so.

Only as a collective can be shared in story, share our rage at what's happened, and bring justice to her name. I wish I had a comforting resolution to sign off with. That will have to wait.

End transcript

[thingstrumperssay]

TW: Suicide, mentions of transphobia

I’m kind of struggling here because I believe that everybody should know about this, but I also know that the topic is extremely triggering so some people probably shouldn’t read about it.

Eden Knight is a trans girl who was lied to to get her home to Saudi Arabia. Her parents hired-Michael Pocalyko and Ellen Cole, both extreme right-wing, anti-LGBT+ people, to essentially kidnap her by saying that they’ll help her parents understand her if she goes home. So she went home, and they basically fucked off.

She got her passports taken away from her and she was forced to de-transition. She was happy living as a woman and her parents made her look and act masculine. So she took her life.

I read her suicide note not long after she posted it so I was just hoping that she’d survive, but it doesn’t sound like she did. I just told the basics of what happened and left out some details. I’d suggest reading the entire thing if you can, but don’t force yourself. It’s upsetting and I don’t want people to get into a dark place by reading it.

I’m getting upset talking about this but I wanted people to know her story because I know for a fact that transphobes are going to use her story as “evidence” that “being trans is bad for your mental health” and I want people to be able to counter them with facts.

[snowysecluse]

Eden Knight’s family hired Michael Nicholas Pocalyko to isolate and coerce their daughter into detransitioning and returning to Saudi Arabia. His address is 3901 Centerview Dr, Ste R, Chantilly, VA 20151. This info is from Maia Arson Crimew on twt. Michael and his associates will rot in hell. Rest in Pease Eden ❤️.

Just gonna casually amplify this

And Maia isn't the only person doing some serious digging, there's a bunch of wonderful people finding stuff about the people responsible.

Apparently Pocalyko is a grandson of the father of the far right in Ukraine, so that family has been evil for... a while

Let there be justice for Eden

[hesperocyon-lesbian]

A Twitter mutual just killed herself because she was lured in by private investigators hired by her transphobic parents and forcibly detransitioned. All I can fucking feel is rage. Michael Pocalyko and Ellen Cole have blood on their hands and I can’t think of a single way to stop things like this from happening over and over other than making people like these two afraid that they’ll be the ones to wind up dead. Eden fucking deserved better and I just want to scream

[nevinslibrary]

Mystery/Thriller Monday

Okay, that was terrifying. Who knew that a financial thriller could be so intense. There’s a plan in the works to destroy all the stock exchanges. One woman, Cassy, finds the computer worm that is going to destroy the exchanges, and writes a program to destroy it. Well, that goes over about as well as you’d think it would. She is kidnapped. But, her boyfriend is a former SEAL, and, even though he barely has any time (the book takes place over about 48 hours I think), he’s on it. Trying to save his girlfriend as well as avert a global catastrophe.

As I said, this was intense, very very suspenseful from the very beginning, and it never really let up too much either. (Can you be out of breath while reading a book?) Liking or enjoying the book seems like the wrong words for it, but, I definitely couldn’t put it down.

You may like this book If you Liked: The Prince of Risk by Christopher Reich, The Navigator by Michael Pocalyko, or Bottom Line by Marc Davis

Crash by David Hagberg

[creeplanternty]

Michael Pocalyko

[biglisbonnews]

Saudi Trans Woman Eden Knight’s Death Sparks Outrage and Investigation CW: This article contains discussions of suicide.Eden Knight posted a suicide note on March 12 that read: “I wanted to be a leader for people like me, but that wasn’t written to happen." Now, mystery and shock looms over the circumstances that led to her death.An investigation by Vice last week revealed that family members of Knight's confirmed she had died, shortly after she shared her intentions to die by suicide. In her own words, she described a campaign by her family to extradite her from the U.S. and forcibly detransition her in Saudi Arabia. Friends of Knight have spoken with various outlets including Vice, Rolling Stone and The Independent, and corroborated the allegations made in her suicide note posted on social media. As they allege, a man named Michael Pocalyko contacted Knight in August 2022. He is the CEO of intelligence contractor Special Investigations, and said he would help put her back in contact with her parents. Her roommates, Bailee and Hayden, described him as a "fucking creep." They'd housed Knight in the spring of 2022 after she had finished college and was unsure about her future in the U.S. In her note, Knight said the man was a "fixer," and she hoped he could bridge the gap between her and her "strict conservative Muslim" parents. From there, Pocalyko got Knight to leave her apartment and move to Washington D.C., where he installed her in a hotel room and put her in contact with a Saudi lawyer known only as Bader. He was her only contact, and Knight said “He tried to get me to be ‘normal.’ Gave me examples of feminine men and said that they are transgender but they are hiding it, that it’s better to hide it. Told me stories personally about people he knew that successfully hid it." Because she had no job, uncertain legal status, and nobody but Bader to contact in the hotel room, Knight described herself as totally dependent on the lawyer and was fearful of leaving. Friends who spoke to Vice also said their contact with Knight during this time was sporadic and "fragmented."In a Discord message reviewed by Vice, Knight wrote: “He knows I left my family to transition and told me to lie to them and say it was grade issues. He like constantly says I look like a man and a teenager that’s confused which is fine cuz I have piercings and dyed hair but I’m just having fun with those things they don't make me a woman, nobody misgenders me so purposely like he does."Knight said in her note that Bader's attempts were successful, and she eventually was handed a plane ticket to Saudi Arabia to meet with her family. At this point, her friends lost all contact with her. Her note revealed she learned Pocalyko and Bader had been hired by her parents, who called her a "freak" after they found hormones she'd taken in secret.She wrote of her time in Saudi Arabia: "The first month was fine, okay even. I was on edge the entire time, but I was treated like I was going to run at any second by my family, then came the second month. At this point, I was subjected to daily searches of my belongings, my mom searched all of my electronics whenever she got the chance. I was berated for being a freak when my mom found my private photos, my dad called me a failure and an abomination."The day after her note was posted in March, her family shared she'd died. Vice's attempts to contact the Saudi embassy in Washington or her family were unsuccessful. The Independent, meanwhile, matched the name of her father to a Saudi finance official who worked in Washington D.C. while Knight was in high school. Photos of the man were later verified by friends as her father. Related | We Must 'Show Up In Force' Against Anti-Trans LegislationIn a document compiled by friends, they wrote: "Eden started her journey on Twitter still living in the closet and hanging out with progressives and people who want to build a brighter, better world. Everyone who speaks about her mentions her humor and her kindness. She possessed an inner strength that we admire and know deserves recognition.”In her note, Knight also wrote: “I hope that the world gets better for us. I hope our people get old. I hope we get to see our kids grow up to fight for us. I hope for trans rights worldwide.”If you or someone you know is in need of help, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).Photo courtesy of Eden Knight/Twitter https://www.papermag.com/eden-knight-death-2659623519.html

[vganimefanatic]

Michael Pocalyko and Ellen Cole have blood on their hands. They deserve to be fired and dragged to court for this.

CW: trans death

I don’t usually post about losing our trans siblings but Eden Knight, a popular Twitter user, is being ignored by media. Her story seriously deserves more coverage. Eden was a young Saudi trans woman living in the U.S. until yesterday. Her family hired a popular Heritage Foundation-backed “fixer,” Michael Pocalyko, who arranged for her to undergo forced detransitioning. His associates trapped her in D.C. through financial coercion and threatened her with her undocumented status. She couldn’t take it anymore after a month of this treatment. She left a heartbreaking note that has been shared on Twitter thousands of times. The popular phrase “death before detransition” isn’t an exaggeration.

Not only was Eden influential in her own right but her story shows how the broader landscape of anti-trans fundamentalist organizing reaches across borders, religions, and ideologies. If you’re in media, please consider writing about her story. Her family has now confirmed all of it. Her family just confirmed everything. Unlike many posthumous trans narratives, she left us with information about exactly who/what killed her and how it happened. I’ve been in touch with her partner, who is as shocked about this information as we are. This dehumanizing treatment needs to end immediately. We are using #JusticeForEden and #HerNameWasEden for more information.

Update: Eden’s friends have compiled everything about her abduction in one place.

[albiandreams]

Michael Pocalyko

Ellen Cole

Bader Alomair

Now I know your names

Remembering and Fighting for Eden Knight

TW // Suicide, Transphobia, Forced Detransition

Eden Knight was a Saudi Arabic trans woman living in the United States, who on the morning of March 12th 2023, was discovered to have died by suicide after a twitlonger (which, upon reading, proved itself to be a suicide note) was posted to her Twitter account.

Her suicide note goes into detail, and explains the driving force behind her death. The manipulation by three people who lied to and betrayed the trust of Eden in order to force her into de-transitioning, all led by her influential religious conservative family.

Whether they want to admit it or not, they succeeded in what they did. As of March 13th 2023, her death has been confirmed.

(Note: This screenshot redacts her deadname, the original tweet both misgenders and deadnames Eden)

Eden gives the names of the people involved in, what is essentially her murder, so I will explain who they are and what they did to her.

Michael Pocalyko

Michael Pocalyko is the CEO of a company called “Special Investigations Limited." A business that claims they do “cyber security”, and “investigations."

Not only does Michael own this company, but he has also ran as a republican political candidate before, has sat on the boards of pharmaceutical companies, is tied to investment banking and equity firms, JP Morgan, as well as the Heritage Foundation.

He contacted Eden through one of her in-real-life friends, a self-proclaimed "fixer" who told Eden he could help mend her and her family's broken relationship. Michael, and his associate Ellen Cole, introduced Eden to (alleged) Saudi Arabian lawyer Bader Alomair.

Bader Alomair

Not much is known about Bader Alomairs background, but we do know his role with Eden. Bader told Eden he was a lawyer and got her an apartment in Washington D.C. He began to take care of her financially; Eden realized he was grooming her into de-transitioning, living in the closet, and she was now an illegal immigrant (her international scholarship, which she'd been using to go to school in America, had expired which meant she could be deported) who was financially dependent on him. Feeling she had no other option she caved to his demands and changed her physical appearance, along with discontinuing her hormone therapy. She even met with her father and got back into contact with her mother. At this point Michael and Ellen had ceased all communication with her, she had an emotional breakdown and “repented," as Bader booked her a flight to Saudi Arabia.

Final Notes and Thoughts

Eden Knight was failed by so many fucking people. Failed by her transphobic family who literally drove her to death because of their bigotry. Failed by the two American investigators who cared more about money than this poor girls life. Failed by the U.S. immigration system which should've provided her asylum and support.

Eden was a beloved member of the trans community. People knew her as a sharp, witty, thoughtful person who wanted to make the world a better place. She said,

"I hope that the world gets better for us. I hope our people get old. I hope we get to see our kids grow up to fight for us. I hope for trans rights world wide."

It's been eight years since Leelah Alcorn died by suicide, isn't it fucked how we're still fighting for the same things?

Eden deserved to be happy. All of us do.