CLAIM
A video has gone viral on social media where a man can be seen ‘raining’ money on the road as a crowd gathers around him. The message with the video claims that a “millionaire Indian” gave away $100,000 in New York “in ref(reference) to modi victory.”
The video was sent to The Quint on our WhatsApp helpline by a reader, Munish Bhatia.
TRUE OR FALSE?
Though the video is authentic, the claim made in the message along with it is false. The man seen showering money in the video is Joe Kush, a music producer and video engineer, not an ‘Indian millionaire’.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
A Google search with keywords, “manhattan new york man throws money” led us to an Instagram account, “KolHaolom.” They had posted the video on their page on 16 May with the caption, “A man was seen throwing cash around on 47th Street in Manhattan. He may be doing it for a video shoot.”
Going through the comments, we were able to identify the man in the video as Joe Kush, whose Instagram handle is “TheGod_JoeKush”
Joe Kush had posted the video on his page a week ago, geotagging it at the location, Trax NYC Custom Jewelery, which can also be seen in the video.
The Instagram account is full of videos and pictures of Kush with huge amounts of cash. Similar videos at different locations, tagged “money shower tour”, can also be found on his Instagram page.
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