Slava Pastuk

Born as Yaroslav Pastukhov in Kyiv, Ukraine, in June 1990.{{Cite web |last=Knibbs |first=Kate |date=2019-12-02 |title="Worked at Vice Then Went to Jail": How a Bunch of Canadian Hipsters Wound Up Smuggling Cocaine (and Getting Caught) |url=https://www.theringer.com/2019/12/2/20974891/slava-p-cocaine-smuggling-arrest |access-date=2022-07-12 |website=The Ringer |language=en |archive-date=2022-08-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220809193106/https://www.theringer.com/2019/12/2/20974891/slava-p-cocaine-smuggling-arrest |url-status=live }}{{Cite book |last=Pastuk |first=Slava |title=Bad Trips |publisher=Dundurn Press |year=2022 |isbn=9781459749276}} In 1994, he moved with his mother from Ukraine to Canada, initially staying in the Ukrainian Mission on College Street, Toronto before moving to the Greek Town area.{{Cite news |last=MacKenzie |first=Alan |date=2022-05-21 |title=Little to like about writer turned smuggler |language=en-CA |work=Winnipeg Free Press |url=https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/entertainment/books/little-to-like-about-writer-turned-smuggler-576522892.html |access-date=2022-07-12 |archive-date=2022-07-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220712122837/https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/entertainment/books/little-to-like-about-writer-turned-smuggler-576522892.html |url-status=live }} A few years later he and his mother moved to Barrie, where he attended the St. Joan of Arc High School, and worked part time at the local Shoppers Drug Mart where he also stole perfume and cologne to order.

Upon moving to Toronto in 2011, Pastuk worked interviewing rappers for a YouTube show called "First Encounters{{Citation |title=First Encounters With hustleGRL: Rita Ora |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQz5sqenFbI&list=PLBD69F514845A348C&index=4 |language=en |access-date=2022-07-23 |archive-date=2022-07-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220723225515/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQz5sqenFbI&list=PLBD69F514845A348C&index=4 |url-status=live }}{{Citation |title=First Encounters With hustleGRL: Kendrick Lamar |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nO2kNcLWZ9g |language=en |access-date=2022-07-23 |archive-date=2022-07-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220723225515/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nO2kNcLWZ9g |url-status=live }}" for local blog hustleGRL, run by Karla Moy. He was named as "One to Watch{{Citation |title=Teaser: Ones to Watch |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vtZRlecZxE |language=en |access-date=2022-07-23 |archive-date=2022-07-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220723225516/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vtZRlecZxE |url-status=live }}" by York University's Emerge Magazine in 2012.

Although Pastuk initially moved to Toronto to work in marketing, he quit in 2014{{Cite news |last=Humphreys |first=Adrian |date=2022-04-19 |title=Former Toronto Vice journalist who recruited drug mules denied full parole due to 'rather enlarged ego' |language=en |work=National Post |url=https://nationalpost.com/news/former-toronto-journalist-who-recruited-drug-mules-denied-full-parole-due-to-rather-enlarged-ego |access-date=2022-07-12}} after his breakout interview{{Cite web |title=Donald Glover: Fear and Trembling |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/donald-glover-childish-gambino-interview/ |access-date=2022-07-23 |website=Vice.com |language=en |archive-date=2022-07-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220723225516/https://www.vice.com/en/article/rqexvr/donald-glover-childish-gambino-interview |url-status=live }} with Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino. He took a job as the Editor at Noisey, part of Vice Media, based in Toronto. As a writer, he adopted the pen name Slava Pastuk.

As a reporter and editor for Vice, he spent the 2010s attending free parties, and writing about musicians. Simultaneous to his Vice employment, Pastuk supplemented his income by DJ-ing and selling marijuana to people he met on Grindr. During his time at VICE he interviewed Toronto rappers who at that time were unknown to the mainstream but would go on to be Toronto fixtures. He was the first journalist to interview rappers like Casper, Murda Beatz, and Top 5, earning himself a reputation as "Toronto's most trusted music journalist." Upon his release from prison, he would cite these interviews as being vital for his survival in jail, as Casper came to say hello when both of them were at the same facility.{{Cite web |last=Dirt |title=Dirt: Prison tapes |url=https://dirt.substack.com/p/dirt-prison-tapes |access-date=2022-07-23 |website=dirt.substack.com |language=en |archive-date=2022-06-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220613172435/https://dirt.substack.com/p/dirt-prison-tapes |url-status=live }}

In 2015, after meeting people from a narcotics cartel, Pastuk smuggled cocaine from Las Vegas to Australia, earning $20,000. In 2015,{{Cite web |last=Powell |first=Betsy |date=2019-12-03 |title=Former Toronto-based Vice editor sentenced to nine years for scheme to import 40 kg of cocaine to Australia |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2019/12/02/former-toronto-based-vice-editor-sentenced-to-nine-years-for-scheme-to-import-40-kg-of-cocaine-to-australia.html |access-date=2022-07-12 |website=thestar.com |language=en |archive-date=2022-07-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220712161819/https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2019/12/02/former-toronto-based-vice-editor-sentenced-to-nine-years-for-scheme-to-import-40-kg-of-cocaine-to-australia.html |url-status=live }} along with Ali Taki Lalji, Pastuk recruited five colleagues at Vice media to smuggle $20 million of cocaine on the same route, however Australian immigration authorities arrested them. Vice Media, upon learning via letter about Pastuk's activities, fired him in 2016. In 2017, Pastuk was featured in the National Post article How a Former Editor Allegedly Used Vice Canada to Recruit Drug Mules for a Global Smuggling Ring.

He moved to Montreal, where he operated a clandestine dispensary before being arrested and put on house arrest in Brampton, Ontario. He was arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in January 2019, along with co-conspirator Ali Taki Lalji. In December 2019, Ontario Court Justice Heather Pringle sentenced him to nine years in prison.

In 2020, his drug exploits were the subject of Canadaland's podcast Cool Mules.{{Cite web |last=Steiner |first=Lizzy |date=2020-03-26 |title=12 True Crime Podcasts to Listen to this Spring |url=https://crimereads.com/12-true-crime-podcasts-to-listen-to-spring-2020/ |access-date=2022-07-12 |website=CrimeReads |language=en-US |archive-date=2022-07-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220712012026/https://crimereads.com/12-true-crime-podcasts-to-listen-to-spring-2020/ |url-status=live }} In 2021, with support from Brian Whitney, he wrote Bad Trips: How I Went from Vice Reporter to International Drug Smuggler while in jail.{{Cite web |last=Alexander |first=Harriet |date=2022-04-16 |title=Ex-Vice editor tells how journalism led him to run drugs to Sydney |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/ex-vice-editor-tells-how-journalism-led-him-to-run-drugs-to-sydney-20220413-p5ad6f.html |access-date=2022-07-12 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en |archive-date=2022-07-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220712122915/https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/ex-vice-editor-tells-how-journalism-led-him-to-run-drugs-to-sydney-20220413-p5ad6f.html |url-status=live }} The book was published in 2022, and has been optioned for a scripted TV series.{{Cite web |url=https://twitter.com/sdbcraig/status/1360673902217883649 |access-date=2022-07-23 |website=Twitter |language=en |title=Archived copy |archive-date=2022-07-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220715070100/https://twitter.com/sdbcraig/status/1360673902217883649 |url-status=live }}

He was denied full parole at his April 2022 parole hearing with the panel noting his "narcissistic traits and a rather enlarged ego". But he was granted release into the community as part of his day parole guidelines.

• Bro's and Hoes in Prose,{{Cite web |title=Bros & Hoes In Prose |url=https://www.goodreads.com/work/16880028-bros-hoes-in-prose |access-date=2022-07-23 |website=Goodreads |language=en |archive-date=2023-04-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407053210/https://www.goodreads.com/user/new |url-status=live }} Self-Published, January 2011
• [https://www.vice.com/en/article/donald-glover-childish-gambino-interview/ Donald Glover: Fear and Trembling], Vice Media, October 2013
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2ZUHL7--Pk&list=PLBD69F514845A348C Forced Exposure Video Series], Vice Media, January 2016{{Citation |title=Forced Exposure - Miguel & Connor Olthuis |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2ZUHL7--Pk&list=PLBD69F514845A348C |language=en |access-date=2022-07-23 |archive-date=2022-07-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220723225845/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2ZUHL7--Pk&list=PLBD69F514845A348C |url-status=live }} {{Citation |title=Forced Exposure - Rich Homie Quan & Niall McClelland |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt4cW0vPSRs&list=PLBD69F514845A348C |language=en |access-date=2022-07-23 |archive-date=2022-07-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220723225848/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt4cW0vPSRs&list=PLBD69F514845A348C |url-status=live }}

• Bad Trips: How I Went from Vice Reporter to International Drug Smuggler, 2022.

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Category:1990 births

Category:Ukrainian emigrants to Canada

Category:21st-century Canadian journalists

Category:Canadian music journalists

Category:21st-century Canadian writers

Category:Living people

Category:Prisoners and detainees of Canada

Category:Foreign nationals imprisoned in Canada

Category:Canadian drug traffickers