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The Rise of Joe Faro: From Humble Beginnings to Culinary Empire

The story of Joe Faro is not just about the rise of a culinary empire, but also about passion, perseverance, and the power of relationships. From the bustling atmosphere of the Tuscan Market to the expansive vision of the Tuscan Village, Faro’s journey is a testament to the belief that with hard work and dedication, anything is possible.

The Early Mornings of a Visionary

It’s just before 9 a.m. at Tuscan Market in Salem , N.H., and while the world is just waking up, Joe Faro’s day has already begun. As the aroma of freshly baked bread fills the air and families gather for their morning meals, Faro is immersed in his world of culinary delights and business strategies.

Inside his office, the walls tell a story. Italian cookbooks, family photos, and a plethora of blueprints showcase his journey. The sign outside his door humorously reads “Joe Faro, Head Food Taster,” but those who know him understand the depth of his commitment. For Faro, every day is a blend of passion, creativity, and relentless hard work.

Betting on Himself

“I’m a very positively obsessed person,” Faro admits. His approach to life and business is simple: the harder he works, the luckier he gets.

This mantra has seen him through the ups and downs of his career, always pushing him to bet on himself and his vision.

• The Drive to Create: Despite having the means to retire comfortably, Faro’s drive is not fueled by money or material possessions. His true passion lies in creating, building relationships, and bringing his visions to life. His brief stint with retirement only reaffirmed his love for entrepreneurship and the joy of crafting a successful business from scratch.
• A Leader with Heart: Faro’s leadership style is deeply rooted in mutual respect. He believes in having his staff’s backs, knowing they’ll have his in return. This bond is evident as he walks through the kitchen of Tuscan Kitchen , greeting each employee with genuine warmth and interest.

The Legacy of Lawrence

The city of Lawrence holds a special place in Faro’s heart. It’s where his immigrant parents settled, and where young Joey Faro learned the value of hard work.

His father, Joe Sr. , started a bakery in Haverhill, instilling in him the principles of dedication and perseverance.

• Stories of Triumph: Lawrence has been the backdrop for many success stories, and Faro is proud to be one of them. He emphasizes the importance of remembering those who have supported and believed in him throughout his journey. From setting up his executive team for comfortable retirements to giving second chances to employees in need, Faro’s generosity knows no bounds.
• Challenges and Triumphs: Faro’s journey hasn’t been without its challenges. From being dubbed the “Student Least Likely To Succeed” to facing academic hurdles in college, he’s faced his share of obstacles. But with passion, patience, and perseverance, he turned a college project into Joseph’s Gourmet Pastas and Sauces, a venture that would set the stage for his future successes.

The Three P’s: Passion, Patience, and Perseverance

Joe Faro’s success can be distilled into three core principles: passion, patience, and perseverance. These are not just words for him; they are the guiding forces that have shaped his journey from a struggling student to a culinary magnate.

• Igniting the Passion: Faro’s passion was evident from his college days. While many saw a student with a dismal GPA, Faro saw an opportunity. He channeled his energy into creating a business plan for Joseph’s Gourmet Pastas and Sauces . This project was not just an academic exercise; it was the spark that ignited his entrepreneurial journey.
• The Virtue of Patience: In the world of business, success doesn’t come overnight. Faro understood the value of waiting, of nurturing his dreams until they were ready to flourish. Whether it was waiting for the right business opportunity or the right team, Faro’s patience often paid off in spades.

Building More Than Just Businesses

For Joe Faro, business is not just about profit margins and balance sheets. It’s about creating something meaningful, something that has a positive impact on the community and the people around him.

• A Commitment to the Community: Faro’s roots in the Merrimack Valley run deep. His dedication to the region is evident in his ventures like the Tuscan Village . More than just a business endeavor, it’s Faro’s way of giving back to the community, creating opportunities, and fostering growth.
• Second Chances and Redemption: Faro believes in the power of redemption. His decision to support an employee battling opioid addiction, offering him a second chance through a recovery program, speaks volumes about his character. For Faro, business is as much about humanity as it is about profit.

The Tuscan Vision: A Culinary Utopia

As the clock strikes 11 a.m., Joe Faro’s day is far from over. With meetings to attend and decisions to make, he is in the thick of bringing his Tuscan Village vision to life. But for Faro, it’s not just about building a business; it’s about creating a legacy.

• A Culinary Wonderland: The Tuscan Village is not just a business venture; it’s a dream come true for Faro. From fine Italian food to entertainment and shopping, it’s a testament to Faro’s love for Italian culture and his desire to share it with the world.
• Climbing the Culinary Everest: Creating the Tuscan Village is no small feat. Faro likens it to climbing Mount Everest – challenging, demanding, but ultimately rewarding. With his unwavering determination and the support of his team, Faro is on his way to creating a culinary utopia.

What inspired Joe Faro to enter the culinary world?

While the text touches on Joe’s family background and their bakery, it was his deep-rooted Italian heritage and the memories of family gatherings centered around food that truly ignited his passion for the culinary arts.

Are there plans to expand Tuscan Brands beyond the current locations?

While the current focus is on the Tuscan Village and existing Tuscan Kitchen restaurants, Joe Faro’s visionary nature means there’s always potential for expansion in the future.

How does Joe Faro ensure the authenticity of the Italian dishes at Tuscan Kitchen?

Joe places a strong emphasis on sourcing authentic ingredients directly from Italy. Additionally, he often collaborates with Italian chefs to ensure that the dishes remain true to their roots.

Has he received any awards or recognitions for his contributions to the culinary world?

While the main text doesn’t specify, given his significant contributions and success, it’s likely that Joe Faro and Tuscan Brands have received accolades in the culinary and business sectors.

What kind of events can one expect at the Tuscan Village?

Apart from dining, shopping, and entertainment, Tuscan Village may host cultural events, wine tastings, Italian festivals, and cooking classes to immerse visitors in the Italian experience.

How does Joe Faro view competition in the restaurant industry?

While not explicitly mentioned, given Joe’s positive and driven nature, he likely views competition as a motivation to continually improve and innovate, ensuring Tuscan Brands remains at the forefront of the culinary scene.

Final Words

Joe Faro’s journey from the streets of Lawrence to the helm of the Tuscan Brands empire is a testament to the power of passion, perseverance, and vision. His story is not just about culinary success but about building relationships, giving back to the community, and creating a legacy that goes beyond business.

Whenving into the realm of Tus Brands, we are prompted to remember that achievement comprises diligent effort, unwavering passion, and yielding faith in one’s aspirations. For further ventures in the restaurant industry, have a look at our article on The Joy Nest.

Joe Faro - Made From Scratch

Entrepreneur, Attorney, Author, Blogger, and Mom.

His entrepreneurial journey began at the age of 10 when he began working in his parent’s Italian bakery located in an old Greek church in Haverhill. It was here where he learned how to make pastries, fresh bread, and handmade pasta. This was the start of a lifelong expedition which would center around making people happy with his own kind of art; handmade artisan delights from Italy. In his senior year as an undergraduate at University of New Hampshire, he took a class in entrepreneurship. His assignment was to create a business plan and so he created a plan for a company called Joseph’s Gourmet Pastas and Sauces. The business plan won him a passing grade for his class, and would eventually win him something much greater. Shortly after graduating, he took that business plan and shopped it around to local banks, and sure enough, he found a bank that would back him, and so in 1991 Joseph’s Gourmet Pastas and Sauces was born in the attic of his parent’s bakery in Haverhill. He was the production team, the sales team, and the management team, all rolled up into one. Armed with a business plan and a loan from his local bank, he set out on a journey of building an empire from scratch, literally. Not only was “made from scratch” the key differentiator in his pasta and sauces, it has always been the driving force in how he builds businesses, starting from nothing and slowly perfecting every little detail until he has created an empire that no competitor can even come close to matching. His name is Joe Faro, and his tiny pasta and sauce business expanded beyond the walls of the bakery’s attic, to its own building, eventually to a building the size of an entire city block. The one man show called Joseph’s Gourmet Pastas and Sauces grew into an empire with 35 sales people, 480 distributors, and 400 people producing product 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Joe Faro would build from scratch, not just what many would consider the very best pasta and sauces in the world, but also a well-oiled business machine that would eventually sell to Nestle, landing this entrepreneur in retirement in his 30s.

Retirement just didn’t sit well with Joe Faro. Perhaps when you have spent half your life making things from scratch, there’s just no stopping you. Joe Faro is well into chapter two of his “scratch” life, now building Tuscan Brands which consists of Tuscan Kitchen restaurants, with scratch made Italian cuisine. The restaurants are located in Salem, NH and Burlington, MA , with two new restaurants slated for Portsmouth, NH and Boston, MA. He is also the brains behind Tuscan Market , launched in 2012, which is an open air Artisan Market, where guests can experience everything from bread making, pasta making, fine pastries and gelato, all made on site, in addition to hundreds of Italian wines, prepared foods, and imported specialties direct from Italy. Tuscan Market is located in Salem, NH and within the Burlington Tuscan Kitchen location. As if he isn’t busy enough, Joe Faro also recently purchased Rockingham Race Track in Salem, NH which he will soon turn into The Tuscan Village, which will be a city within a city, with fine restaurants, shopping villas, boutique hotels, and luxury residences.

I recently spent a morning with Joe Faro to find out what it takes to build not just one, but multiple empires out of nothing. Here are JoeFaro’s four simple strategies for creating a life and business made from scratch:

Persistence Pays Off: The year was 1992, Faro, in his early twenties, was making his umpteenth sales call on The Harvard Club of Boston,a very exclusive private club known for exceptional cuisine. Faro says that their notable European chef was gruff and to the point, and, like every other time, Joe expected that he would be told to “beat it.” But on this particular day, the European chef did something peculiar. He placed an order with Faro for his four cheese cappelletti. Faro was ecstatic and he eagerly asked the chef what kind of dish he would be making with the cappelletti, to which the chef replied, “I’ll be feeding the staff with it.” Seeing the disappointment in Faro’s face, the chef agreed to give Faro another opportunity. The chef explained that the restaurant was employing staff members to make lobster ravioli, and that if Faro could make something close to or better in quality than that which his staff was making, he would place regular orders with him. Faro immediately went home and made batch after batch after batch of lobster ravioli. He perfected it. He brought it to The Harvard Club where the chef gave his seal of approval. Soon thereafter, Joseph’s Gourmet Pasta and Sauces became the standard for lobster ravioli, and many other handmade pastas, used within the industry. Faro says that if there’s one piece of advice he has for other entrepreneurs it is that persistence pays off. He says that every time someone said no to him, he took it to mean “come back later.” And every single time, Joe would come back later and ask again.

Diving In The Deep End : At the age of 24, his business, Joseph’s Gourmet Pastas and Sauces was still a very young business. Despite being a rookie in the industry, Faro reached out to Darden Restaurant Group, of which Olive Garden, with 650 restaurants at the time, was a subsidiary. Faro says that he had no business pitching his handmade pastas and sauces to such a titan of the restaurant industry, but he decided to go for it anyway, and he won the account. Faro says his company literally changed overnight. He worked around the clock to scale the manufacturing processes so that he could produce in massive bulk quantities without compromising on the quality. No sooner was he the preferred pasta vendor of Olive Garden, when he started gaining other massive restaurant consortiums as clients. Between 1997 and 2005, Joseph’s Gourmet Pastas and Sauces was doubling in production output every year. The lesson, says Faro, is that many business owners are constantly perfecting their processes or their pitch, to the point that they never go after the big sale. He says that if he had waited until he was ready to go after the Olive Garden account, he might still be waiting. Instead, he went after the massive account because he knew if he landed it, he’d figure out a way to come through for the customer. Faro says you have to have the gumption to go after the big clients and the faith that you will make it all work when you land that big account.

Do It Again: While Nike is best known for their tag line, “Just Do It,” Faro is best known for his own slight variation of that, “Do It Again.” Joe says that his success in business is highly dependent on his personal quest for perfection. Upon meeting employees for the first time, he tells them that they must be prepared for his brutal honesty when it comes to the quality of his products and service. As he explains to his people, "I’ll tell you when I love it – I’ll tell you when I hate it- it doesn’t mean I hate you!" He simply will not refrain from saying something when he sees any kind of opportunity for improvement. Says Faro, “I try to let them know it’s ok if they can never meet my standards, because I can’t meet them either.” Faro says he’s been on a 25 year maddening quest for perfection. “Do It Again,” is now coming to have a second meaning in the world of Joe Faro. In 2006, he sold Joseph’s Gourmet Pasta and Sauces to Nestle. He stayed on and continued to the run the company for two years until he opted for retirement in 2009, in his mid 30s. Faro’s retirement didn’t last long, because in true Joe Faro style, he has opted to “Do It Again” with a whole new career, and a whole new empire; Tuscan Brands . Tuscan Brands was born in 2009, with Faro’s first restaurant, The Tuscan Kitchen , which opened in Salem, NH. The restaurant showcased all of the handmade Italian specialties that Joe had learned to make through his lifelong journey to perfect Italy’s diverse regional cuisine in America. In 2012 Joe opened his first Tuscan Market , designed to emulate an open air Artisan Italian Market, where guests can buy fresh baked breads, handmade pastas, fine Italian pastries, and gelato, all made on site. As well, there are hundreds of Italian wines, prepared foods and imported specialties from all over Italy available within the market. In 2014, Joe launched the Tuscan Kitchen restaurant in Burlington, MA. The Tuscan Kitchen will also soon be opening in Portsmouth, NH and the Seaport District in Boston. Faro says that in any business, it’s essential as an entrepreneur to be willing to start over. He says it’s so easy to get wrapped up in your own beliefs, but if you really listen to your employees and your customers, there might just be a better way. As for Chapter Two of his business career, Joe says he’s building a bigger and better empire this time around, but in true “Do It Again” fashion, he’s taken some big lessons away from his first time around and applying them in this chapter. Namely, he says this time around he’s carved out a greater amount of time to enjoy his family. He says part of his ability to do that comes from having more faith in his people to do their job without him having to micro manage. He says that it took him a long time to realize that great people don’t need you looking over their shoulder, and that in reality, they can do the job better than you can, because they are much closer to it. In addition, the fact that Joe has capital behind him this time around,allows him to be more patient in allowing his key people and systems to develop into a sustainable, scalable business model.

Safe Is Anything But Safe: Tuscan Kitchen is a 100% scratch restaurant. I toured the facility with Joe and not only do they hand make their breads and pastries, they also hand make their artisan pastas and gelatos. There’s even an entire section of the kitchen where specialty meats are cured in special refrigeration units. Faro says that if there’s any mistake he sees many business owners make often, it is that they play it safe. They buy their pastas from the same place everyone else buys them. They make the same simple desserts that every other restaurant makes. Faro says that in his opinion, playing it safe in business is anything but safe. He says when you go for the easy menu, the easy dessert options, the plain vanilla ice cream, you might hit a home run for your business somewhere, but when you do, the competition will create what you’ve created overnight. Faro says that hand making every pasta, sauce, dessert, gelato, and bread, is risky. It takes a lot of man hours to perfect the recipe and then to deliver the same quality day after day. However, Faro says when you get it right, you get it right, and it’s all but impossible for the competition to duplicate what you’ve done. Besides that, Faro says customers don’t want the same ole’ same ole’. Customers want a different kind of experience. They want to come to the market or to the restaurant and feel like they got as close to Italy as they could possibly get without being there, even if it’s just for an hour or two. Faro says that restaurants and businesses that play it safe typically don’t last very long. The ones that become empires, do so by separating themselves by becoming innovators and by concentrating on the little hard things, like serving up Italy from scratch.

As for future growth, Faro says he looks forward to growing his brand throughout New England for now, and he admits that his hands will be full with the massive development project he’s working on in Salem, NH. I asked if he’s worried about going into a whole new kind of business (real estate and development) which is very different than the food and restaurant industries. Faro says he’s not worried at all. He says he will handle the real estate and development business just as he has handled every other business; he will start from scratch. He’s Joe Faro, the entrepreneur Made From Scratch.

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40 Influential Leaders - Joe Faro

Published Friday Feb 9, 2024

Author Sheryl Rich-Kern

Joe Faro Owner of Tuscan Brands

Culinary entrepreneur, real estate developer and philanthropist Joe Faro is transforming the former Rockingham Park racetrack, a 170-acre parcel, into a mixed-use regional destination—essentially creating a downtown for Salem. Faro’s latest venture started with Tuscan Kitchen, an Italian restaurant in Salem that now has several locations. Faro previously founded and grew Joseph’s Gourmet Pasta and Sauces into a multimillion-dollar business before selling it to Nestle Prepared Foods.

His second business empire includes two Tuscan Markets, Toscana Italian Chophouse & Wine Bar, Tuscan Sea Grill, and the Artisan Chef Catering Company.

When the racetrack parcel became available in 2016, Faro expanded his vision to create a four million-square-foot walkable hub with 45 stores and an additional 50 to come. “The pandemic shaped our vision for brick-and-mortar retail to transition into more of an experience-based retail platform, whether it is learning how to make pasta or a wine class or outdoor entertainment in our beer garden or learning how to fly fish on Tuscan Lake,” Faro says.

As more people choose to work remotely, he scaled back on office space and created more residences. Faro expects to have at least 1,800 residential units when all phases are complete.

Faro is currently in the process of opening the central district of the Tuscan Village with a 165-room boutique hotel, a rooftop lounge, a cafe and an event center. “This village project has really given us the platform to bring the community together.”  

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Founded by serial food entrepreneur, Joe Faro, Tuscan Brands is the culmination of two generations of Italian food artisans. Starting out at his parent's corner bakery as a child, it was at the University of New Hampshire where Joe's ambition and original food enterprise was born.

Over the next 18 years, Joseph's Gourmet Pasta and Sauces grew from a college business plan to the nation's largest manufacturer of specialty pasta & sauces. Joseph's sauces ultimately led the sale of the company to Buitoni, a division of Nestle' Prepared Foods in 2006.

Joe's passion for artisan Italian cuisine led him to the next chapter of this food journey, the creation of Tuscan Brands. He opened Tuscan Kitchen in Salem, NH in 2010. The initial restaurant concept then expanded throughout New England after Tuscan Kitchen's great success. Joe then expanded his repertoire with the openings of 2 Tuscan Markets, Toscana Italian Chophouse & Wine Bar, Tuscan Sea Grill, and the Artisan Chef Catering Company.

In 2016, Tuscan Brands acquired a 170 acre property formally known as Rockingham Park in Salem, NH. Joe's vision was to transform the are into a 3.8M SF mixed use super regional destination called Tuscan Village. The development is currently underway and has provided the town of Salem with a walkable downtown destination. Residents & visitors of Tuscan Village can experience a place where they can live, work, stay & play.

The Tuscan Brands team is currently making major investments in its newly acquired manufacturing facility Artisan Chef Manufacturing Co. in Lawrence, MA. The facility will produce restaurant quality foods to be sold in major grocery & package stores all over U.S.

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Tuscan Kitchen Seaport Debuts in Boston

Tuscan brands, tuscan kitchen, seaport district, boston, restaurants, food, dining.

Tuscan Kitchen Seaport will open its doors at 64 Seaport Boulevard on Monday, November 20, bringing chief food taster and founder Joe Faro’s artisan Italian fare to a spectacular second-floor space in One Seaport, a marquee destination in Boston’s hottest neighborhood.

“It’s so exciting to see all that’s happening in the Seaport and we are beyond thrilled to be part of this neighborhood’s renaissance,” Faro says. “Our space is simply stunning and we can’t wait to share our homemade pastas, hearth-baked breads, imported wines and cheeses, and specially-curated menu of authentic Italian dishes with our guests in Boston.”

The One Seaport location will be the fourth for Faro’s Tuscan Kitchen, following openings in Salem, New Hampshire, in 2010; Burlington, in 2014; and Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 2017. Tuscan Kitchen Seaport will occupy a 14,000-square-foot space. The 300-seat restaurant will also include an 80-seat wine bar, an espresso bar, and almost 2,000 square feet of private dining space that includes a separate, glass-encased wine room.

Tuscan Kitchen is known for its authentic style of Italian cuisine, offering artisan breads baked fresh daily, handmade pastas, homespun gelato, imported Italian wines, meats and cheeses, and a variety of scratch-prepared dishes, both classic and with unique twists. Offerings include a new crudo bar menu, Tagliatelle al Tartufo (a decadent table side pasta with shaved truffle), locally-sourced seafood and a Tuscan specialty, Bistecca Alla Fiorentina – a dry aged 48 oz. certified Prime Brandt Beef Porterhouse for two – as well as an extensive craft cocktail program and wine cellar with over 400 different Italian wines.

The new restaurant is in the exciting new One Seaport development, which is the largest mixed-use project built in the City of Boston in 30 years. Spanning three acres, the development is bordered by Seaport Boulevard, Northern Avenue, Sleeper Street, and Fan Pier Boulevard.

With spectacular views of the Boston skyline, Tuscan Kitchen Seaport joins Equinox, ShowPlaceICON at Seaport, Bonobos, Kings Dining & Entertainment, Mr. Sid, Luke’s Lobster, Caffé Nero, 75 on Courthouse Square, Seaport Barbers, sweetgreen, La Colombe, Scorpion Bar, The Grand, Lululemon, and Bank of America.

Tuscan Kitchen Seaport, 64 Seaport Blvd., Boston, tuscanbrands.com

Lunch: Monday – Saturday: 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Dinner: Monday – Saturday: 3 p.m. to 11 p.m.; Sunday: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Sunday Pranzo: 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Dinner Menu Offered All Day)

Wine Bar: Sunday – Tuesday: 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Wednesday – Saturday: 11:30 a.m. to 1 a.m.?

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For Joe Faro '91, the future began taking shape in an entrepreneurship class during his senior year at UNH. Until then, he knew food was his passion. He grew up working in his parents' bakery in Haverhill, Mass; he had even begun creating his own handmade pasta. Like most college students, however, he had no idea where it would take him.

Assigned to write a business plan, Faro conceived an idea for a company, Joseph's Gourmet Pasta and Sauces , which he entered in the Whittemore School Holloway Prize Innovation-to-Market Competition . "I intended to bring it to a bank, borrow $1 million and retrofit an old shoe factory," Faro says.

Faro finished second and graduated into the 1991 recession. He took his plan to 15 banks before one in Lawrence, Mass., found "creative collateralization" to launch his business. But initially, Faro's products were not well received.

"I didn't know what I was doing," Faro says. "I had a passion for food—for creating the products—and a vision, but no nuts-and-bolts business knowledge." As his funding ran out, Faro was forced to take a second look at his offering. He also had to take kitchen and catering jobs at some of the restaurants he was trying to sell his products to.

Being in the trenches taught Faro about food. "I started to learn to be a chef," he says. He fine-tuned his palate and began creating chef-worthy sauces. "I started with a sauce with lobster meat, sherry, some shallots and a little bit of cream," Faro says. "I'd boil it down and pipe it into ravioli."

It was labor intensive: Faro would stamp circles in a sheet of pasta using a number 10 can and pinch the folded edges with a fork before adding the fillings. The new creations, however, were a hit with Boston-area hotels and restaurants. Faro finally had a unique product a cut above his competitors.

Faro described his early marketing strategy as "me sneaking in the back door of every kitchen I could get into and dropping a box before the chef could throw me out." He'd pack the pasta into the back of his station wagon, using a sleeping bag to keep the boxes cool, and buzz all over Boston. He'd leave the car running, hazard lights on, and dart into restaurants. He'd drop a box, give his 22-second spiel, and run back out. It was a stressful approach. "Security at the Ritz-Carlton would chase me all over the building," Faro says. He also lost a van, packed with his products, when it was stolen in the North End. Still, according to Faro, anybody who tried the pasta would call back. "That's how I started to build the business," Faro says.

Significant growth, Faro knew, required automation. By then in his own factory, Faro retooled his old ravioli mixer and tweaked production methods more than 100 times before finding a continuous way to inject large chunks (lobster, chicken, mushrooms, etc.) into thin pasta—two qualities that made his ravioli famous. "Our claim to fame was 50 different shapes of ravioli with 500 different fillings," Faro says. The company also made cannelloni, lasagna and custom pastas.

Automation increased output from 200 handmade pounds a week to 200,000 pounds a day, enabling Faro to sell to wholesalers and top national chains. After landing his first Olive Garden order in 2000, Faro quickly added clients such as Bertucci's, Carrabba's, Macaroni Grill and California Pizza Kitchen.

"The business was a living, breathing machine. It was my other baby, and I probably spent more time with it than my real baby."

By 2005, Joseph's Gourmet Pasta and Sauces had grown from $200,000 in annual sales to $60 million. It had become a 24/7 operation with more than 200 employees. "I loved every piece of it and everybody in it," Faro says.

But being involved in each aspect had Faro working 80-hour weeks and fielding phone calls at 2:00 a.m. "The business was a living, breathing machine," says Faro. "It was my other baby, and I probably spent more time with it than my real baby."

Faro realized he had to retool the business to run without him, or sell it. In 2006, he sold to Nestle Prepared Foods. It was the hardest decision of his life. "For one conditioned to persevere, it almost felt as though I'd quit," Faro says. "Money wasn't the issue: the train had finally arrived at the station and I had to get off."

After a brief retirement, Faro began a new venture. He purchased seven Depot buildings in downtown Salem, N.H., to create an artisan-Italian restaurant and associated businesses. Tuscan Kitchen opened in November 2010. Faro is now at work on Tuscan Market next door to the restaurant, where customers can buy fresh foods, including breads, pastas, mozzarella and desserts, made right in front of them.

Tuscan Villa, which will include a small park and other boutiques, is the culmination of all of Faro's entrepreneurial experiences, his many trips to Italy and his lifelong passion for food. "It's a very different business: It's five minutes from my home, it's starting from the beginning again, which to me is what I enjoy most," Faro says.

For young entrepreneurs who would like to replicate Faro's success story, he has two pieces of advice.

"Mentally prepare yourself for the rejection and adversity you'll face through your entire business career," he says. "There's a pothole one every street, but there's always a workaround and a way to persevere."

And he also advises to not be hasty in changing your vision: "Adapt to the environment, but stay true to what you do."

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Faro’s tuscan kitchen serves up authentic italian fare in seaport.

Roasted pumpkin soup at Tuscan Kitchen

Executive Chef Nimesh Maharjan is seen with his roasted pumpkin soup at Tuscan Kitchen in the Seaport District.

FEEDING INNOVATION: Owner Joe Faro will open a new Tuscan Kitchen restaurant, serving upscale Italian dishes, in Boston's Innovation District.

Tuscan Kitchen owner Joe Faro is serving up Old World ambience along with authentic Italian cuisine at his latest restaurant, opening Monday, in the heart of the Innovation District. The 14,000-square-foot, 350-seat restaurant is in Seaport Square and Faro is excited to be a part of the neighborhood. “I’ve never seen Boston so vibrant and so innovative and so impressive as it is right now,” he said.

This joins other Tuscan Kitchen locations in Portsmouth and Salem, N.H., and Burlington. “This location is no different,” Faro said. “What this space has though is a little bit of edge to it and the dining room is going to have a little more of an upscale approach,” with white linens and select dishes finished at tables.

Of the roughly 3,500 wheels of parmigiano-reggiano that the company imports each year, the Seaport Square location will gradually make a substantial dent in the supply by tossing tagliatelle with flaming brandy, truffles and cream for a luxurious tableside event.

Faro has fostered relationships with artisan producers over the years, including procuring olive oil made by a family friend in Sicily and serving wine that is crafted for the company by Castello di Querceto vineyard in Tuscany.

“We import a 50,000-pound container of double zero flour every other month,” Faro said. This finely ground flour with a low bran content is used in Tuscan Kitchen’s rich pasta recipe, comprised of the flour, egg yolks, salt and olive oil for a silky smooth texture and chewy bite.

“I have all these contacts from my last life as a pasta maker,” Faro said, referring to the $70 million-a-year pasta and sauce business that he sold to Nestle in 2006, before he was 40 years old. “I’d always find reasons to have to create relationships and go to Italy because that’s the inspiration that always fueled the innovation of my business.”

The son of Italian immigrants who owned a neighborhood bakery, Faro joked that he was “born in a mixer. Artisan Italian production is all I’ve ever done, so for me to do this it’s a natural synergy. My passion is creating these products and sharing them with the guests.”

Faro’s team now crafts bread, pasta, gelato, 21 types of salume and other culinary delights in a 27,000-square-foot production facility in Salem, N.H. All the products are served in Tuscan Kitchen restaurants or sold in the Tuscan Markets around New England.

“People always ask me, ‘Why don’t you open one in Vegas? Why don’t you open one in Florida?’ and I always say if I can’t deliver fresh bread to it, I don’t want it.”

Tuscan Kitchen (64 Seaport Blvd., at Thomson Place), opens for lunch and dinner on Monday. For more information, go to tuscanbrands.com, or try making executive chef Nimesh Maharjan’s recipe for Zuppa di Zucca at home.

Zuppa di Zucca

5 lbs. Long Island cheese pumpkin, peeled and seeds scooped out, cut into 1-inch cubes (substitute butternut squash if not available)

1/4 c. olive oil

1 small Spanish onion, cut into medium dice

1 T. minced garlic

2 T. grated ginger

Pinch cinnamon

1 qt. heavy cream (or replace with water for a vegan diet)

2 T. sherry vinegar

1/2 c. maple syrup

2 t. Sriracha sauce

1/4 c. toasted almonds

2 slices prosciutto, cut into strips and fried for garnish, optional

3 leaves fresh sage, cut into chiffonade

Place the cubed pumpkin on a sheet pan and roast at 350 degrees for 25 minutes, or until golden brown.

Heat oil in a 10-quart stock pot over medium heat, then sweat the onions, garlic and ginger until the onions are translucent. Add the roasted pumpkin, water, cinnamon and salt, and bring to a simmer. Add the heavy cream (or water) and bring this mixture to a boil.

Carefully transfer half of the soup to a blender and puree until smooth, then transfer to another pot or large bowl. Repeat this process with the remaining soup.

Finish the soup by stirring in the maple syrup, sherry vinegar and Sriracha.

Top each portion with toasted almonds, optional crispy prosciutto strips and a sprinkling of sage.

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If you've ever visited one of the many Tuscan Kitchen restaurants in the area you know how popular they are.

The family behind the concept also offers artisan quality food products to over a thousand retail shops all across the country, moving approximately 4 million pounds of product a week.

Joe Faro is the founder and CEO of Tuscan Brands and Artisan Chef Manufacturing Company in Lawrence, Massachusetts.

At every turn of the company's newly upgraded manufacturing facility, it's about creating artisan quality foods.

Faro's passion and desire to produce the best tasting, highest quality, pasta, bread, sauces, prepared meals and pizzas.

It all began with his dad, Joe Faro Sr.

The Italian immigrant family first set up in Haverhill with Joe's Bakery.

The younger Joe then began a gourmet pasta and sauces company that in 2006 was bought by the Nestle Corporation.

In 2010, Tuscan Brands was born, and it wasn't long before it had to expand again.

"People started saying, 'We love the product. We want to buy it. How can we buy the pasta? How do we buy the bread? How can we buy the pastries or the prepared meals or any of these things?'"

The Artisan Chef Manufacturing Company has now grown into a national player in the food industry.

Faro admits that his company is nothing without his dedicated and equally passionate employees.

Now, with the next generation of Faro's learning the culinary ropes, it's a tradition that is sure to last for years to come.

"This is a generational enterprise," Faro said. "This is what happens when you're passion for people and your product become the driving force of your business and great things can happen."

Great things are happening for Faro and his family outside of the kitchen and outside of Massachusetts.

In Salem, New Hampshire, the new Tuscan Village, located at the former site of the Rockingham Park Race Track has been the driving force of Faro and his team.

The project, when complete, will offer 2.8 million square feet of retail, apartments, shops, restaurants, hotels, office space and even a hospital.

'Nothing left': After California Yacht Club fire, residents mourn loss of a beloved spot

I n an instant, an overnight seaside blaze engulfed decades' worth of boating trophies, historical artifacts and cherished memorabilia at the California Yacht Club in Marina del Rey on Monday.

Fire crews attempted to control the blaze as heavy smoke and flames consumed the two-story building. By the time they had subdued the fire two hours later, only the skeletal remnants of the clubhouse were left standing.

John Myers, senior vice president of the club, said the blaze had been reported by an employee working late in the clubhouse Monday night. The fire spared the remainder of the facilities on the ground, including the docks and the yachts moored there. But the clubhouse, and particularly its second floor, was all but wiped out.

“We are working closely with the Los Angeles County Fire Department in their investigation of the cause of the incident and will share those findings when they become available to us,” Myers said.

Members are left mourning, comparing the loss to the death of a loved one.

Jennifer Dakoske Koslu awoke in Rancho Mirage at 5:30 a.m. Tuesday, before the sun had risen, to find her phone inundated with text messages from club members.

The first message she read simply stated, "The CYC is gone."

“As soon as I opened my phone, it went to a link on the Citizen app and saw a video of the club burning. I was shocked,” Dakoske Koslu said.

For the last 24 years, Dakoske Koslu and her family have been dedicated members of the CYC, whose clubhouse is a few miles away from their home in Playa del Rey. She said it is where her children have grown up, familiarizing themselves with every inch.

“I remember taking my son there on the Fourth of July when he was just 3 weeks old. It was the first place we went with him as a newborn," Dakoske Koslu said.

She and her husband biked to the club in the aftermath of the fire, greeted by the charred remains of the building on Wednesday afternoon.

“The destruction is unbelievable. It's clear that the fire was burning intensely on the second floor,” Dakoske Koslu said. “There's nothing left.”

The second floor once housed a collection of the club's prestigious racing trophies, kept on display for members and visitors. The fire melted all but a single salvageable California Cup. Most notably, the priceless King of Spain Trophy, acquired in 1929 from King Alfonso XIII, was lost.

Additionally, the club lost cherished photographs of every past commodore, a significant position within a yacht club. Members said they didn't know if anyone had digitized the images of the commodores or of the club's founders.

“We would tell yachting stories at the bar around lots of memorabilia, and the yachting artifacts behind the bar are all gone now,” Tom Materna said. “The yacht club provided us a facility for the off-the-water celebrations after hard-fought competition on the water.”

The CYC dates to the early 1920s, started by boat owners from the Los Angeles Athletic Club and other yacht clubs. The Board of Harbor Commissioners approved the first clubhouse in 1922, designed by famed architect Edwin Bergstrom, co-designer of the Pentagon.

In 1965, the yacht club submitted a proposal for an all-encompassing $1-million, two-story, 10,000-square-foot clubhouse on four acres off Admiralty Way. Members envisioned a state-of-the-art facility with 170 boat slips, a guest dock, a small boat hoist and a dry land storage facility for boats. The clubhouse that resulted was dedicated on June 10, 1967.

Then-Commodore William A. DeGroot Jr. told The Times that the triangular parcel of land on which the clubhouse still sits is a “perfectly logical place for a club facility, and a commanding view down the main channel of the marina.”

Though the building has historical significance to its members, it does not have a historic designation, according to Linda Dishman, president of the Los Angeles Conservancy.

“We are deeply saddened by this tragedy and so grateful for the outpouring of support from the community and our members,” Myers said. “CYC has been a beacon for the nautical community for the past 101 years.”

Materna, 68, first found out about the fire through Facebook as friends posted videos and photos of the damage Tuesday morning. Then he began receiving calls and text messages from friends.

“Everybody woke up in the morning and realized we'd lost a significant part of the sailing community,” Materna said.

His connection to the club dates back nearly 52 years, to when he was just 16 years old. After spending 30 years sailing professionally with Hobie Cats, mainly racing catamarans — a watercraft with two parallel hulls of equal size — he recently served as a crew member on other club members' racing yachts.

The CYC is pivotal in the boat racing community, organizing and hosting events such as the Optimist National Championship and Junior Olympic trials, Materna said. He fondly remembers the hundreds of people from across the globe converging on the marina for similar events.

The main topic among members now is what's next for the club. Dakoske Koslu noted that the club's ownership changed over the last few years, and many are unsure and concerned about the club's continuation after the fire.

The club relocated to the marina in 1967, leasing the land it sits on from the county.

“I don't think the county has really valued the contributions of the California Yacht Club as an important part of the Marina. They value Trader Joe's because it's more money for them,” Dakoske Koslu said.

Dakoske Koslu said she’s seen numerous small marine-oriented businesses displaced from the marina, making way for more commercialized developments such as Trader Joe's and Recreational Equipment Inc.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times .

Luxury yachts and other myths: How Republican lawmakers echo Russian propaganda

Two senior Republican lawmakers, the chairs of the House Intelligence and Foreign Affairs committees, say their colleagues are echoing Russian state propaganda against Ukraine.

Researchers who study disinformation say Reps. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, and Michael McCaul, R-Texas, are merely acknowledging what has been clear for some time: Russian propaganda aimed at undermining U.S. and European support for Ukraine has steadily seeped into America’s political conversation over the past decade, taking on a life of its own.

McCaul, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told Puck News he thinks “Russian propaganda has made its way into the United States, unfortunately, and it’s infected a good chunk of my party’s base.”

Turner, chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, told CNN that anti-Ukraine messages from Russia are “being uttered on the House floor.”

For the past decade, since Russia’s first military incursion into Ukraine in 2014, Moscow has spread propaganda and disinformation in a bid to undercut U.S. and European military support for Ukraine, according to U.S. and Western officials.

Some of the arguments, distortions and falsehoods spread by Russia have taken root, mostly among right-wing pro-Trump outlets and Republican politicians, researchers say, including that Ukraine’s government is too corrupt to benefit from Western aid and that the Biden family has alleged corrupt ties to Ukraine.

Russia, in keeping with traditional propaganda techniques, seeks to make its case and tarnish Ukraine through a mixture of outright falsehoods, half-truths, inferences or simply amplifying and promoting arguments already being made by American or European commentators and politicians, researchers say.

The propaganda is sometimes spread covertly, through fake online accounts, or openly by Russian officials and state media. As a result, the origin of some allegations or criticisms is often opaque, especially when a certain accusation or perception has gained wide acceptance, leaving no clear fingerprints.

Early in the war, a false story boosted by Russian propaganda — that the U.S. had helped Ukraine build biological weapons labs — gained traction on right-wing social media and was touted by then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

Russia also is conducting a parallel propaganda campaign in Europe. Belgium’s prime minister said Thursday that his government is investigating alleged Russian bribes to members of the European Parliament as part of Moscow’s campaign to undermine support for Ukraine. Czech law enforcement officials last month alleged that a former pro-Russian member of Ukraine’s parliament, Viktor Medvedchuk, was behind a Prague-based Russian propaganda network designed to promote opposition to aiding Ukraine.

Here are some examples of Republican lawmakers using arguments often promoted by Russian propaganda:

Buying yachts

When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with members of Congress behind closed doors in December to appeal for more U.S. help for his country’s troops, some lawmakers raised questions about Ukraine allegedly buying yachts with American aid money.

Zelenskyy made clear that was not the case, according to Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, a strong supporter of arming Ukraine. “I think the notion of corruption came up because some have said we can’t do it, because people will buy yachts with the money,” Tillis told CNN. “[Zelenskyy] disabused people of those notions.”

Where did the yacht rumor come from?

Pro-Russian actors and websites promoted a narrative alleging Zelenskyy bought two superyachts with U.S. aid dollars. One Russia-based propaganda site, DC Weekly , published a story last November that included photos of two luxury yachts, called Lucky Me and My Legacy , which it alleged were bought for $75 million.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a vocal opponent of military aid to Ukraine, in November retweeted a post about the alleged yacht purchase from the Strategic Culture Foundation, a Russian-based propaganda outlet directed by Russia’s intelligence services, according to the Treasury Department. The U.S. has imposed sanctions on the organization, accusing it of spreading disinformation and interfering in U.S. elections.

Another outspoken critic of aid to Ukraine, Republican Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, also made a similar claim.

In a December interview with former President Donald Trump’s White House adviser Steve Bannon, Vance claimed that members of Congress wanted to cut Social Security benefits to provide more aid to Ukraine, and that money would allegedly be used for Zelenskyy’s ministers to “buy a bigger yacht.”

“There are people who would cut Social Security, throw our grandparents into poverty. Why? So that one of Zelenskyy’s ministers can buy a bigger yacht?” Vance said. “Kiss my ass, Steve. It’s not happening.”

The tale of Zelenskyy’s luxury yacht, however, turned out to be totally false . The yachts cited in the DC Weekly article remain up for sale , the owners told The Associated Press.

Two academics at Clemson University, disinformation researchers Darren Linvill and Patrick Warren, found that DC Weekly ran numerous stories copied from other sites that were rewritten by artificial intelligence engines. The articles had bylines with fake names along with headshots copied from other online sites. DC Weekly appeared to be a Russian effort to launder false information through a seemingly legitimate news site as part of an attempt to undermine U.S. support for Ukraine, according to the researchers .

Asked by reporters about Vance’s comments, Tillis said: “I think it’s bullshit. ...If you’re talking about giving money to Ukrainian ministers — total and unmitigated bullshit.”

Greene’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Vance’s spokesperson said the senator was making a rhetorical point about how he opposed sending U.S. assistance to what he sees as a corrupt country, but was not asserting the yacht stories online were accurate.

Vance’s office referred NBC News to an earlier response to the BBC on the same topic:

“For years, everyone in the West recognized that Ukraine was one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Somehow everyone forgot that just as we started sending them billions of dollars in foreign aid.”

Enabling ‘corruption’

Russian state media for years has painted Ukraine as deeply corrupt, and has argued that the U.S. and its allies are wasting money and military hardware by assisting such an allegedly corrupt government.

“This is absolutely a line that they have pushed, and then once it appears in the Western ecosystem, other [Russian] media picks it up and it gets recycled back,” said Bret Schafer, a senior fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy.

This line of argument has gained traction partly because Ukraine does face a genuine corruption problem.

Russia’s effort to focus attention on corruption in Ukraine reflects a long-established propaganda method of using facts or partial truths to anchor a broader assertion or accusation, sometimes making a leap in logic, Schafer and other researchers said. Russia’s message amounts to: Ukraine is corrupt, therefore U.S. and Western aid will be stolen and wasted.

Schafer said it was ironic for Russia, a country mired in corruption and kleptocracy, to be leveling accusations about corruption.

Republican Rep. Mary Miller has said she strongly opposes more assistance for Ukraine because it amounts to sending cash to “corrupt oligarchs.”

“With Zelensky coming to DC this week to ask for more money, I will continue to vote AGAINST sending your tax $$ to corrupt oligarchs in Ukraine for a proxy war that could have ended in ‘22,” Miller wrote in a post on X in December.

The Illinois lawmaker also echoed another assertion that often appears in Russian media, that the Biden administration allegedly undermined efforts by Russia to avoid war with Ukraine.

 “A peace deal was on the table that [Ukraine] and [Russia] were both ready to sign, but Biden said NO,” she wrote.

There was in fact no proposed peace agreement that Russia and Ukraine were prepared to sign before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, according to U.S. and European officials. As Russian troops massed on the border of Ukraine, Western governments urged Russia not to invade and warned there would be economic and diplomatic consequences.

Reuters has reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected a possible deal to avert a war that had been discussed with Kyiv by Russia’s envoy to Ukraine. The Kremlin said the report was inaccurate and has said Russia tried for years to arrive at an understanding with Ukraine.

As for corruption in Ukraine, Zelenskyy has vowed to tackle the problem, sacking senior officials in some recent cases. But some civil society groups have criticized his approach and Ukrainians say corruption is the country’s second-most serious problem, after the Russian invasion, according to a poll conducted last year.

In an annual survey, Transparency International said Ukraine made progress toward addressing the issue and now ranks 104th out of 180 countries on its Corruption Perceptions Index , climbing 12 places up from its previous ranking.

Ukraine is not alone among countries that receive U.S. and other foreign aid but struggle with corruption. Supporters of assisting Ukraine argue it would undermine America’s influence in the world and its humanitarian efforts if Washington withheld foreign aid from every country where there were reports of corruption.

Miller’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

The Biden family and Ukraine

Republicans have repeatedly alleged that President Joe Biden and his son Hunter have corrupt ties to Ukraine, and that they sought $5 million in bribes from the Ukrainian energy company Burisma to protect the firm from an investigation by Ukraine’s prosecutor general.

There is no credible evidence for the allegations. A key source for the accusations against the Bidens is a former FBI informant, Alexander Smirnov, who was arrested in February on federal charges of fabricating the bribery claims. Smirnov says he was fed information by Russian intelligence.

Republicans had heavily promoted Smirnov’s allegations against the Bidens, seeing them as crucial to a planned impeachment effort against the president that has since fizzled .

“In my estimation, that is probably the clearest example of Russian propaganda working its way into the American political system,” said Emerson Brooking, a resident senior fellow at the Digital Forensic Research Lab of the Atlantic Council.

GOP Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona cited the false bribery allegations in expressing his opposition to providing assistance to Ukraine.

“In exchange for … bribe money from Ukraine, Joe Biden has dished out over $100 billion in taxpayer money to fund the war in Ukraine. I will not assist this corruption by sending more money to the authoritarian Ukrainian regime,” Gosar said in a statement in October.

Gosar’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Dan De Luce is a reporter for the NBC News Investigative Unit. 

Syedah Asghar is a Capitol Hill researcher for NBC News and is based in Washington, D.C.

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Russian oligarch Andrey Melnichenko berths superyacht in UAE

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Simeon Kerr in Ras al-Khaimah

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

Investigators around the world have been searching for sanctions-hit Russian oligarchs’ yachts. One has been hiding in plain sight.

Italian authorities in March impounded Russian coal and fertilisers magnate Andrey Melnichenko’s $600mn Sailing Yacht A after Russia invaded Ukraine. Another yacht, the $300mn Philippe Starck-designed Motor Yacht A, has been anchored for weeks in the port of Ras al-Khaimah, in the United Arab Emirates.

By placing his yacht in the UAE, Melnichenko has put it beyond the reach of western governments enforcing sanctions on those deemed supportive of Russian president Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine.

Its presence is a symbolic reminder of the Gulf monarchy’s ambivalence towards western sanctions on Russia, allies of Putin and the wealthy businessmen who have often benefited from ties to the state.

While the UAE government is trying to enhance measures against money laundering to exit a global dirty-money watchdog’s watchlist, the economic foundation of cities such as Dubai has long been based on welcoming flows of assets and people.

“Given its non-enforcement of western sanctions, the dilemma for the UAE is how to sustain its place as an open destination for capital while also appearing to be a good global citizen,” said one compliance professional. “It’s a tricky balancing act.”

The government of the Isle of Man said it had in March deregistered Melnichenko’s yachts, including Motor Yacht A, because of western sanctions, saying, “we will continue to act with appropriate robustness should the situation warrant it”.

Marine locator services placed Motor Yacht A off the Maldives in March. The Financial Times then saw the yacht on April 18. On Saturday it remained moored opposite Ras al-Khaimah’s city-centre fish market.

Businessmen in the UAE say Melnichenko, who denies affiliations to the Kremlin, held meetings there in April, but the tycoon has since returned to Moscow. A representative of Melnichenko, who has been placed under sanctions by the EU and UK as well as Switzerland and Australia, referred questions on the yacht to a lawyer who declined to comment.

UAE authorities in Dubai, Ras al-Khaimah and Abu Dhabi declined to comment.

European officials say they have raised concerns with Emirati counterparts that the UAE could become a financial haven for Russians placed under western sanctions. “We don’t want our allies to become facilitators for the Putin regime,” said one.

The UAE government has said it is maintaining a neutral course through the war, calling for an end to hostilities and providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine. Abu Dhabi, which has developed closer ties with Moscow in recent years, has also assured its allies that sanctions-hit entities will not be able to operate in the UAE. The Gulf monarchy, which has long argued that it is not compelled to enforce other nations’ sanctions, is keen to maintain its historical role as an apolitical territory focused on business.

Thousands of wealthy, non-sanctions-hit Russians have relocated to the UAE to escape economic uncertainty and political instability at home, even though they sometimes struggle to access the financial system. “Big banks are more cautious but smaller banks are offering help to those wishing to relocate. It’s just taking a lot of time,” said a Russian businessman.

Very wealthy Russians generally find financial institutions accommodating. Most of the wealthy elite have second passports from countries that sell nationality, such as Malta or Portugal, which facilitates the opening of new accounts with lenders that are warier of Russian passport holders.

Others have turned to alternative routes, such as cryptocurrencies and hawala, or informal money exchange services. The cost of this service has risen from 1 per cent of the transaction value to 5 per cent since the war broke out as demand surges, said one person aware of the trades.

Many in the UAE see a hypocrisy in western concern over the presence of the yacht and the Russians building new lives there. “So it was OK for London to take all the oligarch money but not for Dubai?” asked one lawyer.

Additional reporting by Nastassia Astrasheuskaya in Riga

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