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Photo by National Post

The Post has previously documented claims from six people — in addition to the five arrested in Australia — who alleged that while Pastukhov was an editor at Vice he offered them money to carry suitcases to Australia. Those six, including four current or former Vice employees, told the Post they declined the offer.

Pastukhov has not been charged. He declined to comment for the Post’s original story and could not be reached for comment on the new allegations. Asked for comment on the sentencings, Vice Canada spokesman Chris Ball said in an email to the Post Friday that “upon hearing of specific allegations against this former employee we took immediate action and terminated this employee.” Ball also noted that “we filed a police report earlier this year,” after publication of the Post’s story. The Australian court heard confirmation that the Canadian end of the smuggling operation is under a police investigation.

The four young Canadians, arrested at Sydney airport in 2015, all pleaded guilty to importing commercial quantities of cocaine.

Jordan Gardner, 27, a Toronto electronic music artist who was Pastukhov’s roommate and the subject of a profile in a Vice publication, and Kutiba Senusi, 24, a Montreal event-planner who, according to evidence presented in court, had a contact for Pastukhov saved on his phone, were sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison, including time served.

Photo by Handout

Robert Wang, 25, a former Vice intern who was trying ingratiate himself with Pastukhov to boost his career, was sentenced to 6 1/2 years; Nathaniel Carty, 23, a New York-based model who says he was recruited at a Vice party in Toronto, was given a 5 1/2-year sentence.