News

The New York Federal Court has ruled in favor of BTA

Almaty, July 11, 2019. - On July 3, 2019, the New York City Federal Court obliged Mukhtar Ablyazov to pay legal fees in connection with the BTA Bank's lawsuit as part of the case against the former Chairman of the Board of Directors of BTA Bank JSC for laundering stolen funds through the purchase of real estate in the United States. The amount of the fees will be determined by the court in the proceeding of the case.

U.S. Justice of the Peace Catherine Parker stated that Ablyazov was "not very sociable" during the trial in France, where he claimed that he did not remember his own phone number and he did not answer the question whether he had used the services of an accountant since he fled from Kazakhstan in 2009.

"Ablyazov's insubordination is particularly worrying considering that the lack of evidence is the essence of his defence," Parker stated on July 3 in her decision that "This refusal is deliberate".

Matthew L. Schwartz, a legal consultant from Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, representing BTA Bank, believes that "the positive decision followed Mr. Ablyazov's repeated refusal to obey court orders and to participate faithfully in the lawsuit".

Judge Parker confirmed that the court had not yet received any documents from Mukhtar Ablyazov, although he claimed that his lawyer in New York had all of them. The Judge also warned Ablyazov not to conceal any evidence in the course of his defence confirming the international status of the criminal organization.

We would like to remind you that on June 13, 2016, a claim for damages and fulfillment of other claims of BTA Bank in respect of actions of Ablyazov's sister Gaukhar Kusainova was submitted to the Fairfax District Court, Virginia, USA. The court found that the actions were illegal and related to assisting Ablyazov in transactions with stolen assets from BTA. Ablyazov along with other fraudulent activities against BTA, illegally sent a part of the stolen funds from BTA to Kusainova in the amount of about $6 million. Kusainova used the received funds for personal purposes, including the purchase of several luxury real estate in the U.S.

Similar claims were filed in 2016 by the external asset managers of Ablyazov, appointed by the English court, John Mills and David Standish. The claim from the external managers was based on the fact that Kusainova received most of her funds through the companies affiliated with Ablyazov, Denmar Assets Management and Devesta Limited, which were included in the freezing order for assets and assets managed by the external managers. BTA and the external managers later filed a petition to merge the claims, which was approved by the court on April 19, 2017.

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