The court of the Southern District of New York recognized the former Kazakh banker and politician Mukhtar Ablyazova guilty of theft and money laundering of BTA Bank in the USA. About it according to the press service of the credit institution.
On July 31, the court ruled in favor of BTA Bank against Triadou SPV SA in the amount of more than $193 million.
“The court’s decision follows a December 2022 jury verdict that found Triadou liable for embezzlement and illicit enrichment,” noted in the press service of the bank.
The court recognized BTA’s claim against Triadou for trust and any funds that may have been received from the use of the bank’s funds, and also granted BTA’s claims in respect of a number of Triadou’s assets.
The court confirmed that the defendant, Triadou SPV, is a shell company created and controlled by the son-in-law of Mukhtar Ablyazov – Ilyas Khrapunov. She received more than $70 million “in the form of money stolen from BTA, which the company invested in real estate in New York and other places in the United States.” As follows from the decision, “the evidence presented in court shows that the funds invested on behalf of Triadou in the United States are directly related to $115.3 million stolen from BTA by Ablyazov through another front company.”
The evidence presented by BTA Bank that Ablyazov used the BTA Corporate Business Department (UKB-6) to steal billions of dollars through “fake loans to offshore companies” was recognized by the court as reliable and complete.
“Offshore companies that were ”customers of the Bank” [УКБ-6], owned or controlled by Ablyazov, and the ”credits” issued by him had no economic content. Instead of being transactions between independent parties, ”loans” facilitated [УКБ-6] were intended to conceal the misappropriation of funds by Ablyazov from BTA Bank,” the court’s decision says.
The court found the testimony of Ablyazov’s accomplices untrustworthy.
Litigation in New York on behalf of BTA Bank and the Ministry of Justice of Kazakhstan was initiated more than eight years ago. In December 2022, a jury awarded BTA over $100 million in damages with interest accrued since mid-2013, bringing the total award to over $218 million.
Mukhtar Ablyazov is one of the most active critics of the leadership of Kazakhstan. He left the republic in 2009. At home, the former banker is charged with a number of offenses, including fraud, forgery of documents, abuse of power. The amount of damage caused by Ablyazov is estimated at several billion dollars. He was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment.
Ablyazov has been living in France for over ten years. In September 2020, he received in this country political refugee statusHowever, in October he was detained and charged with “breach of trust” and “money laundering.” January 2022 the case was dismissed due to the expiration of the statute of limitations for the crimes imputed to him. In December of the same year, the National Asylum Court revoked Ablyazov’s refugee status, and in July this year, the French police ordered him to leave the country within 30 days.
“Sputnik-Kazakhstan”, 03/04/2020, “A New York court ordered Ablyazov to pay more than 140 thousand dollars”: The New York City Court decided to impose additional sanctions against Mukhtar Ablyazov, ordering him to pay 140,115.60 US dollars related to the expenses of the Almaty City Akimat and BTA Bank for the services of lawyers. The decision of the New York court was reported in the Ministry of Justice of Kazakhstan.
“In July 2019, the court granted the petition of the plaintiffs to impose additional sanctions against M. Ablyazov for refusing to participate in the trial and disclose evidence. Moreover, the court recommended that Ablyazov not be allowed to present new evidence in his defense at the upcoming final trial involving This sanction is an instruction to the jury to conceal evidence by Ablyazov confirming his guilt, “the official statement on the website of the Ministry of Justice says. […]
At the end of 2018, for organizing the murder of banker Yerzhan Tatishev, Ablyazov was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment. — Inset K.ru