Kazakh City Sues Russian-born Businessman In US Court For Allegedly Stealing $440Mln - Doc

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th March, 2019) The City of Almaty, Kazakhstan and BTA Bank sued Russian-born real estate developer and associate of President Donald Trump Felix Sater for his alleged role in a conspiracy to launder some $440 million, court documents revealed.

"Sater is a notorious New York 'businessman' and two-time felon who, along with wanted criminals Mukhtar Ablyazov and Ilyas Khrapunov, and others known and unknown, participated in an international criminal conspiracy to launder and conceal at least $440 million that was stolen from the Plaintiffs in Kazakhstan, and to evade lawful asset freezing and receivership orders issued by the courts of the United Kingdom," the document said on Monday.

Sater, according to the document, allegedly assisted Ilyas Khrapunov, son of the city of Almaty's former mayor, in laundering funds through at least five separate schemes in the United States.

The document also alleged that Khrapunov while laundering stolen funds with Sater also laundered more than $3 million through the Trump SoHo project in New York.

The plaintiffs are seeking all compensatory and punitive damages in an amount to be determined during a jury trial, the document said.

On March 27, Sater is scheduled to testify before the US House Intelligence Committee about his business ventures with the Trump Organization and the Trump Tower Moscow project. Trump former personal attorney Michael Cohen has claimed he primarily communicated with a Moscow-based development through Sater about building a Trump Tower in Moscow.