Trump's Former Associate Felix Sater Gets New Trial in Money Laundering Case

Controversial American businessman Felix Sater - Donald Trump's former associate who had ties to Russian organized crime - will face Kazakhstan again in court over money laundering related to BTA Bank funds, reports Orda, citing Bloomberg.

Court Decision 

The New York Appeals Court granted Felix Sater's petition requesting a retrial.

This decision was a blow to the plaintiffs - Almaty Akimat and BTA Bank.

The litigation has been ongoing for several years: the city authorities accuse the businessman of helping launder BTA Bank money through U.S. real estate. The case materials include condominiums in New York's The Dominick skyscraper, which previously belonged to Trump and was called Trump SoHo.

Felix Sater had already lost one case against Almaty Akimat and BTA Bank.

In June 2024, he was ordered to pay $32 million in damages in this lawsuit. A jury heard the case.

But the businessman filed an appeal, arguing that the jury incorrectly calculated the statute of limitations. On January 15, the New York court agreed with Sater's arguments and ordered a retrial.

The new trial is a step toward justice after many years of flagrant violations of law and political attacks, Felix Sater commented.

BTA Bank representatives insisted that Sater be found guilty of giving false testimony.

The court dismissed this request.

According to the judge's decision, BTA Bank and Almaty Akimat failed to substantiate that Sater deliberately lied about the date of an important meeting in 2015.

Previously, proceedings with Kazakhstan had been unsuccessful for Sater. In 2018, his company, Litco LLC, filed a countersuit against the country's authorities, Almaty Akimat and BTA Bank.

However, in 2022, he dropped the claims, more specifically, he decided not to continue proceedings and pay arbitration costs.

Mr Sater 

Felix Sater (Felix Sheferovsky) was born in Moscow, but his family emigrated first to Israel and then to the USA.

There, he worked as a Wall Street broker until he went to prison for 15 months in 1993 after a bar fight.

In 1998, he pleaded guilty to a $40 million stock market fraud organized for Russian organized crime interests and made a deal with investigators.

In this case, the businessman got off with a $25,000 fine.

Sater was an FBI informant. Thanks to the information he provided, more than 20 people were convicted of money laundering schemes, including members of Cosa Nostra.

Since 2017, he has officially been consulting American law enforcement on money laundering cases.

Subsequently, Sater got involved in real estate deals, served on Mirax Group's board of directors, collaborated with The Trump Organization, and participated in the unrealized Trump Tower Moscow project.

He actively used his connections with major real estate market players and created a reputation as Trump's confidant.

He allegedly had a business card saying "Senior Advisor to the US President."

The Ablyazov Connection

According to law firm Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, which represents Kazakhstan's interests in this process, Felix Sater has known Mukhtar Ablyazov since 2007.

They met at the wedding of Madina Ablyazova (the oligarch's daughter) and Ilyas Khrapunov (son of former Almaty Akim Viktor Khrapunov, who was sentenced in absentia to 17 years in Kazakhstan).

Lawyers claim that it was at Khrapunov's request that the American businessman began laundering money for Ablyazov. He was reportedly chosen as a consultant for being well-versed in how money laundering works.

Almaty authorities claim that Felix Sater helped Ilyas Khrapunov legalize part of BTA Bank's money that Mukhtar Ablyazov had misappropriated. The oligarch siphoned funds through a chain of shell companies and fictitious loans.

The plaintiffs believe Sater was one of the links in this chain, investing the bank's money in elite U.S. real estate.

American lawyer Matthew Schwartz, a former federal prosecutor, represents the Akimat and the bank's interests. 

According to the plaintiffs, in 2011, Trump's former associate was involved in at least five illicit proceed legalization schemes. He also allegedly planned to invest money stolen from BTA Bank to construct the Trump Tower in Moscow.

The American President claims to know nothing about the illicit origin of the funds his associate proposed investing in his projects.

Felix Sater denies all accusations.

Original Author: Nikita Drobny