BREAKING: Felix Sater subpoenaed; Newly cooperative in New York money laundering case against Trump

[MelissaB]

BREAKING: Felix Sater subpoenaed; Newly cooperative in New York money laundering case against Trump’s Kazakh business associates

Link to tweet

Felix Sater subpoenaed; Newly cooperative in New York money laundering case against Trump’s Kazakh business associates

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s FMBE Bank records request is likely tied to Sater’s involvement in wire transfers from the Cyprus-based bank to the US. Previous to January 12th, Sater had refused to comply with the subpoena.

By Erin Lankau and Scott Stedman

Former Trump adviser and business partner Felix Sater has been served with subpoenas in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) relating to a high-profile money laundering case. The two subpoenas were issued on October 27, 2017, and required Sater to produce documents and sit for a deposition.

The two plaintiffs in the Manhattan case are Kazakh government entities — BTA Bank and the city of Almaty, Kazakhstan. The defendants include three fugitive Kazakh officials who allegedly laundered hundreds of millions stolen from BTA through U.S. real estate deals. One of those deals included the 2013 purchase of three condos in the Trump Soho Hotel.
Two subpoenas issued to Felix Sater from SDNY on October 27, 2017.

According to court filings, Sater had been refusing to comply with the subpoenas and a motion to compel him was entered into the court record on January 8th. The subpoenas were issued by a lawyer representing Nicolas Bourg, a Brussels-based real estate investor who is both a co-defendant and cross-defendant in the case. As of January 12th, Bourg’s lawyer had issued a motion to stay, indicating Sater is now willing to cooperate with the discovery and deposition requests.

The SDNY case was filed in 2015 and names former BTA Bank Chairman Mukhtar Ablyazov, former Mayor of Almaty Viktor Khrapunov, and his son-in-law Ilyas Khrapunov among the defendants. The City of Almaty and current BTA representatives claim that Ablyazov used his position at the bank to issue loans to dozens of his own shell companies. The Kharapuvos purportedly conspired on the scheme and helped funnel some of the stolen money out of the country to enrich themselves.

More: https://medium.com/@Erinlank/felix-sater-subpoenaed-newly-cooperative-in-new-york-money-laundering-case-against-trumps-kazakh-d865281454fc

[MelissaB]

1. Another snip

In total, Ablyazov is alleged to have stolen $4 billion from BTA Bank before fleeing to the UK in 2009 and then to France in 2012. The Kharapuvovs also fled Kazakhstan, and have been living in Switzerland. The trio continued their money laundering activities while fugitives in Europe. They created Swiss and Luxembourg-based investment companies that used European banks, including Deutsche bank, to continue moving assets around the globe.

The Kazak entities allege in their New York court filings that Ablyazov and the Khrapunovs laundered some of these ill-gotten gains into various developments in the United States. Sater’s established role as their primary U.S. intermediary for these transactions is the basis for the subpoena requests. Although he is not named as a co-defendant, Sater is alleged to have worked with the Khrapunovs on more than $40 million in real estate and investment deals, including $3.1 million that was used to purchase 3 condos in Trump Soho Hotel.

[MelissaB]

2. Trump Connection

There is also an additional financial connection between Donald Trump and Kazak officials. The New Yorker reported that in March 2012, a month after Ablyazov fled from the UK to avoid a 22-month prison sentence, Trump traveled to Georgia to announce a licensing deal for a development in the Black Sea town of Butami. The Silk Road Group, a Kazak real estate firm financed by BTA and the developer of the project, paid Trump $1 million dollars to attend a press tour promoting the partnership. The project stalled soon thereafter, and Trump officially terminated the deal shortly before taking office.

Trump’s lawyer Jay Sekulow has indicated on several occasions that President Trump considers investigation into his business dealings by the Special Counsel as a “red line.” In the New Yorker piece, Sekulow is quoted as saying “the Georgia real-estate deal is something we would consider out of scope…Georgia is not Russia.”

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

29. "Georgia is not Russia...

... does it matter on this issue? I guess we can say, "Georgia, too".

[secondwind]

3. This is YUGE.

[Skraxx]

4. Oh Shit! Sater is the guy that buried the bodies!

He was a critical player. This is a massive development!

[eleny]

5. Spill ya guts, Felix

Spill it all.
... ...

[Xipe Totec]

7. Stand back, there may be a lot of splatter. nt

[eleny]

8. Oh yeah, way back!

[lindysalsagal]

6. Might as well line up some good celebration images: Gonna be fun!!!

[iluvtennis]

25. LOL...love the images

[Leghorn21]

9. Pls pls pls pls pls pls pls pls pls pls pls pls pls pls

PLEASE!!!!!

How many choruses of “tick tock, Bayrock” have we sung this last year??!

Let’s GO, “nope, never heard of him” SATER!!!!

[Scurrilous]

10. K&R

[Mr. Ected]

11. This is great news, but...

I know that some of us have believed that Sater was already cooperating with the feds prior to this. The revelation that he had been uncooperative between October and January raised my eyebrows a bit.

Is the SDNY working in conjunction with the special prosecutor's office, sharing information?

[askyagerz]

19. An uncooperative cooperative witness

Probably means that prosecutors already know the end of the story but the witness has been trying to be sly and feeding them B.S. to cover up for something. Must suck to be stuck in between federal prosecutors and the Russian mafia...

[Kirk Lover]

12. That's what I've been saying to the dumb deplorables....remember this name: SATER.

[MelissaB]

14. They had better damn well learn his name.

[Kirk Lover]

16. I follow it up with, Don't worry...tRUMP doesn't know him. When he hears his name he literally

runs from the room.

[Leghorn21]

28. You mean like this?:

[Kirk Lover]

33. Oh how I love that! Never gets old !! After I fist saw that I felt much much better.

[MelissaB]

13. Reminder about Felix Sater

Sater is a convicted felon, stock scammer & Russian mafia associate. Y'know, just your average White House adviser.

Link to tweet

Sater's dad is a top underboss 4 Semyon Mogilevich, the world's leading mafia don. Just another Trump coincidence.

Link to tweet

Wait! You don't know/remember who Semyon Mogilevich is?

https://vimeo.com/243335623

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210115416

Yeah!

[fierywoman]

15. Isn't Sater the guy who, months ago, said: We're all (he and Trump) going to prison?

[BobTheSubgenius]

22. That is exactly what I was referring to below.

In the post I could have saved myself the trouble of typing, then self-deleting, if only I'd read the entire thread first.

[orangecrush]

17. Kick and Rec

[paleotn]

18. investigative cross fertilization....

I can feel it!

[mgardener]

21. New York State!

No chance of a presidential pardon if convicted!
Yea!
Does anyone think trump empire will ever be the same when the money dries up?

[smirkymonkey]

24. I so hope this happens!

I want to see him behind bars, broke and deserted by everyone he knows. A NY conviction would be even better than a Federal conviction. Either way, the argument against impeachment would even be hard for the republicans to stand up for.

[L. Coyote]

23. Trump and his Gangsters are NOT small-timers! We are talking billions .... gold collar crime.

Not surprising they think they can steal the USA.

PART III --- The billion dollar fraud.

ZEMBLA - Onderzoeksjournalistiek --- Published on Sep 27, 2017 --- Will Donald Trump go down due to his dubious ties to the former Soviet Union? The president seems to be getting in deeper and deeper. Special prosecutor Robert Mueller, who is investigating if Trump colluded with Russia in order to win the elections, is also digging into Trump's past as a business man. In that past, one of Donald Trump's business partners plays a crucial role, Felix Sater. A convicted felon who has ties with the Russian mafia. Last May, Zembla disclosed how an American real estate company, run by Sater, used Dutch mailbox companies within a network, which has been suspected of laundering money. Allegedly $1.5 million dollars had been diverted. Donald Trump developed hotels and
apartment complexes with this suspicious company.
In the last few months ZEMBLA received indications of a greater fraud. A billion dollar fraud. And here Sater, Trump's questionable business partner, shows up, as well. The money trail leads to Kazakhstan, to real estate projects in New York and again to the Netherlands. ZEMBLA investigates: How compromising is this case for the current president of America?

PART I --- The dubious friends of Donald Trump: the Russians

PART II --- The dubious friends of Donald trump: King of Diamonds

[MelissaB]

30. I haven't seen these videos.

Thanks! It's going to take some time to get through them.

[L. Coyote]

32. The McClathchy team is who turned up the Russia-NRA connection.

[GreenEyedLefty]

31. 1. I wish they would do more of these and 2. I wish more people would watch them!

Thank you for posting these videos; they are outstanding and make a very complicated situation much easier to understand.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

26. The excrement is impacting the airfoils in significant quantities lately.

I'm lovin' it.

[MLAA]

27. It popcorn time!

[Demtexan]

34. Have to wander how people will not know Trump when the stuff hits the fan.

Good videos.

[icnorth]

35. I still believe money laundering

was always the big nugget the FBI were tracking. Collusion? Obstruction of justice? Perjury? Yeah somewhat, but there has to be a level of intent that is harder to prove than a money trail exposed by hard copy.

[red dog 1]

36. K&R!

[SayItLoud]

37. High floor swan dive

These are the kinds of folks that seem to high dive (with a little help) just about this stage of an investigation.