On behalf of the city of Almaty, Kazakhstan, and BTA Bank, Boies Schiller Flexner secured a jury award worth more than $100 million – $52 million in damages plus more than $50 million in prejudgment interest.
The lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, accuses Felix Sater, a former associate of Donald Trump, of working with Mukhtar Ablyazov and his son-in-law Ilyas Khrapunov to launder money stolen from Almaty and BTA Bank through various U.S. real estate projects and investments. Sater and the other defendants personally received tens of millions of dollars of the stolen money. BSF has represented BTA Bank and the city of Almaty for many years in seeking to recover assets in jurisdictions around the world. In the prior trial, the firm won a jury award of $32 million, though the Hon. John Koeltl ordered a retrial on two of the plaintiffs’ three claims due to an erroneous jury instruction.
Chairman Matthew Schwartz and partner John Zach were chosen as The American Lawyer's Litigator of the Week for the verdict. Additionally, Law360 and the New York Law Journal covered the trial and the verdict, with the New York Law Journal quoting opposing counsel saying in their closing statement, “I am up against Boies Schiller, perhaps the greatest law firm in the world...[a]nd I am hearing that Mr. John Zach, who is known in the New York Bar as one of the finest trial lawyers in America, he is going to give a closing argument.” Please see links below.
In addition to Matthew and John, the trial team includes partners Peter Skinner and Craig Wenner and associates Lindsey Ruff, Sophie Roytblat, and Connor Coupe.
THE NEW YORK LAW JOURNAL: Ex-Trump Business Associate Found Liable for Money Laundering in Retrial
LAW360: Ex-Trump Ally Felix Sater Liable In Money Laundering Trial
LAW360: Kazakh Money Laundering Retrial Against Felix Sater Begins