Another Trump associate is in hot water, this time engaged in a legal battle over allegations that he used his real estate projects in Russia to launder millions of dollars.
The Russian national Felix Sater, 53, who is one of Trump’s contacts in Moscow who allegedly worked to help the Trump Organization secure a project in the Russian capital, is now facing a lawsuit in the U.S. filed by a Kazakh bank called BTA Bank.
The lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York, accuses Sater of laundering millions of dollars stolen from BTA Bank. The suit alleges that some of that money may have connections to the Trump Organization and the project in Moscow.
“Sater helped Ablyazov, Khrapunov and others launder tens of millions of dollars in those stolen funds into the United States,” according to the complaint filed Monday. “Sater also tried to help them stash some of the stolen money overseas, including in real estate in Moscow.”
The former Trump associate is set to testify in a closed-door session before the House Judiciary Committee next month. Sater was also due to testify before the House Intelligence Committee this week, but the hearing was postponed after Monday’s filing.
Sater’s team issued a statement after the filing, completely denying the bank’s allegations. He called the filing a series of “baseless allegations.” Sater says it is the bank who still owes large sums of money to one of his many companies, which used BTA to cover setup costs.
According to Sater, the lawsuit is “a sleazy attempt to avoid paying millions of dollars contractually owed to my asset-recovery company,” adding that his company’s agreement with BTA released him from liability “for exactly what they are falsely alleging in this lawsuit.”
The money allegedly stolen from the Kazakh bank has been subject to scrutiny from prosecutors and individuals involved in questioning Trump’s top associates. The bank came up in former Trump top aide and personal lawyer Michael Cohen’s public testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
“Michael Cohen was recommended to BTA Bank in 2017 as a person who had access to the best legal resources, and was hired by BTA to assemble a winning team,” Matthew Schwartz, a partner at Boies Schiller Flexner LLP representing BTA Bank told Newsweek.
“Instead, Michael Cohen did absolutely nothing of value, and BTA quickly tore up its agreement with him. Since that time, BTA has cooperated fully with all law enforcement investigations of Michael Cohen,” Schwartz added.
Cohen was sentenced to prison for lying to U.S. officials and for financial crimes committed in relation to his work for Trump in the private sector.
Sater is no stranger to the courtroom. The Russian national was imprisoned in his 20s after he was found guilty of stabbing a man at a bar with a broken margarita glass. Recently, American pop singer Mariah Carey’s former agent sued Sater for illegally downloading her data off her personal devices while he stayed as a guest in her home.
