VIOLENT PROTESTS IN KAZAKHSTAN EARLY 2022
Per the new complaint, settlement discussions had been going on for the remainder of 2021. However, by early 2022 protests erupted in Kazakhstan and the aftermath changed everything. Karim Massimov was arrested on charges of treason and Kenes Rakishev is reportedly a fugitive, whereabouts unknown. According to this recent article reporting on Massmov's downfall, "When he later became a politician, rumors swirled that he had worked for the KGB at this time, since this type of background was typical for recruits to the Soviet spy agency." Reuters reported regarding the calling in of Russian special Forces against protestors, "The Russian deployment was a gamble by the Kremlin that rapid military force could secure its interests in the oil and uranium-producing Central Asian nation, by swiftly putting down the worst violence in Kazakhstan's 30 years of independence."
By January 26th, the complaint states Sater's legal counsel was notified by Greenberg Traurig the ongoing settlement discussions were now over. In an article published by The New York Times in June of 2021, Greenberg Traurig was noted as being the law firm in a London court introducing evidence "to freeze the assets of a Kazakh billionaire, Bulat Utemuratov, whom a British lawyer working for BTA Bank alleged in court was Mr. Ablyazov's 'money-launderer in chief'." Their reporting also indicated "the judge, presented with evidence partly generated by Kazakhstan's security apparatus, issued the freezing order." But by the following month the freezing order was lifted when "the bank reached a confidential settlement and dropped its case against Mr. Utemuratov, who denied the allegations."
Per filed complaint:
When the protests came to a close, there were news reports of Massimov's arrest and charge of treason as well as Rakishev reportedly fleeing the country. Sater was informed the settlement discussions were back to being off the table, and the decision was apparently made by him and his legal counsel to to file the drafted cross-complaint they had been shown back in July.
KAZAKH PRESIDENT WITH ASSETS IN MOSCOW
RFERL reported on Jan 17, 2022 how the fairly recently installed acting Kazakh President Toqaev (as of March 2019) had his offshore assets highlighted in reporting by OCCRP, as well as the fact his his son wrote in his 2009 dissertation, titled 'The Republic Of Kazakhstan's Strategy In Relations With The West: National Interests, Priorities, Directions': "Russia is Kazakhstan's only ally." It was reported between Toqaev and his son, Timur, they had multiple assets located in Moscow.
RUSSIAN INVASION AND WAR IN UKRAINE
Even though Felix Sater is making some bold accusations in this cross complaint against Rakishev while his buddy Kadyrov is now, per his own social media posts, fighting and murdering in Ukraine along with his Chechen fighters. The same Rakishev who has been engaging Felix Sater in this legal battle since March of 2019, and who gets birthday shoutouts from Kadyrov, negotiated deals with Hunter Biden, was pictured with our current President, and sent Hunter Biden's account money back in 2014. According to Felix Sater's cross complaint, Hunter was targeted by Rakishev in direction from Massimov since 2012. Then Christopher Steele and his company had admitted to the FBI back in the fall of 2017 they had been working on the BTA Bank case against Ablyazov. Our mainstream media is seemingly ignoring all of this as it has been unfolding.
When Matthew Schwartz, who is not only representing Rakishev and BTA Bank, but also Devon Archer, is now trying to claim there is no link back to Putin through this lawsuit against Sater, on the same day the cross-complaint by Sater's legal counsel was filed, Moscow Times was reporting a meeting between Putin and Kadyrov. Whom we have already shown sends Rakishev, owner of BTA Bank, birthday wishes on social media.
Sater's new complaint goes on to claim this aspect of the Russian Collusion hoax being the "product of a Kazakh KBG operation" which "ushered in a new era of American McCarthyism, with supporters and allies of Trump unfairly portrayed as Russian stooges and traitors." Describing death threats to his family as well as his wife and children having to live under different names, his business is noted as "in ruins" and "the emotional and financial strain of relentless media attacks" resulted in his getting divorced. The "disinformation operation waged against him" is claimed as being "funded and approved by the Kazakh KGB."
One important thing to keep in mind is, as the claim explains, "Because Sater was born in the Soviet Union, the Kremlin considers Sater’s espionage on behalf of the United States to be treason."
The main points of the cross-complaint are the Kazakhs took advantage of their meetings with Sater during the 2016 election to gain intel against him and Trump as the 2016 election moved forward and used this advantage to benefit the Clinton campaign, due to Bill Clinton's established prior and/or current relationship to Arcanum Global. What we've been able to firmly establish is the Kazakhs as well as Arcanum have a proven relationship of working together, of spying or purchasing spying tools from firms selling them, and they are actually claiming they continued paying Sater even though he allegedly recovered no money for them. Sater disputes this claim, saying money was identified and/or recovered during this time. We also have determined even in late summer of 2016, the EFF presented at the BlackHat conference evidence they'd uncovered of spying involved with the Ablyazov case, as well as mentioning Arcanum Global several times.
CURRENT STATE OF THINGZZ
Sater's new cross-complaint is alleging a plot by the Kazakhs and Arcanum Global to use their agreement and coordination through LitCo and himself to recover Ablyazov monies as a cover to spy on him and gain intel useful to parties opposing Donald Trump, namely the Clinton campaign. While this claim may seem hard to prove for some, it will still be interesting to see how it plays out. If it goes to trial or if there ends up being a settlement on the side of the Kazakhs/BTA Bank.
What we have been able to establish based on open source information and records is Arcanum Global has established links to Kazakhstan, the Wirecard scandal, hacking operations, and Felix Sater was working with them during a tumultuous 2016 election. We have been able to establish they continued to pay LitCo:Sater even when they were giving presentations about Felix Sater to journalists. This presentation ended up in Steele's hadns and was then shown to the FBI. We have established they continued to pay Sater throughout the rest of 2017 and most of 2018 while now claiming they had no idea Sater was behind Litco the entire time. Considering they appear to be a firm with expensive clientele whose specialty is literally intelligence, it's not very plausible they were paying Litco and telling their Kazakh clients they were paying a company they state was recovering no money for them and didn't even know who was behind the company. It's kind of an absurd claim on its face but it's what they have gone with and are sticking to in this case.
Another interesting factor to consider when wondering if Sater was being monitored, spied on, and recorded during the election, is what this meant they potentially could have heard and been privy to. When Felix Sater joined a Twitter Spaces chat last year, he noted this regarding the DNC hack during 2016. This was also during a period of time in which these Kazakh players may or may not have been listening in. If Sater was given a briefing by his lawyer Wolf following this secret hearing, it is possible they heard all of it.
There are also all of the discussions between Michael Cohen and Felix Sater during the 2016 election regarding the potential development of Trump Tower Moscow they may have been able to listen to during an unknown period of time. It remains unclear if at any point the FBI or any other agency who utilized Felix as a confidential informant or asset were aware of his involvement with this high-profile case, Kazakhstan's hiring of private investigative firms in Europe and potentially subcontracting work to the United States, and especially following the reporting by EFF of Kazakhstan spying in this case. Regardless, due to the fact the media was so eager to report anything negative toward Trump, and therefore Felix Sater, these claims being made by BTA Bank were reported seriously with no further digging. The lawsuit was coincidentally timed to do the most political damage perhaps both in the United States , as well as Ukraine. Even when reporting started to come out in 2019 regarding Rakishev's ties and contacts with Hunter Biden, there was not one journalist which pointed out he was the majority shareholder of BTA Bank who was alleging Sater of wrongdoing. Hunter's history of employment with Boies Schiller, the same firm representing Rakishev as well as Devon Archer and BTA Bank, is largely overlooked by this same media.
Does Felix Sater have actual proof of hacking on any of his devices?
Unknown.
Does Felix Sater have actual recordings which are relevant which would be disclosed if this went to trial?
This is being claimed.
Does Sater have sources who are willing to say there was a coordinated effort to target him for working with asset recovery efforts during the 2016 election in an effort to gain intel?
Again, this is being alleged but it remains unclear. Thus far, though, Sater's track record doesn't consist of too much bluffing.
Is there any evidence suggesting any of this may have been done in an effort to assist the Clinton campaign?
No direct evidence exists other than the following facts:
Joe Biden was not going to be running for President and did not want Trump to win, Trump was not expected to win, and as in the Wirecard case, Arcanum's role seems to more often be spreading rumors, spying, and utilizing the media to their advantage for their client. It is unclear why in this particular case the additional steps were taken to push the FBI to investigate the ties of Sater (and Trump) to this Ablyazov stuff after he had won, but as others have speculated, it is possible they really may have believed Sater was guilty. After all, it was not disclosed until after their lawsuit was already months-old the extent to his cooperation with the government, including his involvement in two money laundering networks originating from Russia, along with Cyprus and Turkey in the years leading up to his sentencing.
It is also unclear considering we now know his cooperation lasted "almost twenty years" if this prior work with these money laundering networks have anything to do with FMBE bank doing a lot of work in Cyprus, FMBE being linked to Russian organized crime money, as well as the Cyprus money-laundering hacking ring from 2005 somehow tying to the DNC hack in 2016. That's a lot of remaining unknowns.
NEXT STEPS AND THANK YOU
There is a hearing scheduled for Thursday, March 24th late in the afternoon which will likely tell us more about what direction this is going to go in. Or if the judge is going to considering hearing discovery related to this cross-complaint at all.
If you took the time to read this four-part series, thank you. This took some rework and much more effort than initially intended. If you learned something new which provided you with additional perspective on this new cross complaint and the likelihood Kazakhstan may have played a role in what took place during the 2016 election, it was worth it. If you think someone else will benefit from reading this material, please share with them.
As this unfolds in court, there will be likely be an additional Part 5+ added to this blog.