Nikolai Gorokhov Will Make a Third Attempt to Open Criminal Case Against Corrupt Russian Police Officers Who Covered Up Sergei Magnitsky’s Death in Custody
June 2, 2017
Press Release
For Immediate Distribution
Nikolai Gorokhov Will Make a Third Attempt to Open Criminal Case Against Corrupt Russian Police Officers Who Covered Up Sergei Magnitsky’s Death in Custody
2 June 2017 – Today, Nikolai Gorokhov, the lawyer for Sergei Magnitsky’s mother, will make a third attempt to open a criminal investigation into the abuse of office by officer Strizhov of the Investigative Committee in the Sergei Magnitsky death case and the cover-up of the US$230 million fraud that Mr Magnitsky had discovered and exposed in 2008 before he was tortured and murdered in police custody.
The court hearing is scheduled to take place at 4 pm at the Basmanny District Court in Moscow with judge Safina presiding.
The application to open an investigation into the abuse of office was originally filed by Mr Gorokhov with the Russian Investigative Committee in January 2017. The Investigative Committee refused to open an investigation. Mr Gorokhov then filed a complaint against this refusal, which was due to be heard on March 24, 2017. The hearing did not go ahead because of the Mr. Gorokhov’s plunge from his fourth floor apartment in suspicious circumstances.
At the postponed court hearing which was eventually held last week in Moscow, it was revealed that the Russian Investigative Committee refused to treat his complaint against officer Strizhov as a crime report.
The additional evidence submitted by Mr Gorokhov to the Investigative Committee remained unanswered, leading to the third application filed by Mr Gorokhov earlier this week, which will be heard today at the Basmanny District Court in Moscow.
The application by Mr Gorokhov relies on new records of emails and WhatsApp communications between associates of the Klyuev Organised Crime Group discussing the arrangements with Russian law enforcement officers for the cover-up and tampering of evidence in the Magnitsky case.
The leaked emails and WhatsApp messages identify the arrangements being made between Andrei Pavlov, a key member of the Klyuev Organised Crime Group, who took part in the US$230 million fraud, and investigator Strizhov of the Russian Investigative Committee, who was in charge of investigating Pavlov and others as part of the Magnitsky death investigation and the criminal conspiracy Magnitsky had uncovered.
In the communications, Andrei Pavlov advises ex Interior Ministry officer Oleg Urzhumtsev of the arrangement reached with investigator Strizhov and Interior Ministry officials. Pavlov says:
“Strizhov will come to an agreement with Ryabtsev [head of department “K” of the Interior Ministry’s Directorate of Economic Security and Fighting Corruption] on his own, but it is necessary that Mityaev (subordinate of Ryabtsev in department “K”) is all for it, like I know it all, I will help with everything. He will later be the one to submit the study to Strizhov.”
The communications refer to various officials and organized criminals under both real and assumed names and aliases, including “Bald-headed” and “The Great.”
The communications further reveal the intention of the Klyuev Organised Crime Group to disguise and conceal their active involvement in the evidence tampering and cover up efforts from lawyers for Magnitsky’s family and Hermitage. In one record of conversation, Andrei Pavlov explicitly tells ex Interior Ministry officer Urzhumtsev:
“Fxxk. Even if the study is appointed by Strizh [short for “Strizhov”], then Gorokhov [lawyer for Magnitsky’s mother] and Antipov [Hermitage’s lawyer] have to be notified of it, it would be clusterfxxk.”
Within a month of these arrangements, investigator Strizhov closed the Magnitsky death investigation citing the “absence of crime” and accused Sergei Magnitsky posthumously of being a perpetrator of the US$230 million fraud.
For more information, please contact:
Justice for Sergei Magnitsky
e‑mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org
twitter.com/Billbrowder
UK High Court Orders Arrest of Pavel Karpov, Former Russian Policeman in the Magnitsky Case, for Contempt of Court
May 25, 2017
Press Release
For Immediate Distribution
UK High Court Orders Arrest of Pavel Karpov, Former Russian Policeman in the Magnitsky Case, for Contempt of Court
25 May 2017 – Today, UK High Court judge Mr Justice Haddon-Cave issued an arrest warrant for former Russian policeman Major Pavel Karpov, one of the key players in the Magnitsky affair, for contempt of court and disobedience.
The arrest warrant was issued due to Karpov’s breach of court orders in relation to his failure to pay £650,000 of Hermitage’s legal costs after Karpov’s libel suit against Hermitage was struck out in 2013 by the UK High Court as an abuse of process. At the time, Pavel Karpov was ordered to pay Hermitage’s legal costs, which he failed to do.
The UK High Court ordered Pavel Karpov to attend court for questioning about his assets. In reply, Karpov sent a mocking poem to Hermitage’s lawyers (see in full below).
In September 2016, Pavel Karpov was found by the UK High Court in contempt of court. He was given a suspended three-month sentence. In response, Karpov told Russian news agency Interfax: “I sought after protection from the London Court, but now I need protection from this Court.”
After Karpov failed to attend another hearing last December, at today’s hearing Mr Justice Haddon-Cave ordered an arrest of Pavel Karpov.
“It is ordered that the bailiffs and constables are required to arrest the Claimant [Pavel Karpov] and to bring him before a judge to consider whether a committal order should be discharged,” said Mr Justice Haddon-Cave in his judgment.
“This warrant means that Pavel Karpov will be arrested the moment he sets foot on British soil. It also sends a powerful message to people around the world that the British court system can’t be abused by libel tourists,” said William Browder, head of the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign.
For more information, please contact:
Justice for Sergei Magnitsky
+44 207 440 1777
e‑mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org
www.lawandorderinrussia.org
billbrowder.com
twitter.com/Billbrowder
— — —
Pavel Karpov’s mocking poem sent to Hermitage’s Lawyers in July 2016 (translated from Russian):
I waste a lot of money and my nerves in LONDON court,
Within the process with FOUR CONDOMs,
Who think that they can lie and lie,
And in the Parliament and Congress telling bullshit.
You have rejected me in LONDONes, in RUSSIA sort of do the same,
So where for me, to smash your ugly mugs !?
Reminding you about my 8 mil,
Which owned by you already for a year!
Your prison cell is dusty now,
Bill seems forget about years nine!?
The stronger one who has the truth on side,
About this, the film was made,
Thanks to Andrei, unbeatable Nekrasov!
You made some movies, the boarders close for me,
Unleashing Felgin dog to dig some dirt on me.
You sent your script to HOLLYWOOD heroically,
While pushing your RED NOTES to the world.
I have no PRINCESS and RIVA do not have,
On ROBINSON with FALCONi, I look at them in journals.
I waves dissect on mattress in Crimea,
July I spent in junior suite in INTURIST.
Alleged by you PORSCHE, MERCEDES, AUDI,
Are far away somewhere in Tagil.
My GUCCI jacket worn out some time ago,
However RAY BAN, D&G, you never get from me,
The same is true with my BRIONI.
I do receive my 17k –ish every month, from Sber(bank),
And you could count on just a few of it.
My rich of soul you never get,
That leave you with to suck!
Nikolai Gorokhov Returns to Moscow Court After Four-Story Plunge to Release New Evidence on Magnitsky’s Death Cover Up
May 24, 2017
Press Release
For Immediate Distribution
Nikolai Gorokhov Returns to Moscow Court After Four-Story Plunge to Release New Evidence on Magnitsky’s Death Cover Up
24 May 2017 – Today at 3pm the Moscow Basmanny court will hear a complaint filed by Nikolai Gorokhov, the lawyer representing Sergei Magnitsky’s mother about new evidence of an official cover up of Sergei Magnitsky’s death in custody.
The previous court hearing which had been scheduled for 24 March 2017 in which Mr Gorokhov intended to present this evidence could not go ahead because Mr Gorokhov plunged four stories from his apartment in circumstances which many believe were intended to stop his activities.
The complaint filed by Mr Gorokhov alleges that an official cover up of Sergei Magnitsky’s death was orchestrated by the Russian investigator Strizhov, who closed the Magnitsky death case claiming there was “no crime,” despite injuries on Magnitsky’s body.
The new evidence submitted by Mr Gorokhov shows that investigator Strizhov worked closely with key suspects implicated by Sergei Magnitsky in the US$230 million fraud, while purportedly investigating them.
The new evidence comprises WhatsApp conversations and emails from the so-called “Pavlov Leaks” published on the Internet. The key conversations are between Andrei Pavlov, a key member of the Kluyev organized crime group, and his long-term associate, former Russian Interior Ministry investigator Oleg Urzhumtsev.
The Pavlov Leaks show that there were agreements between investigator Strizhov and members of the Klyuev group one month before investigator Strizhov exonerated Pavlov, Interior Ministry officer Urzhumtsev and other criminal group associates from liability for the US$230 mln theft and its cover up.
Mr Gorokhov filed a complaint against the refusal by the Russian Investigative Committee to investigate the new evidence of abuse of office by investigator Strizhov in Magnitsky’s death investigation.
The complaint will be heard today by judge Safina of Basmanny district court at 3 pm.
For more information, please contact:
Justice for Sergei Magnitsky
+44 207 440 1777
e‑mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org
billbrowder.com
twitter.com/Billbrowder
Son of Senior Russian Government Official to Pay US$5.9 Million to the US Treasury in the First Money Laundering Action Linked to Magnitsky Case
May 13, 2017
Press Release
For Immediate Distribution
Son of Senior Russian Government Official to Pay US$5.9 Million to the US Treasury in the First Money Laundering Action Linked to Magnitsky Case
13 May 2017 – Denis Katsyv, the son of a senior Russian government official, will pay US$5.9 million to the US Treasury in the first case in the West linked to the $230m proceeds from the Russian fraud that Sergei Magnitsky exposed and was eventually killed over.
“This is a huge victory in our campaign for justice for Sergei Magnitsky. The amount to be paid is more than triple the amount of money laundering proceeds that was thus far identified by the US government in New York connected to Prevezon,” said William Browder, leader of the global Magnitsky Justice campaign.
“This sends a clear message to the people who received that money that it’s not safe in the West and will be seized. I believe that this case will give the green light to other countries to follow suit,” said William Browder, who described the Magnitsky justice campaign in a New York Times best-seller, “Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man’s Fight for Justice.”
The stipulation to pay US$5.9 million to the US Treasury has been signed on 12 May 2017 by Russian national Denis Katsyv, in his capacity as owner of Cyprus-based Prevezon Holdings and a web of other offshore companies, including IKR, Martash Holdings, Ferencoi Investments Ltd and as “legal representative” of Kolevins Ltd. The stipulation will have to be approved by the US court to go into effect.
After US$230 million had been stolen by a group of Russian officials and organized criminals, a wide “Byzantine” network of shell companies and conduit accounts was used to launder the stolen proceeds, some of which have been traced by the US Department of Justice to the real estate properties in New York purchased by the Katsyv-owned Cypriot company, Prevezon Holdings.
In 2013, the US Department of Justice froze Prevezon’s assets, and the case was scheduled to go to trial on Monday, 15 May 2017. Denis Katsyv tried to dismiss the US Justice Department’s action on the eve of the trial, challenging the basis for the money laundering allegations against him.
In an opinion issued five days before the trial, on 10 May 2017, United States District Judge William Pauley III dismissed Prevezon’s motion.
The court found sufficient basis to try the case on four different wrong-doings identified by the US Department of Justice, including (1) fraud against HSBC, (2) transportation of stolen property, (3) bribery of a Russian official, and (4) money laundering.
In its 10 May 2017 opinion, the US court also upheld the US Justice Department’s money tracing analysis in relation to the US$230 million fraud proceeds. The court found that the US Government presented evidence that “the money laundering scheme was designed to conceal the illegal nature and source of the $1.9 million [traced to Prevezon] at issue,” including that “some of the accounts of the conduit entities were opened a few months before the transfers at issue, at the same bank on the same day;” two intermediary accounts had “strikingly similar pattern[s] of activity in their bank accounts;” “the majority of their incoming transfers came from three senders, one of whom routed money from an account at a bank designated by the U.S. Treasury as money laundering concern;” “a total of five accounts reflecting similar patterns of activity were repeatedly accessed from the same IP address,” and that “dividing proceeds to avoid detection is a hallmark of money laundering.”
Two days later Prevezon signed the stipulation to pay US$5.9 million to settle the US Justice Department’s money laundering action and avoid going to trial.
Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer who uncovered the massive corruption perpetrated systematically by Russian officials and organized criminals, including the theft of US$230 million in 2007, was tortured and killed in Russian police custody after exposing it. The Russian government prosecuted Sergei Magnitsky posthumously and exonerated all officials involved in the US$230 million fraud.
Sergei Magnitsky’s colleagues have been able to continue his investigation, and uncovered the vast money laundering network spanning multiple jurisdictions and hundreds of conduit accounts.
Denis Katsyv’s and Prevezon’s accounts remain subject to a criminal money laundering investigation in Switzerland conducted by the Swiss Attorney General. Switzerland was the first country to act in relation to the US$230 million fraud proceeds going to Prevezon accounts imposing account freeze in 2012.
For more information, please contact:
Justice for Sergei Magnitsky
e‑mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org
twitter.com/Billbrowder
The Queen of England Gives Final Approval to the Magnitsky Sanctions Law in the UK
April 28, 2017
Press Release
For Immediate Distribution
The Queen of England Gives Final Approval to the Magnitsky Sanctions Law in the UK
28 April 2017 – The Queen of England has given the royal assent to the UK Magnitsky sanctions provision contained in the Criminal Finances Bill passed in the UK parliament. The UK Magnitsky sanctions provision has now become law. It gives the British government the power to seize assets of gross human rights violators.
“The royal approval of the UK Magnitsky act represents a significant progress in the globalization of the Magnitsky sanctions regime against kleptocrats and human rights abusers,” said William Browder, leader of the global Magnitsky Justice Campaign and author of “Red Notice: How I Became Putin’s No 1 Enemy.”
“This effort is the result of seven years of advocacy in the name of Sergei Magnitsky who uncovered and testified about the US$230 million corruption scheme perpetrated by Russian officials and was killed for his whistle-blowing,” said William Browder.
The Magnitsky sanctions provision has previously received approval from both houses of the UK parliament.
The UK Magnitsky legislation protects those who “have sought to expose the illegal activity carried out by a public official or a person acting in an official capacity, or to obtain, exercise, defend or promote human rights and fundamental freedoms.” (full text here).
The UK Magnitsky sanctions legislation stipulates gross human rights abuse as unlawful conduct.
Sergei Magnitsky was a Russian lawyer who uncovered the massive corruption perpetrated systematically by Russian officials and organized criminals, which included thefts from the Russian treasury, including the theft of US$230 million in 2007. Instead of pursuing the officials who approved the thefts, the Russian government arrested Sergei Magnitsky and put him in pre-trial detention, where he was tortured for 358 days and killed at the age of 37. All officials implicated in his torture and the multi-million dollar thefts have been exonerated.
For more information, please contact:
Justice for Sergei Magnitsky
e‑mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org
twitter.com/Billbrowder
For more information please visit