// Press Releases (in English)

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

+44 207 440 1777

e‑mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org

www.lawandorderinrussia.org

billbrowder.com

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

www.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

+44 207 440 1777

e‑mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org

www.lawandorderinrussia.org

billbrowder.com

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

+44 207 440 1777

e‑mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org

www.lawandorderinrussia.org

billbrowder.com

twitter.com/Bill­brow­der

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