The Russian Prosecutor-General’s Office has filed a lawsuit against former Minister of Coordination of the Open Government Mikhail Abyzov and Alfa-Bank to recover funds for the state. They are connected with investments in the Telegram Open Network blockchain platform project (TON).
As reported by «Ъ», the suit was filed by Deputy Prosecutor General Anatoly Razinkin. He seeks to recover $104.5 million from Alfa-Bank and $22 million from Mikhail Abyzov “as property obtained as a result of laundering corrupt proceeds”.
The suit continues the saga of recovering more than 32 billion rubles from Abyzov. The Prosecutor’s Office claimed he obtained these funds illegally. In October 2020, the Gagarinsky Court of Moscow удовлетворил требования об изъятии в пользу государства.
According to the publication, during the subsequent investigation the Prosecutor’s Office, together with Rosfinmonitoring and the FSB, found that part of the proceeds from Abyzov’s deals were converted into $115 million and invested in TON.
However, due to a conflict with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the project was never launched. Accordingly, Abyzov’s funds with a ten percent yield ($126.5 million) are subject to return to Russia, the new suit states.
The Prosecutor’s Office also notes that Abyzov, by agreement with Telegram and Alfa-Bank, “to conceal this property from seizure, performed a reorganisation of controlled entities and, in order to repay his and related companies’ obligations, transferred to accounts in this bank of transit foreign companies”.
«Ъ» notes that the matter concerned the repayment of debts of Abyzov’s company E4 to the bank.
The suit states that Alfa-Bank conducted operations with “illegal funds” of Abyzov by transferring $104.5 million into its own assets.
Because of the illicit origin of the assets, they cannot be a legitimate means of payment, the Prosecutor-General’s Office contends.
Alfa-Bank says it is not yet familiar with the details of the suit but denies any illegal actions on its part. Abyzov’s lawyer Yuliy Tai has also not reviewed the contents of the suit.
In court, no details of the case were disclosed, but a preliminary hearing was announced for August 12, according to ТАСС.
Abyzov was detained in 2019. He was charged with fraud and creating a criminal group. According to investigators, the former minister and accomplices stole 4 billion rubles and laundered them abroad. There are also criminal cases opened against Abyzov for money laundering on a particularly large scale and illegal entrepreneurial activity.
In two rounds of a closed ICO in February and March 2018, TON attracted $1.7 billion in the United States and abroad.
Details about Abyzov’s investments in the project emerged from court documents published in the proceedings between TON and the SEC. The Commission claimed he invested $15 million through the offshore Batios Holdings Limited.
In April 2020, Pavel Durov notified that the launch would not take place. He offered investors either to receive 72% of the funds immediately or 110% by 30 April 2021.
Follow ForkLog’s bitcoin news on our Telegram — news on cryptocurrencies, prices and analysis.