New York City, New York Jun 17, 2022 (Issuewire.com) - On August 1, a New York court will begin considering the merits of a $1 billion lawsuit against Sberbank and General director German Gref of ex-senator Akhmed Bilalov, the former owner of the Krasnaya Polyana ski resort. This is the first lawsuit against Sberbank that was not closed at the stage of preliminary consideration, during which unpleasant details about the actions of the Russian authorities reveals.
The case materials are posted on the official website of the New York court and contain detailed information about the case. The statement of claim is available in our edition.
The lawsuit was filed on June 6, 2021. Judges had a maximum of 365 days to dismiss or accept on the merits. From the beginning, it has not caused a stir in the media since, previously, all such cases were stopped at an early stage. Bilalov brought accusations of complicity in serious crimes, including assassination attempts and raiding, against numerous Russian political and economic actors, such as Dmitry Kozak, German Gref, Kirill Androsov, Alexander Tkachev, Mikhail Gutseriev, Stanislav Kuznetsov, and others.
According to the statement of claim - the defendants, with the help of corrupt ties in the authorities of Russia and forged documents, a raider seizure a ski resort owned by the plaintiff was carried out.
The court materials describe how Bilalov was repeatedly offered “for good” to cede his enterprise for a pittance to businessman Mikhail Gutseriev. After the plaintiff refused the deal, he was put under pressure by the aforementioned unambiguous threats addressed to him. It is probably connected with this that in the same period, the helicopter with Bilalov crashed, which he survived. Then - Bilalov was poisoned with mercury and underwent long-term treatment in a German clinic (the court has these documents).
As a result of the raider seizure, Bilalov lost his property. Still, after recovering and moving to a permanent place of residence in the United States, he sent a claim to Sberbank demanding compensation. Further, representatives of the Russian authorities and Sberbank entered into negotiations with the plaintiff. However, in parallel, as it turned out later, a criminal case was fabricated against him in Russia, and an attempt was made to deport Bilalov from the United States to the Russian Federation. However, the American authorities refused to deport the powers of the Russian Federation.
Bilalov was dissuaded from filing a lawsuit against Sberbank by Kirill Androsov, the ex-deputy head of the government apparatus of the Russian Federation, who, after Bilalov’s refusal of an out-of-court settlement, called Bilalov a “fool” and reported on the irreversible and grave consequences of this decision. Further, an acting employee of the Russian FSB came to Bilalov, and threats were again voiced, in particular, that Bilalov, if a lawsuit was filed, would repeat the fate of Litvinenko, Skripal, and other opponents of the Russian establishment.
All of the above episodes will be considered by the New York court with the involvement of numerous witnesses who can provide other details of this case. The required amount of claim by a court decision, in accordance with US anti-raiding legislation, can be increased up to 10 times.
We will follow the process.
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