The United States Department of Justice filed a complaint seeking the forfeiture of two luxury apartments in New York City purchased by Sukhbaatar Batbold, former Prime Minister of Mongolia because they believe the dwellings were purchased with proceeds from an alleged corruption scheme.
Located at 21 East 61st Street and 230 West 56th Street in Manhattan, the apartments are valued at $14 million, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York.
Court documents show that Batbold oversaw a $68 million mining contract from Catrison, a corporate entity owned through shell companies.
Catrison allegedly "had no operational history, no mining expertise, and no financial or logistical infrastructure to execute commodity sales, and its sole director was a former linguistics teacher."
The documents contend that funds were transferred into foreign bank accounts and moved through a series of shell companies and some of the funds were used to purchase the New York City apartments, which had been used by the former Prime Minister's son.
The complaint says Batbold and his family used state-owned mining contracts to move money through shell companies for their personal benefit.
One company was awarded a $30 million mining contract, with funds wired to a U.S. account held by Batbold's son.
The funds were used for personal expenses including "car payments, travel and an interior designer," according to authorities.
"As alleged in the complaint, Sukhbataar Batbold - the former prime minister of Mongolia - abused his position as prime minister to profit from the sale of his country's natural resources. He and his family used the proceeds of their corrupt scheme to buy $14 million in high-end real estate in the United States," Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, said in a statement.
"With this action, those properties are subject to forfeiture. Kleptocrats should take note: the Criminal Division is unwavering in its resolve to recover proceeds of official corruption and take the profit out of crime," Argentieri said.
"As alleged, former Mongolian Prime Minister Batbold used the profits from his illicit corruption scheme to purchase high-end real estate in violation of United States federal law. Today's forfeiture action sends a message that corrupt officials will not use our real estate market to conceal proceeds of crimes," said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace.
With reporting by TMX
