Oct 1, 2024
Yesterday, Kirsch & Niehaus won dismissal with prejudice of all claims against their clients arising out of alleged violations of RICO and the Alien Torts Statute. Plaintiff, a Kazakh citizen living in the United States, sued two prominent Kazakh businessmen alleging a conspiracy to embezzle tens of millions of dollars from a bank in which plaintiff held a large interest. Plaintiff alleged that the Eastern District of New York had subject-matter jurisdiction based on diversity of citizenship, which was rejected because all parties involved are Kazakh citizens and entities. Plaintiff alternatively alleged subject-matter jurisdiction pursuant to the Alien Tort Statute and RICO. However, because RICO does not apply to conduct occurring outside of the United States, plaintiff argued that the bank’s use of New York-based correspondence bank accounts both brought plaintiff’s RICO claim within the court’s jurisdiction, and subjected the defendants to personal jurisdiction in the United States. Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall granted defendants’ motion to dismiss for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, holding that all conduct relevant to the claims occurred exclusively in Kazakhstan, and rejecting plaintiff’s attempt to use defendants’ decade-old use of correspondence accounts in New York to build an artificial RICO claim that would bring the alleged actions in Kazakhstan within the court’s subject-matter jurisdiction.Â
The case is Amirkhanov Yerkyn v. Klebanov Alexandr Yakovlevich, E.D.N.Y. 23-cv-02399(LDH)