"U.S. Justice Department agrees to pay $100,000 to victim of U.S.-Russian persecution"

Information Times
August 22, 1997

WASHINGTON, DC, USA - August 22, 1997 (FPS) -- The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) on Thursday agreed to pay $100,000 compensation in Alexandre P. Konanykhine Habeas Corpus case. Other compensations will be discussed starting next week.

Konanykhine points out: "The KGB manipulation is getting expensive to the U.S. taxpayers."

In the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, he had filed a Petition in March 1997 for issuance of Writ of Habeas Corpus of appropriate relief of unlawful detention and prosecution, due to: unlawful arrest, malicious prosecution, malicious abuse of legal process by Respondent, abuse of discretion by Respondent, willful misrepresentation of material facts by Respondent and his agents (perjury and fraud), and an array of due process and Constitutional violations.

Petitioner, Alexandre Konanykhine, acting pro se, petitioned the Court to issue a Writ of Habeas Corpus to require his release from unlawful detention by the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). Petitioner alleged that he was unlawfully imprisoned, detained, and restrained of his liberty by the Respondent, William J. Carroll, District Director of the INS Washington District Office.

A statement about the case and the DOJ decision by John N. Nassikas III, who is associated with the law firm of Arent Fox, Kintner Plotkin & Kahn, the attorneys for Alexandre Konanykhine, states:

"This decision by the Department of Justice is long overdue. This settlement gives back to Mr. Konanykhine his freedom and his dignity."

"Mr. Konanykhine and I believe that the settlement is vindication of what he has been consistently saying for over one year now: he is a victim of Russian political persecution, and of U.S. government complicity in a deceptive effort to return Mr. Konanykhine to his Russian persecutors. We believe that the record now shows that the FBI and the INS trumped up charges of immigration fraud to cozy up to Russian military prosecutors and deceived a federal court about the real motivations for a de facto extradition to Moscow."

"Mr. Konanykhine now has his freedom. Mr. Konanykhine and is wife Elena Gratcheva now have the right to work in this country. Next the Department of Justice should grant political asylum to Alexandre and Elena."

"As Mr. Konanykhine's lawyer, I am happy for this result, for which we at Arent Fox have worked very hard. As a former member of the Department of Justice, I am troubled that our government conducted itself so poorly in the past that laws were manipulated and deceptions were carried out and Alexandre Konanykhine, as a consequence, had to spend over one year in jail at the direction of the INS. As a citizen and as a taxpayer, I am sad to see that our government, through this settlement, has put itself in a position where it has had to pay a severe price for its own serious missteps."

InformationTimes.com

Publisher: Free Press Syndicate

Mail: P.O. Box 7111

Washington, DC 20044 USA E-Mail: [email protected]

Fax: 703-660-6660

Phone: 703-660-6060

Konanykhine

Court

Immigration

Malicious

Persecution

Persecutors

Political

Prosecution

Russian Immigrant

Russian Banker

Settlement

Syndicate

Victim

Washington

More News...

Washington Post:
Konanykhin, one of the first Russian millionaires after the fall of the commies, left in 1992 and was granted asylum here in 1999. He's built a very successful Web advertising business in New York City. He had been chosen "New York Businessman of the Year." "As such, you will be honored and presented with your award," NRCC chairman Thomas M. Reynolds (R-N.Y.) said, at a "special ceremony" April 1. " President Bush and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger are our special invited guests.

CNN:
Alex Konanykhin controlled Russia's largest commercial bank in the 1990s

Wall Street Journal:
Mr. Konanykhin was a whiz-kid physics student who became a pioneering Russian capitalist in early 1990s, building a banking and investment empire valued at an estimated $300 million all by his mid-20s. He was a member of President Boris Yeltsin's inner circle.

The Sun:
Alex Konanykhin fled Russia in 1992 and won asylum in the US after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The entrepreneur had set up 100 different companies in Russia and had an estimated net worth of $300million by the time he was 25. He is regarded as one of the first Russian millionaires after the fall of the Iron Curtain. One of the newly open country's leading lights, he even met with US President George HW Bush in 1991 on a joint visit with Russian leader Boris Yeltsin. However, he was then kidnapped in 1992 while visiting Budapest and all of his business assets were seized in Russia. … Being hunted by the Russian state, Konanykhin won asylum in the US in 1997 and set up a new life - but the shadow of the Kremlin continued to loom over him.He went on to rebuild a business empire and set up multimillion dollar firms such as TransparentBusiness in the US.

The Deal:
... a New York-based software startup called TransparentBusiness Inc. has drawn backing from Fortune 500 executives through a relatively new type of securities offering called 506(c) as part of an effort to raise $10 million this year ... Alex Konanykhin, CEO of TransparentBusiness, said he decided to reach out directly to accredited investors by purchasing ads in financial publications. One particularly bold ad includes the figure, 90,000%, with a question mark next to it. Konanykhin said the ad speaks to the large market opportunity for his company's software, which helps governments eliminate fraud by verifying billable hours charged by outside contractors. ... One of the investors, Ken Arredondo, told The Deal he invested in TransparentBusiness and agreed to serve on its board of directors because of the company's strong management team and the huge market opportunity to increase transparency of outsourced contracts worldwide. He believes in the company's product and said it's unique. "It's a Saas-based, easy-to-use tool," he said. "There are a lot of technology players out there that are a lot bigger, but none of them have what they have. There will be competition, but they have the product now. They have first-mover advantage."

The Baltimore Sun:
Business whiz kid.

WJLA TV / ABC:
Russian Bill Gates.

The Times:
By the time he was 25 he was one of the most important figures in post-Communist Russia. But in 1992, while on a business trip to Hungary, Alex Konanykhine was kidnapped.

The New York Times:
The Federal Bureau of Investigation notified Konanykhin that Russian organized crime figures had paid to have him killed.

Los Angeles Daily Journal:
Representing himself through much of the process, Konanykhin managed to convince an immigration judge of an alleged INS and KGB conspiracy and cover-up. Following the court's admonishment, the INS agreed to drop all charges and also pay $100,000..The judge also ordered an investigation of the Justice Department. In separate actions, Konanykhine subsequently won multimillion dollar libel judgments against two Russian newspapers. A $100 million lawsuit against the Justice Department is pending, alleging perjury, fraud, torture and witness tampering by U.S government officers on behalf of the Russian Mafia.

Profit Magazine:
Imagine you are a teenage physics genius who quickly amasses a $300 million empire of real estate and banking ventures, has dozens of cars, six hundred employees, several mansions and two hundred bodyguards—but you are nonetheless kidnapped by those you trusted, threatened with torture and death, and have your entire empire stolen from you one dark night in Budapest. You escape with your life by racing through Eastern-block countries and flying to New York on stashed-away passports—only to have the KGB and Russian Mafia hell-bent on your hide and the U.S. government jailing you and conspiring to serve you up into their clutches. All this before your 29th birthday. Sound like a Tom Clancy thriller? No. . . just a slice in the life of Alexander Konanykhine.