Lawsuit: Sater looked to launder cash through Trump projects

NEW YORK (AP) — A lawsuit says a Soviet-born convicted felon who worked on real estate deals with President Donald Trump plotted to use Trump-branded skyscrapers to launder money allegedly stolen from a Kazakhstan bank.

BTA Bank and the city of Almaty, Kazakhstan, allege in Monday’s lawsuit that Felix Sater (SAY’-tur) conspired with the son of the city’s ex-mayor to use some of the $440 million to develop a Trump Tower in Moscow. The project was never built.

The lawsuit makes clear there’s no suggestion Trump engaged in impropriety.

Sater’s lawyer says in a written statement Tuesday that his client owned a company that was helping the bank recover stolen assets and that the lawsuit is “cheap and desperate retaliation” after the company sued over an unpaid bill.

Sater’s public testimony before Congress this week has been postponed.