Gulnara Karimova was an Uzbek government official and the daughter of the then-President of Uzbekistan.
Bekhzod Akhmedov was the General Director from 2002 to 2012 of JV Uzdunrobita, a telecommunications operator in Uzbekistan from the 1990s until 2012. Uzdunrobita became a subsidiary of Mobile Telesystems PJSC ("MTS") in 2004. Akhmedov was a close associate of Karimova.
MTS, headquartered and incorporated in Russia, was a multinational telecommunications company, which conducted its business in various countries in the territory of the former Soviet Union through subsidiaries and joint ventures.
Telia Company AB was a corporation incorporated in Sweden that provided telecommunications services in Europe and Asia.
VimpelCom Ltd., a Bermuda corporation headquartered in Moscow, Russia until 2010, then Amsterdam, the Netherlands afterward, was a global provider of telecommunications services.
According to the documents in this case, between 2001 and 2012, Karimova and Akhmedov engaged in an extensive bribery scheme involving MTS, Telia, and VipelCom attempting to enter and operate in the Uzbek telecommunications market, which was generally prohibited for private companies under Uzbek law. Karimova demanded hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes. Akhmedov, acting as both an executive of one of the telecommunications companies and as a personal representative of Karimova, solicited and facilitated the bribe payments from the three companies and their subsidiaries. The payments were routed through shell companies controlled by Karimova. In all, approximately $866 million in bribes were made to Karimova.
On March 7, 2019, the DOJ filed a four count indictment in the Southern District of New York against Karimova and Akhmedov alleging (1) conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA, (2-3) direct violations of the anti-bribery provisons of the FCPA, and (4) conspiracy to commit money laundering. This case is ongoing.
MTS, Telia, and VimpelCom were all prosecuted by the DOJ and/or sued by the SEC is separate enforcement actions.
