New York Court dismisses lawsuit against Eduard Ogai over Kazakhstan-linked dispute

As reported in the New York Law Journal (June 5, 2025 edition), the Appellate Division, First Department, of the New York Supreme Court has affirmed the dismissal on jurisdictional grounds of a lawsuit filed by former Kazakh official Galymzhan Zhakiyanov regarding events occurring in Kazakhstan.  The decision reinforces jurisdictional boundaries in cross-border litigation and confirms that the dispute, rooted in events in Kazakhstan, does not belong in a New York court.

Zhakiyanov alleged that assets of a Kazakh coal company were misappropriated through a series of legal and bankruptcy proceedings in Kazakhstan in the early 2000s.  He claimed that such proceedings were motivated by his political activity and named a company he associated with Eduard Ogai as the ultimate beneficiary of those transfers. Based on claimant’s jurisdictional argument on Ogai’s alleged ownership of U.S. real estate a claim was filed with New York court.  

The defendant’s legal team argued that the underlying events were conducted under the authority of Kazakhstan’s legal system, including rulings from its tax and bankruptcy courts.  They emphasized that the claimant had brought and lost related claims in Kazakhstan and that revisiting those issues in New York would contravene principles of international comity.  The court applied the forum non conveniens doctrine, finding that Kazakhstan’s courts were fully capable of adjudicating the matter.

Justice Melissa Crane noted that the case raised questions about whether a commercial court in New York should re-evaluate foreign judicial processes.  “The defendants’ acts in transferring assets to themselves are of no import, if defendants had a right to those assets in the first place,” she wrote. The Appellate Division affirmed that New York lacked jurisdiction, finding the connection to U.S. property too attenuated to support the claim.

The decision illustrates the careful approach U.S. courts take when asked to review complex foreign commercial matters with limited domestic connection.