These stunning allegations were reported Nov. 24 by the Racing Post and appear to be based in part off of live-Tweeted testimony reported earlier this month by Inner City Press from a United States federal court trial.
Various other media reports, including in The Racing Post, have linked Abdulaziz to the allegedly sham cryptocurrency project and it was alleged by Konstantin Ignatov, the co-founder of OneCoin, in a US Federal Court hearing, that he had illegally appropriated €100 million.
It was also alleged that Abdulaziz used his Phoenix Thoroughbreds interests, which includes significant involvement in both the racing and breeding industry in Australia, to launder money.
Amer Abdulaziz Salman, founder of Phoenix Thoroughbreds | Racing Post Photo
Ignatov recently pleaded guilty to his own money-laundering and fraud charges as part of the estimated US$4-billion scam, and has been cooperating with U.S. prosecutors, while last week a federal trial in New York resulted in a guilty verdict for U.S. lawyer Mark Scott on charges of fraud and laundering US$400 million in illegal OneCoin related funds.
Phoenix has spent around $20 million at Australian yearling and breeding sales in the past three years and celebrated its first Group 1 success in Australia last month with the victory of Loving Gaby (I Am Invincible) in the Manikato S.
Loving Gaby recently won the Manikato S.
It recently marked its first homebred winner in Australia with the win of Farnan (Not A Single Doubt) at Canberra, while last Saturday, the Phoenix Ladies syndicate celebrated its first Australian success with the win of Euphoric Summer (Not A Single Doubt) in the Magic Millions 2YO Clockwise Classic at Ballarat.
Phoenix Thoroughbreds, which is a thoroughbred investment fund based out of Dubai, also own around 30 broodmares in Australia and holds shares in several prominent stallions.
The Phoenix Ladies syndicate celebrated its first Australian success with the win of Euphoric Summer in the Magic Millions 2YO Clockwise Classic at Ballarat
Ignatov's testimony from the Federal Court was live tweeted by Inner City Press. It reported the following exchanges that TDN has condensed here for brevity:
US Attorney: Who did Gilbert Armenta (boyfriend of OneCoin’s other co-founder, Dr. Ruja Ignatova) work with on money laundering?
Ignatov: Mark Scott, Amr Abdul Aziz [sic] and Alex Ortega…. [Abdulaziz], after he stole 100 million Euros from OneCoin, he started buying race horses, for like 25 million Euros.”
US Attorney: Who was this Mr. Aziz?
Ignatov: One of the main money launderers for [OneCoin].
US Attorney: Did you ever report to the police any of [Abdulaziz’s] theft?
Ignatov: No. [Because] the money came from a criminal activity.
TDN has not been able to corroborate the live-tweeted testimony against an official court transcription. TDN could also not reach Abdulaziz via phone to ask his side of the story and a voicemail message seeking comment from Tom Ludt, the head of US operations for Phoenix Thoroughbreds, was not returned in time for deadline for this article.
Amer Abdulaziz Salman and Tom Ludt
The Racing Post reported that it has seen “a draft transcript of the September 2018 interview between Mark Scott and FBI agents after he was arrested on suspicion of money-laundering, in which he claimed a Dubai-based investment fund named Phoenix was sent $190 million.”
The Racing Post added that “The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, which prosecuted Mark Scott, declined to comment on Sunday when asked if Abdulaziz was a person of interest, while the FBI said it ‘neither confirms nor denies’ having an interest in the Phoenix founder.”
The Racing Post also reported that Abdulaziz’s bloodstock agent, Dermot Farrington, “is understood to have quit his role after becoming aware of the accusations" having helped oversee what is now estimated as a 300-horse international racing and breeding operation on five continents.
