In late May 2017, the Liechtenstein authorities froze the accounts of the three companies run by Leontiev on the money laundering allegations tying it all in with Probusinessbank.

On Jul. 26, 2017, two months after Leontiev’s accounts were frozen in Liechtenstein, Vladimir Ashurkov, the then-ACF’s executive director, traveled to the U.S. to submit a statement. His statement would then solidify the banker’s legal and political defense strategy in Europe. For example, the Polish court cited the statement as it declined to extradite Yaroslav Alekseyev, Probusinessbank’s former vice-president.

Ashurkov’s statement tells the story of Alexei Navalny and the repression he and Ashurkov himself were subjected to. He goes on to bring up the 2012 plan to issue the Navalny card together with Bank24.ru. This project will be described below.

Although the statement does not explicitly claim it, the implication is that Bank.24 was forced to cease operations following that episode. “This outcome was a setback to Mr. Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation but was not surprising given the Putin Administration's history of stifling the political opposition, including the illegal seizure of banks and business assets

'<...>'

It is very possible that the arrests, false charges and the seizure of the banking group which happened in respect of LIFE, its executives, and its members was a result of their attempt to help Alexei Navalny and Anti-Corruption Foundation in its absolutely legal civil work.”

The statement shrugs off the charges brought against Zheleznyak and Leontiev as trumped-up and politically motivated. We now know they were not trumped-up. Later, we will explain why they were not politically motivated, either. But for now, bear in mind that Ashurkov’s statement was used as a major piece of evidence portraying Leontiev and Zheleznyak as political exiles.

ACF dismisses the document as being an actual affidavit since it wasn't offered under oath. However, neither Ashurkov nor ACF dispute the statement itself substantively.