Berkley to visit Kazakhstan for ex-Las Vegan

WASHINGTON — Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., was scheduled to depart Las Vegas today for Kazakhstan, where she planned to witness the climax of a trial of a former Las Vegan who is fighting an embezzlement charge his advocates say is trumped up and baseless.

A verdict is expected on Thursday in the case of Mark Seidenfeld, a U.S. telecommunications executive who was accused by a former business associate, a well-connected Kazakh investor. Seidenfeld, 39, has been jailed for 18 months in Russia and in Kazakhstan.

Seidenfeld’s case before Kazakh judge Zaura Keikibasova has been ongoing since June 6 in the Almalinsky regional court in Almaty. Final arguments in the public nonjury trial were Monday, according to Derek Bloom, a Washington, D.C., attorney who is a friend and colleague of Seidenfeld.

“The prosecution is asking for conviction and six years in jail,” Bloom said. “The defense is confident they have proved 100 times over that the charges are false and that he is innocent.”

Berkley accepted a standing offer from the Jewish Congress of Kazakhstan to travel to Almaty, the largest city in the nation that gained independence in the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union. Berkley also was scheduled to meet with Kazakh officials on matters of trade, religious tolerance and anti-Semitism, according to Richard Urey, her chief of staff who was traveling with her.

The lawmaker hopes to be in the courtroom when a verdict is rendered, Urey said. Berkley has agitated with Kazakh officials by letter and in person to ensure a fair trial for Seidenfeld, who was a constituent when he lived in Las Vegas from April to July 2004.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Berkley cosigned a March 23 letter urging John Ordway, U.S. ambassador to Kazakhstan, to monitor Seidenfeld’s incarceration. Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., who represents Seidenfeld’s sister, also became involved in the case.

Berkley is scheduled to return on Sunday and will miss House votes during the week. Urey said Berkley believes her presence in the courtroom would send an important signal to Kazakh authorities amid rumors that Seidenfeld’s accuser has bragged he could pull strings in the legal system.

“The input we have gotten is that if the occasion arose to where it would be possible to be in Kazakhstan at or about this time, it would make it very, very clear the United States feels that a transparent and consistent legal process is very, very important as we look to Kazakhstan to become a strongly emerging democracy,” Urey said.

Urey added the trip, which will be paid entirely by the Jewish Congress of Kazakhstan, was cleared with the House ethics committee.

At a Las Vegas event on Monday, Berkley was asked if Seidenfeld might return to the United States with her.

“I hope so, or at least making sure that he’s out of the country by the time I leave,” Berkley said. Urey said later that Seidenfeld is aware Berkley will be in court, but there have been no discussions on what would happen if he is found innocent.

Experts say Seidenfeld’s case illustrates the risks facing foreign businesspeople lured by opportunities in Kazakhstan’s booming economy. Seidenfeld was among thousands of foreigners doing business in the developing nation.

Seidenfeld, a New York native who speaks Russian and had done business for years in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, was chief executive of Arna, Inc., a telecommunication company in Almaty. When one of its bank owners chose to pull out its stake in 2004, Seidenfeld insisted the shares be auctioned, according to accounts in the New York Times and the Las Vegas Sun.

That evidently made Seidenfeld an enemy of the company’s sole Kazakhstan investor, who was forced to increase his winning bid by $5 million. According to the New York Times, nearly a dozen former employees said that made Seidenfeld a target for retribution.

Seidenfeld was fired by the new owner. He moved to Las Vegas briefly but then returned to Russia to work for another telecommunications firm. Seidenfeld was arrested on Dec. 7, 2005, at the airport in Blagoveshchensk, Russia, while on a business trip, and was accused of stealing $40,000 from Arna, Inc. Seidenfeld said the money was spent on company equipment, which subsequent audits confirmed.

“The evidence is very strong that the accusations are false,” Bloom said Monday. “Now it is a matter whether it will be a fair trial.”

Review-Journal writer Lisa Kim Bach contributed to this story.