HOUSE OVERSIGHT 031153 From: Jeffrey Epstein [mailto :j [email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2011 04:51 PM To: Weingarten, Reid Subject: In taking his case to Washington, Mr. Aliyev has variously sought safe passage to the United States, help in recovering $2 billion that relatives claimed they lost from seized businesses, or at least the satisfaction of embarrassing Mr. Nazarbayev. For his part, the Kazakh leader wants to make sure that the Americans stay out of the dispute, and not allow it to affect their alliance with his government. The Obama administration has done just that. Through comments in secret diplomatic cables, the former ambassador to Kazakhstan made clear his wariness of being drawn in. "Both sides — the government and Aliyev — seek to manipulate us to their own advantage," Richard E. Hoagland, who ended his term as United States ambassador early this year, wrote in February 2009 in one of more than a dozen State Department cables obtained by the antisecrecy group WikiLeaks that mentioned the dispute. [*] Mr. Nazarbayev, 70, [*]a former steel worker and Soviet-era Communist Party leader, has been in power for two decades, presiding over Central Asia's most vibrant economy. Human rights activists, however, have long accused him of persecuting dissidents and political opponents. Mr. Aliyev, 48, [*]has served as chief of the tax police, deputy foreign affairs minister and head of the Kazakh equivalent of the K.G.B. But critics say he used his clout to secretly take over private companies for financial gain, often by threatening violence. Now hiding somewhere in Europe, he has been convicted back home on what he claims are trumped-up criminal charges, including a coup attempt. His wife divorced him in June 2007, and the Kazakh government has taken businesses owned by him and members of his extended family. [*] No longer powerful at home, Mr. Aliyev turned to Washington, knowing that his former father-in-law cared g