(5 February 2026 | Source: Telegram channel 'Exit to the Sea')
The wife and daughter of a former senior official of the Anti-Corruption Service of Kazakhstan have been found to own luxury property in one of the most expensive areas of New York. According to the investigation, the properties in question are two apartments in Manhattan, which are registered in the names of the ex-official's family members.
WHAT PROPERTIES WERE FOUND IN NEW YORK
According to the Telegram channel 'Exit to the Sea', the apartment owners are listed as Meruert Kisamiyeva and Alua Shabdar — the wife and daughter of Nurlan Shabdar, who previously held the position of deputy head of the Anti-Corruption Service and also headed the department in the Aktobe Region.
The first apartment is a duplex penthouse in a building at 530 East 76th Street, near John Jay Park. The apartment covers approximately 280 m². Inside there are four bedrooms, five bathrooms, a living room, and a dining room with kitchen. The description mentions floors made of 'smoked oak', and the building has 24-hour security, a fitness centre, office spaces, and a roof garden. The property can currently be rented for $20,000 per month.
The second apartment is located in central Manhattan, near the Empire State Building and Madison Square. Its area is approximately 80 m². The layout includes one bedroom, a kitchen-living room, and a bathroom. This property is also available for rent, with a rental cost of $7,000 per month.
According to the investigation's authors, the combined value of the two apartments exceeds $5 million.
HOW THE PROPERTY WAS REGISTERED
The property was registered through a New York company, Aula Estates LLC. In 2023, the firm was liquidated and a structure with a similar name was opened in Florida, which was also later closed.
According to the New York property registry, there were no changes of ownership during this period. As noted in the publication, this indicates that ownership rights remain with Kisamiyeva and Shabdar.
The authors also noted the spelling of the daughter's surname in the Florida company documents — ShaDbar instead of Shabdar. In their view, this could have made searches in the registries more difficult, although no direct explanations are provided in the materials.
OTHER PROPERTY OF THE FAMILY
This is not the first time the assets of Nurlan Shabdar's family have become the subject of journalistic publications.
In autumn 2024, it was reported that a mansion in the Alem Luxor cottage settlement in Almaty had been sold for 2 billion tenge. The area of the house exceeds 1,100 m², and the plot is 22 sotki. After the publication, Shabdar's former colleagues began an investigation into the legality of the origin of the assets.
Furthermore, in Bulgaria, the family owns several townhouses in the Green Life Beach Resort complex near Burgas. One of the properties was registered in Nurlan Shabdar's name in February 2017. Later, his father, the former head of the National Security Committee (NSC), Amangeldy Shabarbayev, publicly denied his son's connection to the Bulgarian property, but published documents are said to have confirmed ownership.
WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT THE WIFE'S BUSINESS
The materials note that Meruert Kisamiyeva did not work in the civil service. According to data from the Telegram channel 'Shishkin_like', her business interests include projects in the catering, children's centres, logistics, and mining industries. Among the business partners mentioned is the Abdukadyr family from Kyrgyzstan. No further details are provided in the publication.
Information on the origin of the funds used to purchase the foreign property is not specified in publicly available data.