Gulnara Zhokebayeva, the former wife of Yevgeniy Feld (9th place in the 2015 ranking of the 50 richest people in Kazakhstan), has sold a property in the suburbs of Boston for $3.5 million (1.8 billion tenge), which is $400,000 (215.6 million tenge) below the original asking price. The deal turned out to be profitable — in 2014, this property cost Zhokebayeva $2.4 million (1.2 billion tenge).
According to the Telegram channel "Access to the Sea", the mansion, covering an area of 750 m², is located a 20-minute drive from Boston. The house has six bedrooms and the same number of bathrooms, several living rooms with fireplaces, a dining room, a spacious kitchen, and a gym.
It is reported that the Feld family used the house not only as a backup residence or investment but also tried to integrate into the local community. Their names appear on donor lists for the College of Fine Arts at Boston University, although the donation amounts are modest — ranging from $10,000 (5.3 million tenge) to $25,000 (13.4 million tenge).
The sale is linked to the couple's divorce and the division of jointly acquired assets. Yevgeniy Feld and Gulnara Zhokebayeva dissolved their marriage in the summer of 2022 in Almaty, although they had been living abroad for many years and hold Cypriot citizenship.
In February, it emerged that Feld had evicted Zhokebayeva from a villa on the Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat peninsula in France. The villa, purchased for €16.5 million (10.3 billion tenge) in 2007, remained with Feld, along with loans of €23 million (14.3 billion tenge) secured against this property. The couple also divided a bank account containing €8 million (4.9 billion tenge).
A similar division affected the family's British assets. In London's Regent's Park, the Felds owned a flat worth £23 million (16.4 billion tenge) — a two-storey apartment covering 500 m² with five bedrooms, a study, and spacious halls. Yevgeniy Feld is now its sole owner. However, Zhokebayeva continues to own property in the same area: she owns a flat in a neighbouring building at 7 Cambridge Gate, worth £12 million (8.5 billion tenge).
Journalists suggest the divorce could have been a tactical move to preserve part of the assets in the event of possible investigations. It is reported that Yevgeniy Feld and his partners — former deputy prime minister Sauat Mynbayev, businessmen Askar Alshinbayev and Nurzhan Subkhanberdin — amassed their fortune through preferential loans from Kazkommertsbank and connections with senior officials.
As noted, through a network of offshore companies, they used the bank as a source of funding, which ultimately led to the need for a government bailout. The authorities then spent around $9 billion (4.7 trillion tenge) to prevent the collapse of the financial system. However, no one ever faced responsibility for this.
Meanwhile, interest in the overseas assets of Feld, Alshinbayev, Subkhanberdin, and Mynbayev is growing. In the United Kingdom, where the partners have a significant amount of property, the new Labour Party has begun a campaign to verify the origin of capital. The process is overseen by the commissioner for illicit finance and kleptocracy, Margaret Hodge, who has published a list of Kazakh nationals whose assets will be scrutinised first. Among them is Yevgeniy Feld and his circle.