Biden business associate, former Kazakh PM arrested on suspicion of treason

Former Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Massimov, a known Biden family business associate, was detained Saturday on suspicion of treason, according to an announcement from the Kazakhstan National Security Committee, a body he chaired until this past week.

Local media report at least 164 people have died as a result of riots that broke out Jan. 2 following an increase in fuel prices.

An unverified photo shows then-Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden flanked by then-Prime Minister Massimov and Kazakh oligarch Kenes Rakishev in the swanky D.C. restaurant Cafe Milano, The New York Post reports. 

The photo first surfaced in 2019 on the Kazakhstani Initiative on Asset Recovery, an anti-corruption website. The photo appears to have been taken when Biden met with Ukrainian, Russian and Kazakhstani business associates at Cafe Milano on April 16, 2015, according to the Post.

Journalist Miranda Devine tweeted a link to the photo of the four and included the caption: "Joe and Hunter's buddy Karim Massimov has met the fate of many Biden business associates."

The Daily Mail reported that the younger Biden assisted Rakishev, whose net worth in 2012 was estimated at $332 million, as a type of go-between for U.S. investments. He reportedly had extensive meetings with Rakishev, a close associate of Massimov.

The Washington Examiner obtained emails from Hunter Biden's laptop showing he sought an energy deal with then-Kazakh Prime Minister Massimov. The purported emails show that Hunter Biden met with Massimov in Kazakhstan in 2014. During this meeting, Biden reportedly ditched his Secret Service detail as he sought an energy deal with the prime minister.

Emails obtained by The Daily Mail show that Hunter Biden met with Massimov again in 2015 at the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C.

The younger Biden referred to Massimov in a 2016 email as a "close friend."

Massimov was fired from his position as head of the National Security Committee last week as protests raged across the Central Asian nation, the BBC reports.

An announcement from the security committee said Massimov and several other officials were detained but gave no further details. Massimov was a close ally of former President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who is believed to still have great influence over the country after spending nearly three decades in office.