How the grandson of Kazakhstan's dictator became a psychedelic guru
If you come across him on Instagram, you might think ‘Nurali’ is just another New Age influencer, with his constant posts about Arcturian star seeds, the shift into 5D, and the New Earth awakening. You might be surprised he has 2 million followers, but then, so do all kinds of folks these days.
But Nurali is unusual in at least one respect - he is the grandson of Nursultan Nazarbayev, the former dictator of oil-rich Kazakhstan, and he’s worth upwards of $200 million.
His wealth is no doubt the reason Nurali is suddenly accessing the inner circle of psychedelic culture. He was a speaker at the Mental Health Day at Davos in January, alongside Rick Doblin, Paul Stamets and Imperial’s David Erritzoe (see the video below), where he launched a new spiritual movement called ‘Spark of Light’:
The same month, he had a birthday party in Dubai, where he spends much of his time, and various psychedelic founders were there, hoping to attract investment from his new Mental Health Fund. He’s already invested in a few psychedelic initiatives, such as Reality Centre, a Santa Monica ‘digital psychedelics’ experience provider, who he helped to open a branch in Dubai, and a psilocybin edibles company called Mantra.
The head of one psychedelic organisation, who attended his birthday party in Dubai, tells me: ‘I was touched by his knowledge and humble presence and honour regarding the medicine.’ Do you know who he is, I asked? ‘I know his grandfather was the president and they are quite rich, I really don’t realise the vastness of it and haven’t looked into it since I got to know Nurali as a special and nice person and wanted to stay true to that connection.’
Another figure in psychedelic culture tells me:
I got to meet him recently. There was a lot of language around 5D, star seeds, but rich people sometimes believe the most ridiculous stuff, and they believe anyone who calls themselves a shaman. It seems innocent enough. He seemed like a very sweet guy.
Due diligence is not always psychedelic culture’s strong suit - it’s a vibes-based economy, and when founders come across a benevolent billionaire with a passion for psychedelics, you don’t necessarily ask too many questions. Nonetheless, the Aliyev family has a pretty interesting backstory. Wanna hear it?
Nurali’s grandfather, Nursultan Nazarbayev, was made president of Kazakhstan a year before the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. He helped it to achieve independence, and then oversaw the revival of its oil industry and minerals-rich economy. Kazakhstan became the first former Soviet nation to receive a positive global investment ranking in 2002, it paid off all its debts to the IMF, and became Central Asia’s strongest economy. Back when I was a business reporter in Russia in the Noughties, Kazakhstan had a good reputation with foreign investors. It obviously wasn’t a democracy - Nazarbayev controlled the media and would typically win 95% of the vote in elections. But Kazakhstan was arguably the leader in Central Asia, in terms of political stability and economic growth.
Nonetheless, when you’re the dictator of an minerals-rich country for 30 years, unless you’re unusually incorruptible, you are going to amass an enormous personal fortune. An Organized Crime and Corruption investigation found that President Nazarbayev controlled assets worth at least $8 billion, hidden through four private charitable foundations he established during his rule. That’s what authoritarian strongmen do - Putin could be worth as much as $200 billion, according to some estimates, while the Trump family has reportedly managed to amass $10 billion just in the last year, according to the Democrat Party, including a $1.6 billion deal with, yes, Kazakhstan revealed this week.
Nazarbayev’s family also gained political and financial power during his 30-year reign. Dariga Nazarbayeva is his eldest daughter, and for a while was the most powerful woman in central Asia. She controlled much of Kazakhstan’s media, and was made deputy prime minister in 2015. Her fortune was estimated by Forbes at $595 million in 2013 - almost certainly a low estimate. She married Rakhat Aliyev, a gynecologist who, through his marital connection to the Nazarbayev ruling family, became head of the tax police then deputy head of the security services, and one of the most feared and wealthy men in Kazakhstan. Al Jazeera wrote of him:
Aliyev’s business model was simple: Wait until a coveted enterprise became profitable and move in for the kill, using the law-enforcement agencies at his disposal to force his rivals into transferring their assets to him.
Rakhat Aliyev was accused of murdering people to get hold of assets. In the most infamous case, he was accused of kidnapping two executives of one of the country’s largest banks - Nurbank - then torturing and murdering them, before making himself, his father, his wife and his son Nurali the new shareholders. Nurali was just 21 when he joined the board of Nurbank. Rakhat, Dariga and Nurali continued to amass wealth and power. When he was 27, Forbes called Nurali ‘the youngest multimillionaire of the country’. There was some dark laughter among Kazakhs when a magazine puff-piece described him as a ‘self-made man’ from ‘humble beginnings’.
Joanna Lillis, a journalist in Kazakhstan and the author of Dark Shadows: Inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan, tells me:
They are a very well-known, very wealthy and controversial family in Kazakhstan. At one time, his mother and father were believed to have serious political ambitions, believed indeed to want to take over the country. But they had a spectacular fall from grace.
The Nazarbayev family in 1994: in the centre, former president Nursultan Nazarbayev; to his right, Dariga Nazarbayeva; behind her, Rakhat Aliyev. To their right, eight-year-old Nurali Aliyev.
The fall from grace
