Rudolf Marquardt is a German electronics engineer and a businessman, who operated an electronics firm in Germany, RM Electronic, and was previously married to a Kenyan woman, with whom he had children. In 2009, while visiting his former Kenyan in-laws in Maseno, in Kisumu, his former mother-in-law pleaded with him to establish a base in the Kisumu, near Maseno area so that her grandchildren in Germany would have a permanent place to stay when they visited Kenya. Motivated by his family ties, Rudolf decided to invest his life savings into building a home, an electronic security company, a hotel, and agricultural businesses in Kisumu. During that 2009 trip to Maseno, he met Valery, who introduced herself to him, as a close friend of Rudolf’s sister-in-law, Patience, and began their romantic relationship. At the time, Valery, was a single mother living with her young son and a roommate in a cramped, two-room flat in a low-income housing area of Kisumu known as "10 Houses, and struggling financially. In 2010 Rudolf returned to Kenya to purchase land parcels in Riat, Kisumu. Trusting Valery because of the close family connection, Rudolf decided to help elevate her life situation, and made her his local business partner, so she could legally manage local affairs. On the land parcels purchased in Riat, Kisumu, titled Konya/4794 and Konya/5087, Rudolf completed building a large, modern two-storey corporate residence. Once the home was ready, Rudolf brought Valery and her young son out of their low-income rental flat and moved them into the house, where he gave them a dedicated wing of the building, while he stayed in the master bedroom. Because Rudolf was frequently traveling back and forth between Germany and Kenya to manage his European affairs and funnel investment cash into the Kisumu projects, he left Valery with total day-to-day oversight of the properties. Between 2011 and 2012, Rudolf successfully finalized his capital investments in Kisumu, where he completed constructing and setting up: • A fully operational hotel and fast-food restaurant in Kisumu town. • An electronic security company (Rudi Marquardt Electronic Co. Ltd.). • A small-scale poultry and dairy farm stocked with dairy cows and free-range chickens to supply fresh food directly to the hotel. To manage these active businesses, Rudolf legally registered Rudi Marquardt Electronic Company Limited and officially appointed Valery as the on-site local manager, caretaker, and director, and allocated her 1 token share out of 10,000 shares in his newly registered companies, KenitSol Co. Ltd. and Rudi Marquardt Electronic Co. Ltd. Between 2012, and 2013, Rudolf frequently travel back and forth to Germany to manage his European electronic security affairs and continued transferring cash to Kenya, leaving Valery with absolute, unmonitored day-to-day control of the hotel, restaurant, and agricultural farms. In late 2013, Rudolf discovered deep financial discrepancies and realized Valery was systematically stealing from him, and diverting business revenues into her own personal accounts. According to court records, Rudolf officially fired her on September 19, 2013, and officially stripped her of all her management roles and cancelled her authorization to run the companies, KenitSol Co. Ltd. and Rudi Marquardt Electronic Co. Ltd. Valery did not accept being removed and locked Rudolf physically out of his own business premises, the hotel, and the restaurant, and prevented him from inspecting the financial records or operations. She then approached a lawyer who manufactured an entirely fraudulent court ruling claiming that she and Rudolf had been legally married and were now going through a divorce settlement. In the fake document, Valery cited extreme cruelty, domestic hostility, and a threat to her safety as the grounds for their "divorce."