[MEDIUM-4] Type Safety Issues (@ts-ignore, as any)

## Finding MEDIUM-4

**Severity**: MEDIUM
**Files**: Various server/ files

### Description
Type safety escape hatches found.

### Counts
- @ts-ignore: 15 instances
- as unknown as: 34 instances
- as any: 23 instances

### Impact
- Type errors silently suppressed
- Runtime crashes possible

### Remediation
Remove type escape hatches, fix underlying types.