Corporate Conflicts

Development and presentation of the position on the return of assets illegally withdrawn from the group of companies in the amount of more than 3 billion roubles by the junior partner of the business beneficiary, in the Russian arbitration courts and courts of general jurisdiction; coordination of about 20 legal proceedings; direct representation in separate legal proceedings, bankruptcy cases, 2 pre-investigation checks, 1 initiated criminal case. Challenging of transactions, bringing the managers to responsibility for a series of sham transactions created for the sake of appearance, without economic rationale. Coverage of the corporate conflict in the mass media; the project complicated by a powerful administrative resource of opponents in the region. The project that lasted 12 months has been completed; the parties have come to an amicable agreement.

Protection of minority shareholder rights (up to 35 % of shares) in the Russian joint-stock company in arbitration courts, challenging the company’s transactions made solely in the interests of the persons loyal to the majority shareholder; holding the company’s director financially liable; initiation of a criminal case and repurchase of shares at market value in favour of the client (the amount of repurchase of the share is about $4 million at the initial price of $500,000 from the majority shareholder).

Development and presentation of the position under English law and Russian law for the benefits of a private Russian investor in the case of compensation for losses in the High Court of Justice and in the LCIA, caused to the investor by unscrupulous partners through a deliberately busted purchase transaction in respect of the Russian asset, in the absence of a written contract — the amount of damage is over $10 million, the legal basis for recovery of damage are oral arrangements, correspondence via e-mail and messengers, complicated by contradictory agreements of the parties, by the unscrupulous lawyers that supported the negotiation process between the failed partners that formalized the initial stages of the failed transaction, unfriendly incorporation agents in Cyprus and in the BVI who provided the infrastructure of the transaction; the preparation of witnesses, the coordination of several foreign experts.

Support for a series of legal proceedings under Russian law in courts of general jurisdiction in the divorce litigation between Russian citizens in the territory of Singapore with the participation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation as a third party, cooperation with employees of the MFA of the Russian Federation, work with witnesses, preparation and presentation of the position, including, in the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, the amount in dispute is over 10 million US dollars. We pulled out of the project after the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation remanded the case for a new trial to lower courts. In the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, the Smart & Loyal Team set aside all lower courts’ acts that were unfavourable for the client.

Protection of interests in property disputes in the Russian courts concerning claims for unjust enrichment and contract termination (corporate conflict of former business partners) based on a series of internal proprietary documents between partners, which document were “corrected” by unscrupulous partners and submitted to recovery as binding in view of artificially created obligations; the amount of the repelled claims is over 10 million US dollars, including in the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, protection against the aggressive enforcement proceedings.

Protection of interests of the Company’s beneficiary in the event of unfair actions of the Company’s management team (director and united minority shareholders) such as grabbing the business; development and implementation of the Company’s management system that mitigates the risks for the business beneficiary from the management team (the business value is over 5 million US dollars).

Development of the position and the implementation of the legal actions aimed at the enforcement of legal requirements of Russian beneficiaries in the offshore companies in the event of unfair actions of the incorporation agents and nominee directors in the jurisdictions of Cyprus, BVI, Singapore and the Seychelles in cooperation with local lawyers. The value of assets in companies amounts from 2 to 10 million US dollars; the parties have come to an amicable agreement.

Management of rights of claim against a Russian debtor that owns real estate in the centre of Moscow (the rights of claim were bought out by Russian investors at the auction from an EC-based Bank in the course of the Bank's bankruptcy procedure (including due diligence procedure with respect to the rights of claim), arrangement of coordinated actions of a group of creditors, challenging of suspicious transactions of the debtor, recovery of assets, legal support for receiver’s activities, initiation of a procedure for bringing unscrupulous former shareholders of the company to responsibility for the company’s debts and losses, criminal prosecution in connection with attempts to illegal withdrawal of assets, interception of control over the Facility in the course of the bankruptcy proceedings, challenging of the debtor’s transactions, challenging the rights of claim artificially included in the register of creditors of the debtor, formalisation of transactions between the investors of the project in the jurisdictions under English law (Cyprus) for withdrawal from the project.

Representation of interests of an American company, producer of blockbuster films, in the Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation to recover royalties from a distributor company for showing the film in the Russian Federation and in the CIS countries. The process was complicated by the existence of similar rights of claims of the German company licensor to the distributor and by the dispute about the applicable law. As part of the case, the law of the State of California, USA, was applied, and the client claims were satisfied in full. The court order was fulfilled in full.

Claim settlement with a foreign company manufacturer of branded clothing as to the fact of illegal use of a personal image of a fashion model on the fashion items put on the market in the territory of the European countries. The amount in controversy for illegal use of exclusive rights to the image was calculated based on the cost of the fashion items. Based on the results of the claim settlement, an indemnification agreement was concluded to compensate damages to the client; the amount of satisfied claims is not subject to disclosure.