Yukos Owners Win Largest Arbitration Award In History Against Russia For "Devious And Calculated" Expropriation

Paris, France, July 28, 2014 (Newswire.com) - Yukos Owners Win Largest Arbitration Award In History Against Russia For “Devious And Calculated” Expropriation.

Yukos’ owners have won the largest arbitration award in history against Russia for what was determined by an international arbitration tribunal to be a “devious and calculated” expropriation of its assets.
Russia has been ordered to pay over USD 50.2 billion to the previous majority shareholders of the Yukos oil group in three separate awards heart by the same arbitral tribunal. Yukos was formerly controlled by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was Russia’s richest man prior to being imprisoned by the Russian government in a trial that did “not comport with due process of law” according to the arbitral tribunal. He was imprisoned between 25 October 2003 and 20 December 2013, prior to being released by President Vladimir Putin before the holding of the winter Olympics in Sochi.
The arbitration awards, which were rendered on 18 July 2014, were only made available today, following a request by Russia for them not to be published. They are available on the website of the International Arbitration Attorney Network.

"[I]n the criminal cases against Messrs. Khodorkovsky and Lebedev, Russian authorities violated basic standards of due process and fair trial.... [N]or had he ever, even in the "darkest hours of the Soviet regime," "seen the Russian State undertake such coordinated, systematic and intense efforts, and deploy such huge resources, against a person accused of an alleged economic offense."

William Kirtley, Partner

The shareholders of Yukos were represented by the law firm Shearman & Sterling, led by the Paris-based lawyers Emmanuel Gaillard, Yas Banifatemi and Jennifer Younan. Some of the members of theInternational Arbitration Attorney Network, including Christophe Dugué and William Kirtley, served as counsel in the earlier phases of the arbitration. Anna Crevon, who is working with Dugué & Kirtley in its case against Belarus, also served as counsel in this historic arbitration. Russia was defended by the American law firm Cleary Gottlieb.

Having been involved in the arbitration at the outset, it is pleasing to see that even powerful States such as Russia cannot violate the rule of law with impunity. Russia’s recent illegal actions in Ukraine, including the recent taking of the Crimean peninsula, are also clearly in violation of international law and are likely to lead to a string of arbitration awards against Russia in the future. 

Learn more and download the historic decisions on the website of the International Arbitration Attorney Network.