RUSSIAN CUSTOMS V. BANK OF NEW YORK (2007-2009)

Sources:

Essential reading:

Russia Sues Bank of New York Over 1990s Scandal

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB117941480401306281;

Bank of New York Settles a Protracted Russian Lawsuit

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/17/business/global/17bony.html?_r=0.

Additional reading:

RUSSIAN CUSTOMS V. BANK OF NEW YORK: IS RICO APPLICABLE IN RUSSIA?

http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/multimedia/international_law/docs/committees/russia_eurasia/russiaeurasianewslettersummer2008.authcheckdam.pdf (p.p. 11-15).

Technical reading:

Legal Expert Witness Statement of Alan M. Dershowitz

http://www.nysun.com/files/dershowitzmoscow.pdf;

Non-Prosecution Agreement between the Bank of New York and the U.S. Attorney's Offices for the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York (Nov. 4, 2005)

http://judiciary.house.gov/Media/PDFs/BNY-USAO051104.pdf;

Congressional Testimony of Thomas A. Renyi, Chairman of the Board of the Bank of New York, Sep. 22, 1999

http://www.russianlaw.org/renyi_congress.htm.

Issues for discussion:

1)      What court considered the dispute? Who were the parties? Was it a civil-law or a public-law case? What were the essential facts?

2)      Did the Russian court have jurisdiction to resolve the case? Why or why not?

3)      What statute was the claim grounded on?  Was it a Russian or a US law? Was it a criminal statute, a civil-law statute, or a mixed one?  Why a Russian court had to apply a US statute?

4)      What evidence did the plaintiff have? How did it obtain that evidence?

5)      How much did he plaintiff ask?  How did it arrive to that figure?

6)      What were the issues to be resolved? What were parties’ cases and arguments?

7)      Who were parties’ experts?  What issues did they opine on?

8)      Do you think the Russian court was in a good position to resolve factual issues in relation to the events occurred in the US?

9)      Do you think the Russian court was sophisticated enough to apply a highly technical US statute? 

10)  If the plaintiff had won the case, would it have been able to get the money from the defendant? If so, how?

11)  What was the ultimate outcome of the case?