In our last post, we announced the good news that we received earlier this month: Estlund Law successfully applied for the deletion of Russian-requested Red Notices for our clients. That post is here.

Some details of the case are provided below. This information illuminates the manner in which law-abiding individuals can become ensnared in the political and economic actions of their governments, leading to invalid arrest warrants and Red Notices.

Case background:

After the international community imposed economic sanctions on the Russian Federation in 2014 and 2016, the Russian government’s expropriation of private sector assets became commonplace. The banking and insurance industries were deeply affected by this activity.

The partners have extensive experience in the insurance industry in Russia and have been internationally recognized for their achievements in their field. 

In 2022 and 2023, they discovered that they had become targets for criminal prosecution in relation to a company that employed Partner A briefly five years earlier. The Russian Central Bank had intervened in that company in early 2018; placed the company under provisional administration; and eventually revoked its license. Partner A had been appointed by the Board of Directors when the Russian Central Bank was nationalizing private insurance companies. She held no signing authority, executive authority, or financial control. Partner B had no direct connections to the company at all. 

The Central Bank’s activity led to the company’s bankruptcy. To recover funds, the company’s bankruptcy trustee filed multiple arbitration proceedings, including one against Partner A. The arbitration court found that Partner A’s actions had not harmed the company’s assets.

Despite this finding, Russian authorities filed criminal charges against both partners, falsely accusing them of fraud and misappropriation for a large-scale theft of properties of the company. These charges formed the basis for the Red Notices against the partners.

Estlund Law disputed the Russian government’s statements in the Red Notice and court filings, and submitted a deletion request for both partners. INTERPOL’s CCF agreed with our position, and issued its decision, discussed here.

As always, thoughts and comments are welcomed.