The Yukos Money Laundering Case: A Never-Ending Story

The Yukos case has unveiled the possible dangers of money laundering legislation in the hands of governments with transitional economies and weak democratic traditions. Even if the anti-money laundering laws of the country comply with international pronouncements to the letter, there are still a number of ways the laws could be used for the sole purpose of persecuting political opponents. In the Yukos case, the money laundering charges were interrelated with the charges of corporate tax evasion, which, taken separately, in Russia, represent a rather weak tool for suppressing the political opponents, but taken together they are perfect for the confiscation of assets. This allowed the investigators to represent the activities of the giant corporate group as a process of committing organized criminal offense that continued for more than seven years

The Yukos Case: The New Dimension in Money Laundering Cases

PhD - Vol. 1 of 2 only - Vol. 2 contains appendices, tables of cases and legislation, and bibliography.The Yukos case is known for its unprecedented character and complexity as a Russian corporate, tax and money laundering case. It continues to raise political and legal problems, both domestically and internationally, and has already become a symbol of the contemporary Russian political regime. This dissertation analyses in detail the criminal and corporate aspects of the case, and focuses mainly on the reasons for, and the development and implications of the embezzlement and money laundering case, which is known as the backbone of the Yukos Affair. The thesis is primarily based on a comparative analysis of the international academic findings, case law and the Russian data on the case. The dissertation also discusses in detail the political nature of the Yukos Affair, whilst attempting to show the substantive aspects of case. The findings of the dissertation highlight new types of risk that result from the politically motivated application of Russian anti money laundering legislation to the activities of the international corporate groups, which has been enacted on the basis of the internationally recognised principles. The paper also describes the nexus between the corporate tax evasion schemes, which have been widely used in Russia, and money laundering risks for corporations. Such a situation creates potentially unavoidable criminal risks for all corporate groups that have functioned in Russia over the recent decade. The thesis shows that the corporations, which invest directly and indirectly in the Russian economy, must be aware of the politically driven corporate criminal risks, which quite commonly are not reflected in the corporate disclosure data, and remain unnoticed by the investors. The paper is unique as reflects the personal experiences of the author as the longterm leading lawyer to the Yukos group and as the consultant on the Yukos-related cases

Yukos Risk: The Double Edged Sword

Abstract The article focuses on elucidating the meaning of Yukos risk mainly in terms of corporate bankruptcy litigation in multiple jurisdictions, including, the U.S., U.K., The Netherlands, and Russia. The emphasis is on understanding the various legal theories and the court decisions reached so far in this continuing legal saga

The Prospect of Enforcement of Hague Arbitration Awards against State-Controlled Companies in the United States and the United Kingdom

In 2014 the Permanent Arbitration Court in The Hague made unprecedented awards totalling US$50 billion against the Russian Federation. The awards crowned more than nine years of arbitration proceedings initiated by the former shareholders of the liquidated oil company Yukos. Although the former shareholders of Yukos represented by the GML Group declared their intention to only enforce the awards against the assets of the Russian state, the lack of assets not covered by state immunity inevitably opens the possibility of enforcement of the awards against the assets owned by the Russian majors controlled by the state. Due to its involvement in the Yukos case, Rosneft, the biggest Russian oil company, will undoubtedly be the first and the main target of such enforcement. This article aims to examine whether the former shareholders of Yukos could succeed in enforcement of foreign arbitration awards in the two main jurisdictions: the United Kingdom and the United States. The article examines the existing legal tests applicable in enforcement proceedings in these jurisdictions to state-controlled companies by considering the corporate structure of Rosneft and its business operations. The findings of the research are widely applicable to the other state-controlled Russian companies

Businessmen v. Investigators: who is responsible for the Poor Russian Investment Climate?

This article aims to examine the extent to which Russian investigations into economic and financial crimes are influenced by such factors as systemic problems with Russian gatekeepers, the absence of a formal corporate whistle-blowing mechanism and the continuous abuse of the law by the Russian business community. The traditional critical approach to the quality and effectiveness of Russian economic and financial investigations does not produce positive results and needs to be reformulated by considering the opinions of entrepreneurs. The author considers that forcing Russian entrepreneurs, regardless of the size of their business, to comply with Russian laws and regulations may be a more efficient way to develop the business environment than attempting to gradually improve the Russian judicial system. It is also hardly possible to expect the Russian investigatory bodies to investigate what are effectively complex economic and financial crimes in the almost complete absence of a developed whistle-blowing culture. Such a culture has greatly contributed to the success of widely-publicised corporate and financial investigations in the United States and Europe. The poor development of the culture of Russian gatekeepers and the corresponding regulatory environment is one more significant factor that permanently undermines the effectiveness of economic investigations and damages the investment climate

The Yukos Money Laundering Case: A Never-Ending Story

The Yukos case has unveiled the possible dangers of money laundering legislation in the hands of governments with transitional economies and weak democratic traditions. Even if the anti-money laundering laws of the country comply with international pronouncements to the letter, there are still a number of ways the laws could be used for the sole purpose of persecuting political opponents. In the Yukos case, the money laundering charges were interrelated with the charges of corporate tax evasion, which, taken separately, in Russia, represent a rather weak tool for suppressing the political opponents, but taken together they are perfect for the confiscation of assets. This allowed the investigators to represent the activities of the giant corporate group as a process of committing organized criminal offense that continued for more than seven years

Application of finite element analysis in the development of the pedal assembly of the Formula Student racing car

The study is focused on presenting an assessment of additive manufacturing usage in modern technological processes, including the manufacturing of parts of the racing car participating in Formula Student project. It shows the necessity of simulating physical processes during the design stage using the finite element analysis. The issues of calculating the strength of pedals of various functional purposes are considered. The boundary conditions imposed on the accelerator pedal are presented. It was found that loads applied with an offset to the edge of the support platform cause higher stresses in the item. The distribution patterns of the safety factor of an accelerator pedal created by additive method from materials: acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, polyamide Nylon 6/6 and polyamide Nylon 6/6 reinforced with fiberglass are presented. The results of modeling the rigidity of the pedal structure and the maximum stresses arising in it under load are indicated. The results of simulation of the prefabricated structure of the accelerator pedal with an aluminum alloy lever with a pedal plate obtained by additive manufacturing are shown