Timeline

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York unanimously upheld the Court’s previous dismissal of a series of false claims brought by the Republic of Kazakhstan against Argentem Creek Partners (ACP) and its CEO, Daniel Chapman.

The Appellate Division explained that the evidence related in all respects to the same fraud claim Kazakhstan has been pursuing around the world for over a decade. The Appellate Division further held that even if the collateral estoppel doctrine did not foreclose all of Kazakhstan, the claims still fail as a matter of law. 

Kazakhstan files an appeal in the New York Supreme Court calling for the reversal of the August 2022 decision that dismissed the Republic’s lawsuit against Daniel Chapman and Argentem Creek Partners. 

In his ruling, Judge Andrew Borrok described Kazakhstan’s main argument as “an impermissible collateral attack of a confirmed arbitration Award,” adding that “there can be no action for aiding and abetting fraud without an underlying fraud.” 

The Svea Court of Appeal in Sweden ruled that approximately $75m of cash held in a Swedish bank on behalf of the National Bank of Kazakhstan belongs to the Republic of Kazakhstan and may be collected by the owners of Tristan Oil.

Kazakhstan and the National Bank had asked the Svea Court of Appeal to set aside the attachments, arguing that the attached assets did not belong to the Republic of Kazakhstan and were located in England not Sweden.

After evidence was presented to the court contradicting Kazakhstan’s claims, the Swedish court concluded that the properties belong to Kazakhstan, are located in Sweden, and fall under Swedish law relating to the enforcement of arbitration awards. The court also ordered Kazakhstan and the National Bank to pay legal costs of $1.5m incurred by the claimants.

The Stati parties file an appeal against a June 14 decision by the Hague Court of Appeal that cancelled the attachment of shares worth around $5.2 billion held by Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund JSC Samruk-Kazyna in KMG Kashagan BV.

Lawyers for Argentem Creek Partners and its CEO Daniel Chapman file a motion to dismiss the claims brought by Kazakhstan in its Third Amended Complaintin the Supreme Court of New York.

The motion argues that New York law provides the Court with multiple, independent grounds to dismiss Kazakhstan’s frivolous lawsuit with prejudice.

The filing suggests the suit is a further attempt by Kazakhstan to relitigate the underlying arbitral award and “downplays or ignores” the decisions of several courts, including in Sweden, the US, the Netherlands, and Italy, which have rejected its arguments.

The motion notes the role of Karim Massimov, Kazakhstan’s former Prime Minister, and Timur Kulibaev, the son-in-law of Kazakhstan’s First President, in initiating “a sham criminal investigation of the Statis… resulting in Kazakhstan developing a pre-textual and arbitrary reason to expropriate the Statis’ assets and causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.”

A federal judge in New York grants the Argentem parties motionto compel arbitration against plaintiff Outrider thereby dismissing them from Kazakhstan’s vexatious litigation against U.S. investors. The claim was part of Kazakhstan’s efforts to enlist Outrider in its efforts to obstruct payment of the ECT Award.

The Swedish Supreme Court uphelda $90 million freeze on Kazakhstan National Fund’s assets in Sweden. The court ruled that the seized assets representing part of Kazakh National Fund are not protected by sovereign immunity as a matter of international and Swedish law. The Swedish Supreme Court remanded the case to the Svea Court of Appeal for further consideration with respect to other outstanding questions.

The Stati Parties warn Kazakhstan of their intent to initiate a fresh Energy Charter claim against the country over its refusal to honour a fully adjudicated Award. Instead of honouring its obligations under international law, Kazakhstan is pursuing an ‘international strategy of frivolous and abusive litigation’ the notice letter says. The Stati Parties claim that Kazakhstan should be held responsible for the ‘dozens of millions of dollars’ incurred over the years in legal fees and expenses related to enforcement of the Award.

Lawyers for Argentem Creek Partners have today re-filed a motion to dismiss, following Republic of Kazakhstan’s decision to amend their original complaint last month.

The Amsterdam District Court denied a $118 million damages claim brought by the National Bank of Kazakhstan(NBK) against the Stati Parties.

NBK claimed it had suffered severe losses after rulings in a Dutch court and a Belgian court in 2017 led to the attachment of sovereign assets held by BNY Mellon worth $22.6 billion.

The court dismissed the claim in its entirety, arguing that “in this case there is no question of an unlawful attachment leading to risk liability,” and that “it cannot be held that the Stati parties abused their powers”. It also ordered NBK to cover the Statis’ legal costs.

In a letter, lawyers acting for Argentem Creek Partners request dismissal of Kazakhstan’s civil complaint filed in the Supreme Court of the State of New York against the firm and its CEO.They argue that the case is part of Kazakhstan’s continuing attempts to re-litigate the SCC award despite the rejection of its fraud allegations by courts around the world, including the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

The Court Of Cassation of Luxembourg concludes that the lower court incorrectly examined evidence in the award enforcement proceedings, and decides that the case should be re-heardby a different panel of judges at the Luxembourg Court of Appeal. The attachments of Kazakhstan’s assets in Luxembourg remain in place.

The Luxembourg District Court stays proceedings on the validity of the attachments of various Kazakh state assetsobtained by the Stati Parties pending the outcome of the criminal proceedings initiated by Kazakhstan in Luxembourg. The attachments in question are estimated to be worth US$550 million and include Kazakhstan’s 40% shareholding in Eurasian Resources Group (ERG) and frozen dividends owed by ERG to Kazakhstan among further receivables. In the meantime, the attachments continue to remain fully in place as a security measure under the award.

The Supreme Court of the Netherlands sets aside the Amsterdam Court of Appeal’s decision on the attachment of Kazakhstan’s stakein the international consortium developing the Kashagan oil field, held via Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna, and refers the case back to a lower court (the Hague Court of Appeal) for further consideration. Meanwhile, the Kashagan shares attachment, valued at $5.2 billion, remains fully in place.

The federal district court in Washington, D.C. compels Kazakhstan once again to provide discovery of its assets on a worldwide basis– including assets of various Kazakh state instrumentalities such as NBK and Samruk-Kazyna.

The Judge also rebukes Kazakhstan and its legal counsel for the breaches of the previous U.S. court orders regarding discovery:“Don’t get me wrong, the Republic of Kazakhstan had every right to litigate the petition to confirm the arbitral award, and they had every right to appeal my decision. But those proceedings are over. These are post-judgment proceedings. And the Republic of Kazakhstan and its counsel needs to get that into their heads because the level of intransigence that we’ve seen to date is not acceptable and it officially ends today.”

Kazakhstan files a civil complaint in New York against Argentem Creek Partners and its CEO, alleging that they had been involved in a criminal conspiracy together with the Stati Parties.

The High Court of Justice in London rejects NBK’s US$ 530 million debt claim against BNY Mellon for the latter’s refusal to release the National Fund assets frozen as a result of the parallel Belgian enforcement proceedings, by agreeing with the Stati Parties that the decision with regards to BNY Mellon is to be determined by the Belgian courts in due course.

The Svea Court of Appeal in Sweden dismisses Kazakhstan’s second challenge of the awardfiled on the basis of alleged new evidence. The award is therefore again confirmed to be final, binding and non-appealable for all intents and purposes.

The Luxembourg Court of Appeal grants recognition with respect to the award.The Court finds that Kazakhstan has failed to prove the existence of any fraud. This decision is binding and enforceable as a matter of Luxembourg law notwithstanding any further appeals.

A District Court in Stockholm dismisses Kazakhstan’s and NBK’s separate appeals against various attachment orders made by the Swedish bailiff concerning Kazakh state property in Sweden.

The assets in question represent proceeds of shareholdings and related economic rights in various Swedish listed companies owned by Kazakhstan as part of the savings portfolio of the National Fund. These proceeds are currently blocked in the Swedish bailiff’s escrow account in the sum of SEK 790,284,526 (approximately US$ 95 million) pending final resolution of the Swedish award enforcement proceedings before the Swedish Supreme Court.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit confirms the previous court ruling from March 23, 2018 that the award is valid and enforceable as a binding U.S. judgment.The ruling states that: “We find that it was not an abuse of discretion for the District Court to deny Kazakhstan’s motion because the District Court based its ruling on multiple valid grounds. We further agree with the District Court that Kazakhstan improperly presented new facts in its motion for reconsideration that it had not introduced in its original motion to supplement.”

As a result of this ruling, any non-state immune Kazakh state assets on U.S. soil become amenable to attachment and foreclosure by the Stati Parties.

The Rome Court of Appeal recognizes the Award in Italy, dismissing all of Kazakhstan’s challenges to the award(including based on the fraud allegations).

The Brussels Court of First Instance rejects Kazakhstan’s and NBK’s appeals against the original attachment orderwith respect to the National Fund assets held by BNY Mellon granted on October 11, 2017. With the Stati Parties’ consent, the Court reduces the attachment value from US$ 22.6 billion to US$ 530 million given the then size of the award.

The Stockholm District Court upholds its previous decision from August 21, 2017 allowing the Swedish bailiff to levy attachments on Kazakh state property on Swedish soil by dismissing Kazakhstan’s challenges to the original ruling.