Hogan Lovells secures US$42 million judgment enforcement for Ukraine government war efforts
Washington, D.C., 6 December 2023 – A litigation team from global law firm Hogan Lovells has notched a significant judgment enforcement on behalf of the government of Ukraine at the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York (NDNY), freeing more than US$42 million to help finance the country’s defense.
Hogan Lovells partner Dennis Tracy, the lead partner in the case and its appeal, stated: “We are pleased that the Court declined the Appellant’s invitation to usurp the role of the Executive Branch in this matter. The Ukrainian government has shown considerable discretion in determining state sponsors of terrorism, and we are proud to have ensured the Deposit Guarantee Fund and the government of Ukraine have additional funds to mount a strong defense against Russia’s aggression.”
Hogan Lovells’ litigation team had secured the case’s initial victory in July of this year; more information about the case can be found here.
The case arose after certain victims of terrorist attacks secured a default judgement against the Taliban, and subsequently filed an ex parte motion in the NDNY and obtained a write of execution against assets in New York of Prominvestbank, a formerly Russian-owned bank in Ukraine, on the basis of Russia’s material support for the Taliban.
Prior to the attempt to execute on the judgment, the Ukrainian government passed laws to nationalize Prominvestbank in response to Russia’s aggression and appointed the Deposit Guarantee Fund (DGF) to liquidate the bank in order to direct any funds towards the war effort.
DGF then moved to intervene and to vacate the writ of execution, with appellants raising three points on appeal: (1) that Prominvestbank is an instrumentality of the Taliban and thus is subject to execution under TRIA; (2) that Ukraine’s nationalization should not affect the execution because (a) the US should not recognize the nationalization for public policy reasons and (b) the transfer did not take place until after the attachment motion was filed; and (3) the Deposit Guarantee Fund (DGF) does not have standing to challenge an execution of blocked funds outside of Ukraine.
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The Hogan Lovells legal team was led by New York partner Dennis Tracey and included partner Alex Sciannaca (London); senior associate Alan Mendelsohn; and associate Jonathan Wieder (both New York).
