Topic: Criminal proceedings

An ICSID tribunal hearing a claim against Sierra Leone has refused to restrain the state from pursuing criminal proceedings against several of the claimant’s local employees – who had been accused of inciting a deadly riot before the case was dropped without charge.

07 August 2020

Prominent French arbitration lawyer Jean-Georges Betto is reportedly facing a criminal investigation for alleged sexual and moral harassment, months after being sanctioned by the Paris Bar Council over inappropriate behaviour towards employees at his law firm.

01 July 2020

UPDATED: An UNCITRAL tribunal has thrown out a US$14.5 billion treaty claim brought by fugitive banker Sergei Pugachev against Russia, finding that he was not a French national at the time he made his investments.

22 June 2020

A US court has upheld a subpoena compelling an engineering company to hand over documents to support a corruption investigation in Ecuador, rejecting arguments it was an attempt to “bypass” procedures in an investment treaty arbitration.

23 April 2020

A British arbitration lawyer who accused a client of flouting sanctions against Iran and helping to finance terrorism has been convicted of defamation by a criminal court in Geneva – after being extradited from Germany.

01 April 2020

The Commercial Court in London has rejected an application by a Guernsey mining company founded by Israeli billionaire Beny Steinmetz to set aside a US$2 billion LCIA award that found an iron ore concession in Guinea was procured using bribes.

02 December 2019

A Peruvian court has overturned pre-trial detention orders against eight arbitrators accused of taking bribes from Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, including one whose arrest prompted outcries from the international arbitration community.

29 November 2019

A court in Ankara will continue to hear terrorism charges brought against a Turkish businessman despite a recommendation from an ICSID tribunal hearing his company’s US$5 billion claim against Turkey that the case be suspended.

16 October 2019

As Argentina’s centre-right president Mauricio Macri suffers a shock defeat in a primary vote, a prosecutor in the country has opened a criminal investigation into the settlement of an ICSID case that is alleged to have financially benefited the president’s family.

15 August 2019

French businessman Bernard Tapie has been acquitted of charges of fraud and embezzlement of public funds in connection with a controversial €400 million award that he was alleged to have procured through a rigged arbitration.

09 July 2019