Alfa Bank Stymied in Attempt to Harass Russia Researcher
From January 2021 to March 2022, Ilya Zaslavskiy, a Washington, D.C.-based anti-kleptocracy activist and researcher into Russian President Vladimir Putin’s oligarchs, underwent a legal fight to challenge subpoenas issued by Alfa Bank, Russia’s largest commercial bank.
Alfa Bank filed the underlying lawsuit in June 2020 in state court in Palm Beach County, Florida, seeking information related to a 2016 cyber-hack that allegedly created a false link between Alfa Bank and the Trump Organization ahead of the 2016 U.S. presidential election. In its complaint, Alfa Bank did not identify any of the alleged “cyberattacker” defendants. Instead, Alfa Bank used the suit to issue dozens of subpoenas to individuals who have publicly criticized the Russian government and the Kremlin-connected oligarchs who control Alfa Bank.
As part of its lawsuit, Alfa Bank served Mr. Zaslavskiy in January 2021 with a subpoena for the production of documents, followed by a deposition subpoena in November 2021 in Washington, D.C. Superior Court. After Alfa Bank served Mr. Zaslavskiy with the first subpoena in January 2021, he sought pro bono legal assistance. He secured the representation of Adam Fels of Fridman Fels & Soto of Coral Gables, Florida, who in February 2021 responded to the document subpoena. When Alfa Bank served Mr. Zaslavskiy in November 2021 with the deposition subpoena, he expanded his legal team. Through the support of Alexander Papachristou, Executive Director of The Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice, Mr. Zaslavskiy added Daniel H. Weiner, Hilary McDonnell and Benjamin Britz from international law firm Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP to his legal team.
On December 8, 2021, Mr. Zaslavskiy filed a motion to quash the deposition subpoena, arguing that Alfa Bank was improperly using the subpoena not to obtain information for its lawsuit, but to harass Mr. Zaslavskiy for his research into anti-Western and anti-Ukrainian corrosive activities of Russian oligarchs (including Mikhail Fridman, Petr Aven and German Khan, the principal officials of Alfa Bank) and their connections to President Putin. Alfa Bank issued the subpoena shortly after Mr. Zaslavskiy published several reports related to why certain Russian oligarchs, including those at Alfa Bank, should be sanctioned for their close personal ties to Putin and the Kremlin. Alfa Bank served Mr. Zaslavskiy with the document subpoena fewer than two months after he announced his intent to write a new report on sanctions against Alfa Bank principals and several other Kremlin oligarchs on a public Anti-Corruption Advocacy Network (ACAN) forum.
After filing the motion to quash, Mr. Zaslavskiy submitted several additional letters to the court, noting growing pressure from both parties in Congress to sanction Alfa Bank, given increasing evidence that the leaders of Alfa Bank are close to the Kremlin.
On January 27, 2022, Alfa Bank filed a motion to set a hearing to resolve Mr. Zaslavskiy’s motion to quash in front of Judge Heidi M. Pasichow. When Alfa Bank dismissed the case on March 8, Judge Pasichow had not yet ruled on Mr. Zaslavskiy’s motion to quash.
As reported in the National Law Journal, the “move to drop the suit comes as major law firms face growing pressure to dump clients with ties to the Kremlin amid Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine and the raft of sanctions Western governments have imposed on Moscow in response.” The U.S., UK, EU and other western countries have sanctioned Alfa Bank, as well as the individual owners of Alfa Bank, for their ties to President Putin. Margaret E. Krawiec of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, who represented Alfa Bank in its Florida Lawsuit and the D.C. court proceeding and who is registered as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), has issued no comment on the dismissal.
This is not the first time Skadden has been in hot water over its representation of Alfa Bank-connected kleptocrats. In 2019, Skadden entered into a settlement agreement with the Department of Justice, resolving its liability for violations of FARA. That case involved Skadden’s associate Alex Rolf van der Zwaan, son-in-law of one of the leaders at Alfa Bank, and payments from alleged oligarch partners of Alfa Bank in Ukraine and Russia.
Mr. Zaslavskiy’s legal battle against Alfa Bank demonstrates the innovative ways in which Russian oligarchs attempt to abuse the U.S. legal system to harass their critics. Mr. Zaslavskiy will be sharing his legal experience with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and other involved organizations that are now evaluating “lawfare” that global kleptocrats routinely use against independent journalists and researchers.
Mr. Zaslavskiy is deeply grateful to his legal team for their top-quality tireless work and to the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice for defending the voice of independent researchers.