New York law firm struggles to find firm to process fee payments from sanctioned VTB Bank
The law firm acting on behalf of VTB Bank has asked for more time to file its case, after warning that at least three financial institutions have refused to process legal fee payments from the sanctioned Russian bank, even after being assured that processing the payments would be legal.
The New York law firm Brafman & Associates – that has previously worked on an array of high-profile cases in acting on behalf of Harvey Weinstein, P. Diddy, and Martin Shkreli – warned that multiple banks have refused to process payments from Russia’s state owned VTB Bank.
The Manhattan law firm, which agreed to take on VTB Bank as a client after it was dropped by Los Angeles law firm Latham & Watkins in April, has been seeking to sign on as defence for the sanctioned bank since June, in a case over claims it helped fund a Donbass militia that shot down Malaysia Airlines in 2014.
In a court filing, the law firm however warned that three financial institutions have refused to process payments from VTB Bank, even after assurances from the US government’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) that legal fee payments are exempt from US sanctions.
The case comes after the family of an American man who was killed after flight MH17 crashed near a town in eastern Ukraine sued the bank, over claims it facilitated payments to a pro-Russian militia accused of downing the Malaysia Airlines plane.
In a filing, Brafman & Associates said it had talked to three other financial institutions, with a view to discerning whether they would be willing to accept funds from VTB Bank earmarked for representation in the MH17 case.