Bankruptcy

We have a successful track record of defending the interests of top managers and business owners against claims for subsidiary liability and recovery of losses.

Our experience of bankruptcy cases involving lending institutions includes some unique projects, such as the first litigated claim for damages caused by the wrongful actions of persons controlling a lending institution, with regard to funds spent by the Bank of Russia on financial recovery (para. 5 of Article 189.23 of the Bankruptcy Law).

We are especially proud of our legal positions that have served as the basis for judgments of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation and have radically influenced the development of previous judicial practice.

550

RUB billion — the total value of bankruptcy claims

Our lawyers and attorneys have extensive experience of bankruptcy cases, including the representation of debtors (individuals and legal entities), creditors, insolvency officers, and lending institutions.

Our lawyers and attorneys have extensive experience of bankruptcy cases, including the representation of debtors (individuals and legal entities), creditors, insolvency officers, and lending institutions. The total value of bankruptcy claims handled by our firm exceeds RUB 550 billion.

When representing creditors' interests, our lawyers frequently cooperate with colleagues specializing in dispute resolution and criminal law. This well-coordinated teamwork between highly specialized professionals makes us extremely effective in challenging suspicious transactions, returning withdrawn assets — including assets from foreign jurisdictions — and then establishing physical control over them, establishing subsidiary liability, and recovering losses from CEOs, members of boards of directors, owners, and debtors' real beneficiaries.

Moreover, our specialists' knowledge of bankruptcy, criminal law, dispute resolution, corporate investigations, and asset tracing, along with strong working relationships with leading law firms in the UK, France, Italy, the USA, and other jurisdictions, allow us to advise clients on major complex projects and to recover assets in the Russian Federation and abroad.

Key Expertise (for Creditors and Debtors)

Conducting a preliminary analysis of the situation and developing a strategy for the bankruptcy proceedings.
Dealing with separate disputes in the bankruptcy proceedings — challenging transactions, establishing subsidiary liability, and recovering losses.
Protecting bidders' interests.
Handling issues related to the criminal prosecution of debtors' controlling entities.
Supporting the process of disclosing documents and information about the assets of the debtor and its affiliates.
Challenging the actions of insolvency officers.
Conducting a search for and seizure of the debtor’s receivables to ensure debt repayment.
Returning withdrawn assets to the bankruptcy estate.
Supporting the conclusion of a settlement agreement.

Industry Experience

Banking and Investment
Construction and Development
Agriculture
Manufacturing
Energy and Natural Resources
IT and System Integrators
Film Industry
FMCG and Trade

Selected Cases

Representing the interests of members of the governing bodies of a large bank in a separate dispute at the request of the Deposit Insurance Agency of Russia for the recovery of losses incurred due to the issuance of deliberately non-performing loans.

Representing the top managers of a large construction holding company declared bankrupt by the court in a suit to establish their subsidiary liability and collect losses, as well as in criminal cases of deliberate bankruptcy and the theft of assets and credit funds.

Comprehensive representation of the beneficiaries of high-value real estate within a corporate dispute, including criminal defense, handling of the bankruptcy case in the interest of the creditor, challenging a large number of suspicious transactions, bringing the debtor’s beneficiaries to subsidiary liability, and proving the affiliation of several creditors with the debtor in order to exclude their claims from the list of creditors and restore the legitimate rights of bona fide creditors.

Representing the majority creditor in bankruptcy cases relating to a film company and the personal bankruptcy of its beneficiary, which involved challenging transactions, searching for withdrawn assets, and returning them to the bankruptcy estate.

Comprehensive representation of a creditor’s interests in the bankruptcy case of the owner of a business in the energy sector, which involved challenging court orders handed down earlier by regional general jurisdiction courts on the basis of fictitious loan agreements and initially allowing the debtor to establish control over the personal bankruptcy procedure; restoring the rights of a bona fide creditor, challenging transactions involving the alienation of assets and returning them to the bankruptcy estate, and recovery from persons affiliated with the debtor of the real value of the debtor’s assets alienated in their favor.

Representing the insolvency officer in a bankruptcy case, including disputing creditors' petitions to exclude the insolvency officer and recover losses from them and invalidation of decisions made by the creditors' meeting/committee, challenging transactions, tracing the debtor’s assets, and establishing the criminal and subsidiary liability of representatives of the debtor’s governing bodies.

Representing a large agricultural producer in a case challenging a transaction concluded following an auction to sell an agricultural enterprise worth more than RUB 1 billion, organized as part of a bankruptcy case.

Representing the agricultural enterprise that won the auction in a case challenging a transaction to acquire the industrial and technological facilities of a bankrupt agricultural enterprise worth over RUB 0.5 billion.

+7 (499) 110-37-00

office@belskiy.partners

119435, Russia, Moscow, Bolshoy Savinskiy Ln, 11

OGRN: 1227700017071

Moscow Bar Association registry no. 77/2-458

Managing Partner – Kirill Belskiy