SKV Blocks TRO

On June 23, 2015, SKV partners Craig Smyser and Justin Waggoner blocked an attempt by a Russian company to restrain a $400 million distribution from two Dutch trusts related to the former Yukos Oil.  On June 22, OOO Promneftstroy, a Russian company purporting to be the sole shareholder of Yukos Finance, sought an emergency order to lift the stay in a lawsuit it filed against a Yukos director to obtain a temporary injunction prohibiting the director from distributing any funds from the Dutch trusts.   The Yukos entities are among those foreign companies remaining from the former Yukos Oil, once Russia’s largest and best-run oil company, after Vladimir Putin and the Russian government dismembered it.  After an emergency hearing, the judge assigned to hear the request refused to lift the stay and sent the matter back to the trial court.