In re Lake Holding & Fin. S.A.

In re Lake Holding & Fin. S.A.

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

KEVIN NATHANIEL FOX

UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

Before the Court is Lake Holding & Finance S.A.'s application for "an Order pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1782 to obtain discovery in the form of subpoenas to be served on" the following banks: "UBS AG; Societe Generale / SG Private Bank; Banque Lombard Odier & Cie AG (aka Lambert Odier Darier Hentsch & Cie); CIM Banque SA; Kookmin Bank (Korea); Credit Suisse; PJSC Sberbank; Bank of America, N.A.; Citibank, N.A.; Merrill Lynch Capital Corporation; Union Bancaire Privee CBI-TDB, Geneva; and BSI SA, Lugano, Switzerland (collectively, the 'Banks')." The application is opposed by Mikhail Belyak, Anastasia Belyak, and Margarita Beliak ("Belyak respondents"), Igor Rempel, Garri Rempel, Yulia Rempel and Larisa Rempel ("Rempel respondents").

PETITIONER'S CONTENTIONS

The petitioner asserts that "discovery is sought with [*2]  respect to documents located in the United States in this judicial district for use in the following pending proceeding(s)":

(i) Lake Holding's pending judgment recognition and enforcement proceedings in Cyprus which include orders protecting (a) the assets of Respondents BTR Group ("BTR"), Mikhail Belyak ("Belyak"), Igor Rempel ("Rempel"), Anastasia Belyak ("Anastasia"), Garri Rempel ("Garri"), and the Cyprus-based Respondents (collectively, the "Defendants") (who are named for the purpose of safeguarding assets and records, for discovery purposes and for asset tracing orders, into the hands of persons and entities other than BTR, Belyak and Rempel) and/or (b) the assets of any person or entity holding them on behalf of BTR, Belyak and Rempel, to enforce the Moscow Court Judgments, listed in the Melnichenko Declaration (collectively, the "Judgments") in favor of Lake Holding and against BTR, Belyak and Rempel;

(ii) attachment and garnishment proceedings in Cyprus, France, Monaco or any other jurisdiction in which Defendants' assets may be located; and

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