As The FT reports, the order, published in the Russian court register on Wednesday, targets funds in JPMorgan's accounts and shares in its Russian subsidiaries, according to the ruling issued by the arbitration court in St Petersburg.
Specifically, The FT notes that the dispute centers on $439mn in funds that VTB held in a JPMorgan account in the US. When Washington imposed sanctions on the Kremlin-run bank, JPMorgan had to move the funds to a separate escrow account.
Under the US sanctions regime, neither VTB nor JPMorgan can access the funds.
In response, VTB last week filed a lawsuit against the New York-based group to get Russian authorities to freeze the equivalent amount in Russia, warning that JPMorgan was seeking to leave Russia and would refuse to pay any compensation.
The following day, JPMorgan filed its own lawsuit against the Russian lender in a US court to prevent a seizure of its assets, arguing that it had no way to reclaim VTB's stranded US funds to compensate its own potential losses from the Russian lawsuit.
Yesterday's decision sided with VTB, ordering the seizure of funds in JPMorgan's Russian accounts and "Movable and immovable property," including its stake of a Russian subsidiary.
Last summer, a Russian court froze about $36mn worth of assets owned by Goldman following a lawsuit by state-owned bank Otkritie.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/russia-seize-440-million-jpmorgan
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