Back in March, when Russia’s Federal Customs Service first proposed settlement talks in its $22.5 billion RICO case against Bank of New York Mellon, the Am Law Litigation Daily wrote that the Russians might be willing to accept $800 million to end the litigation. Even that may have been aiming a little high; a $14 million settlement is now in the works, according to reports in The Wall Street Journal and the Russian press.
The litigation (which we’ve covered here and here) has been pending in Moscow’s Arbitrazh Court since 2007, mainly hung up on whether the court has jurisdiction to decide the case. Miami plaintiffs lawyer Steven Marks brought the case on Russia’s behalf, seeking damages related to a former Bank of New York Mellon official’s admission that she helped launder $7 billion from Russia in the late 1990s.
