Insights

The implementation of a poison pill by Twitter’s board of directors in response to Elon Musk’s acquisition may have increased the final offer accepted by the board by up to US $1 billion, demonstrating the effectiveness of this measure at empowering the board. As Kobre & Kim’s Greater China-based lawyers Jason Kang and Chang Liu – together with analyst Kairu Huang – wrote in Caijing, Chinese companies can gain much from poison pills in corporate disputes.

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Recent U.S. federal court decisions have reeled back the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), expanding due process rights and defenses for foreign defendants. Kobre & Kim’s Evelyn Sheehan and Carolina Leung unpack what this means in an article for The Anti-Corruption Report.

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As digital asset and cryptocurrency fraud proliferate, recovering stolen funds means applying traditional asset recovery techniques in newer and more innovative ways. In Chambers’ latest International Fraud and Asset Tracing Global Practice Guide, Kobre & Kim’s Evelyn Sheehan, David McGill, Benjamin Sauter and Amanda Tuminelli walk through how, with the help of enhanced blockchain forensics, civil litigation and government seizures, victims of fraud can successfully make themselves whole again.

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The U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) China Initiative has long been criticized for unfairly targeting Chinese nationals and people of Chinese descent, particularly professors and researchers. Its termination, however, does not signal relief – rather, the U.S. is moving on to a new Nation-State Threats Strategy, which has broader goals, targets and tools in mind. Kobre & Kim’s China-based lawyers Wade Weems and Chang Liu, together with specialist analyst Kairu Huang, unpacked the coming enforcement risks for Chinese entities in an article for Caixin Global.

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As criminals increasingly turn to cryptocurrencies, law enforcement agencies around the world have found themselves seizing more of the assets and having to learn how to handle the unique challenges of this new technology. Kobre & Kim’s Michael Sherwin, a former U.S. federal prosecutor, unpacked the issues when he spoke with Bloomberg.

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Recent events – including continuing doubts about the UK Serious Fraud Office’s (SFO) existence, the ousting of the head of London’s Metropolitan Police, the lack of investigation into alleged misconduct by politicians and the sustained trend of private prosecutions – have led to questions about the independence of prosecution authorities in England and Wales. Kobre & Kim’s Miranda Ching – a former case controller and prosecutor at the SFO – shared her perspective during an episode of The Fountain Court Chambers Podcast.

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Though China Evergrande Group, the indebted Chinese property giant, has reached an agreement in principle with certain offshore creditors to pay legal fees in connection with restructuring negotiations, bondholders have options if restructuring negotiations eventually reach a stalemate. Kobre & Kim’s John Han, who has deep experience monetizing claims related to Greater China for distressed debt investors, told The Wall Street Journal how an enforcement scenario might unfold.

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Though China Evergrande Group, the indebted Chinese property giant, has reached an agreement in principle with certain offshore creditors to pay legal fees in connection with restructuring negotiations, bondholders have options if restructuring negotiations eventually reach a stalemate. Kobre & Kim’s John Han, who has deep experience monetizing claims related to Greater China for distressed debt investors, told The Wall Street Journal how an enforcement scenario might unfold.

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The Cayman Islands is a key offshore jurisdiction for judgment creditors in cross-border enforcement campaigns. Kobre & Kim’s Cayman-based Jalil Asif QC, Peter Tyers-Smith and Ilona Groark detailed the main insights in the jurisdiction for creditors in a chapter of International Comparative Legal Guide’s “Enforcement of Foreign Judgments 2022.”

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Catastrophes hit countries in many forms, and their impact can be multiplied by a failure in governance and compounded by economic vulnerability and social instability. Policymakers and citizens alike should understand the nature of the risks facing their country to avoid disaster. Kobre & Kim analyst John Miller, a Global Governance Fellow for the Global Governance Forum, co-authored a report for the forum that captures these risks in the inaugural edition of the Global Catastrophic Risk Index.

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With the Russian invasion of Ukraine, many in both countries have turned to crypto and digital currencies – Ukrainians received almost US $100 million in crypto donations, and ordinary Russians used crypto as a haven against the falling ruble and capital controls. But there is a concern that cryptocurrency can be used to facilitate wrongdoing, including to evade sanctions. Kobre & Kim’s Benjamin Sauter, who focuses on government enforcement and asset recovery in the crypto space, analyzed this issue when he spoke with the magazine Raconteur of The Times.

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The landscape of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency has long seemed like a Wild West. But as Kobre & Kim’s Andrew Stafford QC, Timothy de Swardt, Melisa Ortes González and Calvin Koo detail in Commercial Dispute Resolution, in jurisdictions like the United Kingdom, the British Virgin Islands, Hong Kong and the United States, the sheriff is very much in town.

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The U.S. Department of Treasury launched a new whistleblower program for information leading to the seizure of stolen assets linked to foreign government corruption, just in time to join global sanctions efforts against Russian oligarchs. Kobre & Kim’s Jason Short, who represents high-net-worth individuals in asset forfeiture proceedings and sanctions enforcement, spoke to USA Today on the program’s scope – as well as its risks and limitations.

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The Russian invasion of Ukraine has led the United States and its allies to sanction Russian oligarchs and seize their yachts, condos and other assets. Kobre & Kim’s Evelyn Sheehan, a former U.S. federal prosecutor who led asset forfeiture efforts from South Florida, sat down with NPR’s “Planet Money” to explain the difference between sanctions and asset seizures, and to offer a word of caution against ensnaring innocent third parties.

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Even as the cryptocurrency and digital asset industry continues to grow, a vast regulatory gulf persists even in the U.S., and the uncertainty this creates is only set to intensify. Kobre & Kim’s David McGill, who represents clients in the finance and crypto industries against government enforcement, explains when he spoke with Orbit TRC.

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