Insights | Kobre & Kim — Disputes and Investigations

For international investors and companies, winning an arbitration award against a sovereign state marks just the beginning of a lengthy, globe-spanning enforcement campaign.
To make a greater impact on the enforcement process, award holders should not be afraid to use more creative approaches.
A recent Kobre & Kim victory demonstrates how this approach can put legitimate pressure on sovereign debtors and bring them to the negotiating table.

More investors are taking their disputes against sovereign states and entities to arbitration and judicial forums.
However, demanding payment of a defaulted debt, judgment or award does not always lead to the sovereign paying up.
We explore aggressive non-traditional strategies investors should deploy to ensure a sovereign debtor agrees to a settlement.

Winning an arbitral award often marks the beginning of a long and costly global enforcement campaign for international investors, especially against a sovereign state.
To speed up a settlement, investors should take a bold stand against sovereigns, leveraging international treaty protections.
A recent landmark win against the Kingdom of Spain shows one way for investors.

A coming global economic downturn will put sovereign debt under pressure.
It may appear near impossible for creditors and investors to enforce this debt against sovereigns, but those who succeed can see extraordinary returns.
We explain how deploying creative cross-border strategies can overcome the toughest sovereign debtors and unlock the key to success.

The U.S. Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), part of the recently-passed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), has broken new ground by requiring beneficial owners of U.S. corporate entities to register with U.S. government authorities.
While the CTA appears to shut out private parties – such as creditors and victims of fraud – from accessing such information, there may be potential creative ways to work around this roadblock, bringing creditors one step closer to a substantial recovery of their assets.
Nevertheless, creative creditors and their counsel might be able to obtain this information through certain channels to cut off escape routes for debtors and fraudsters, and obtain more complete recoveries.

The current economic downturn has triggered record-breaking amounts of debt owed by governments to overseas investors.
The crisis, however, has the potential to create large returns for creditors and investors willing to aggressively pursue their claims over a sovereign government.
A proven yet unorthodox cross-border litigation strategy that catches sovereigns by surprise can achieve the monetization of judgments previously thought too tough to enforce.

Investors and creditors can gain potentially large returns if they successfully enforce a large judgment against a sovereign debtor.
However, with such high-stakes, sovereign governments have begun fighting back using state powers against creditors, turning civil proceedings into a quasi-criminal cross-border dispute.
A creditor must employ anticipatory and nonconventional counteroffensive measures in order to protect themselves and maximize their odds of success.

There are many reasons why sovereign debtors can be challenging targets.
The right combination of high-pressure tactics, coupled with aggressive, creative, multijurisdictional strategies, can force sovereign debtors to take a seat at the bargaining table.
Here are specific examples of effective techniques from recent successful matters where legitimate claims were recovered against sovereign entities.