Claim Monetization & Dilution
Kobre & Kim represents broad classes of investors, creditors, and their fiduciaries in situations where there is a risk that a debtor will not pay in full, as well as debtors targeted by creditors in similar distressed situations. We deploy aggressive, creative strategies that go beyond legal maneuvers, combining traditional legal skill sets with non-legal disciplines to deliver on a client’s commercial goals.
Claim Monetization
Kobre & Kim focuses on assisting broad classes of investors, creditors, and their fiduciaries facing a risk of non-payment, often when there are allegations of misconduct or breach of duty. We work with activist investors, litigation investors, insolvency fiduciaries, distressed credit funds, non-performing loan holders, private bilateral lenders, guarantee holders, keepwell or comfort letter beneficiaries and judgment or arbitration award holders to enforce large, unsecured claims in the most challenging situations and realize value.
We work to improve investor positions in negotiated resolutions pre-judgment or even pre-dispute, especially when debtors are not cooperating in good faith. Pre-investment, we help investors in distressed claims look at worst-case scenarios to inform pre-investment decisions.
We combine professionals and strategies from different disciplines and geographies to achieve the most effective solutions. We bring together an integrated team of offshore professionals, seasoned insolvency advisors, counsel from onshore jurisdictions, English King’s Counsel, former prosecution service lawyers, and financial professionals to not only collect and recover assets, but also target decision makers and third parties to achieve the most resource-efficient path to monetization.
As the only firm able to deliver the full spectrum of global asset recovery services, our team has been featured on the front page of The Wall Street Journal and recognized repeatedly in legal industry publications as one of the most highly regarded firms in this field. Currently, we are acting as enforcement counsel on the two largest international arbitration award enforcement projects in the world.
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Representation of ConocoPhillips in implementing a worldwide enforcement strategy in relation to a US $2 billion International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitration award and a US $8.7 billion International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes arbitration award against the Republic of Venezuela and its national oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA). In respect to the ICC award, our team assisted ConocoPhillips to achieve a settlement with PDVSA for the full value of the award plus interest, less than four months after it was rendered.
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Representation of a Fortune 500 company defrauded of US $65 million+ in recovering the funds from bank accounts in Hong Kong and the People's Republic of China.
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Representation of Chevron in the successful enforcement of an investment treaty arbitration award against the Republic of Ecuador for US $100 million+ (with interest), involving extensive enforcement analysis and litigation throughout the world, including Western and Eastern Europe. Kobre & Kim’s efforts in executing an enforcement strategy, including asset tracing, efforts to identify seizure targets and the service of numerous discovery requests, culminated in Ecuador’s paying Chevron the entirety of the original award plus interest.
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Representation of DuPont in enforcing a US $920 million judgment against Kolon Industries, a South Korean conglomerate operating in Asia, the U.S. and Europe, which involved asset research and litigation in a variety of jurisdictions including Japan, Brazil, and Romania among others.
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Representation of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory, in enforcing judgments of US $120 million+ against assets and defendants in multiple jurisdictions in the U.S., the Caribbean, and Asia. Our work in this matter was profiled on the front page of The Wall Street Journal.
We act as special counsel to deploy an asset-focused, private enforcement operation to combat fraud and restore lost revenue. These high-stakes, large-scale campaigns aim to acquire competitive information about commercial threats, bring civil claims and assist or induce law enforcement action.
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Representation of a Middle Eastern sovereign government to investigate alleged sanctions and money laundering violations. Our work on this matter included advising the government on the ongoing criminal investigation and executing a global strategy to prosecute and recover assets from those involved in multiple jurisdictions.
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Representation of a patent company in conducting investigations into a competitor’s operations, supply chains, retail networks, affiliates, trade partners, and customers in support of monetizing and protecting Client’s patent portfolio.
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Representation of an international company in developing and executing a cross-border asset recovery strategy against assets and targets located in Europe, the Middle East, and the U.S., among other jurisdictions to recover over $300 million taken by fraud.
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Representation of a global energy company in a coordinated investigation concerning potential collusion between a competitor and sovereign government.
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Representation of a global energy company in a coordinated cross-border asset recovery investigation into a certain debtor’s officers and directors and their affiliated entities.
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Representation of a fund manager regarding the regulatory risk of inducing foreign investment partners to perform certain corporate actions.
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Representation of a Middle Eastern sovereign government to investigate alleged sanctions and money laundering violations. Our work on this matter included advising the government on the ongoing criminal investigation and executing a global strategy to prosecute and recover assets from those involved in multiple jurisdictions.
Claim Dilution
Kobre & Kim works with high credit-risk companies and debtors to support their negotiating positions by heightening a creditor’s assessment of risk and cost using legitimate means including assertion of cross-border legal rights and creative techniques to mitigate risk. Our work complements debt restructuring contemplated or actioned by a debtor and their restructuring or financial advisors.
We deploy proactive defensive and counter-offensive strategies that go beyond filing legal appeals and motions. These include the use of “debtor-in-possession” insolvency regimes such as U.S. Chapter 11, offshore “soft touch” liquidations, English schemes of arrangement and cramdowns or pre-dispute liability management together with other service professionals.
Our integrated team of lawyers advocates directly – or works cooperatively with local counsel – in jurisdictions in the U.S., UK, EMEA, Asia, Latin America and key offshore financial centers, combining professionals and strategies from different disciplines and geographies. Our conflict-free profile allows us to maintain our independence as advocates ready to litigate against virtually any institution.
We provide litigation advice related to assets, including preparing clean funds analyses and innocent owner narratives, both of which are essential to onboarding with transactional providers and presenting future litigation scenarios. Such analyses can maximize arguments that the sources of the funds are clean and that a client owns them lawfully. We regularly petition regulatory agencies such as the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to lift or reduce sanctions currently levied against our clients and restore access to the international financial system. We have successfully convinced governments and courts (including offshore courts) to release assets, reduce forfeiture requests or permit restructuring of trust assets.
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Representation of an Asia-based business executive in a multi-jurisdictional investigation involving allegations of fraud, bribery, and money laundering.
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Representation of a Russian businessman and former owner of a large privately-owned Russian bank, in defending against asset confiscation efforts by the Russian Federation, involving proceedings in Cyprus, Austria, the Cook Islands, the U.S., and Lichtenstein, among others.
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Representation of a prominent Monaco-based family in defending against asset confiscation efforts by authorities in the UK, involving proceedings in Monaco, New Zealand, and the UK.
Most of our matters involve awards and judgments in the range of US $100 million to billions of dollars. We have deep experience acting on behalf of both award debtors and creditors, allowing us to understand potential strategies on both sides of disputes. On the defensive side, we have succeeded in protecting clients against asset seizures and reducing settlement amounts.
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Representation of a Kazakhstan-based joint venture in the oil & gas industry in developing strategies to protect against potential arbitration award enforcement efforts in the U.S., Bermuda, the UK and Luxembourg.
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Representation of Tiger Eye Investments, a Cayman Islands company alleged to be holding US $400 million+ in funds from Brazilian investors, against efforts by the U.S. and Brazilian governments to freeze and seize assets. Obtained complete dismissal of the case which resulted in a precedent-setting opinion from the US Court of Appeals DC Circuit.
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Representation of the former ruling family of an African country in defending against attempted asset seizures of US $1 billion+ by a consortium of governments in litigations across Europe, including in France, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Turkey, Cyprus, and Monaco.