Since 2010, Simon v. Republic of Hungary has ascended and descended the judicial ladder as federal courts have considered how to interpret and apply the “expropriation exception” of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act...more
Sovereign immunity is a principle of public international law whereby one sovereign state should not seek to apply its law to another sovereign state. Alongside the jurisdictional immunity foreign sovereigns enjoy in the...more
Contemplating sovereign entities and their relation to the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive ("CSRD") can seem like gazing at Escher’s labyrinth of staircases, crisscrossing endlessly without a final destination....more
Two recent decisions in the Madoff bankruptcy cases illustrate that the legacy of Bernie Madoff will long survive the man himself. Bernie Madoff died on April 14, 2021, while incarcerated in the Federal Medical Center in...more
On April 19, 2023, the United States Supreme Court issued a highly-anticipated decision in the case of Turkiye Halk Bankasi A.S., aka Halkbank v. United States. The court ruled that Turkish state-owned Halkbank remained...more
The United States Supreme Court has rejected arguments made by Turkiye Halk Bankasi A.S. (“Halkbank”) that, as a majority state-owned bank and thus an agency or instrumentality of the Republic of Türkiye, it enjoys immunity...more
The Court held that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act ("FSIA") does not apply to criminal prosecutions, but left open the possibility that instrumentalities of foreign states may have common law immunity from prosecution....more
Yesterday, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Turkiye Halk Bankasi A.S., aka Halkbank v. United States. This groundbreaking case represents the first known attempt by the United States (or likely any state in modern...more
On April 19, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Turkiye Halk Bankasi A.S., aka Halkbank v. United States, holding that the district court has jurisdiction under 18 U.S.C. § 3231 over the prosecution of Halkbank and that the...more
On Jan. 17, a U.S. citizen brought a $110 million lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for damages caused by Curaçao and St. Maarten government actors. The basis for the suit, Ansary v. Central Bank...more
As we’ve previously written, complications arise for foreign sovereigns (States) and private companies when they structure commercial transactions. States prefer to hold as much of their immunities as is possible, while...more
On January 17, 2023 the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in Türkiye Halk Bankasi A.Ş. v. United States. The resolution of Halkbank (as the bank is known) invites a sophisticated analysis of foreign sovereign immunity....more
During oral argument in Turkiye Halk Bankasi A.S. v. United States, the Court raised several questions about whether a state-owned entity, Halkbank, was immune from U.S. criminal prosecution under the common law. The...more
On Sept. 16, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted amended Rule 15c2-11 (the Amended Rule) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the Exchange Act). The Amended Rule, most of which became...more
On October 3, 2022, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in Turkiye Halk Bankasi A.S. v. United States, No. 21-1450 (“Halkbank”), to determine whether federal courts have subject-matter jurisdiction over...more
China and Taiwan have been locked in a tussle for decades over who gets to call the island country home. China considers Taiwan a breakaway province, while Taiwan sees itself as a sovereign nation....more
In the first issue of Dechert’s International Capital Markets Team’s “In Conversation With...” series, associates Amy Rees and Nick Quarrie sit down with Shrey Kohli, Director of Fixed Income and Funds at the London Stock...more
This week, the Ninth Circuit examines whether private companies can count as foreign sovereigns for purposes of immunity, and when broad statements can plausibly be read to refer to specific individuals under Washington State...more
We were privileged to file today a petition for certiorari with the Supreme Court of the United States on behalf of our client, art dealer Alexander Khochinsky. The petition asks the Court for reinstatement of a lawsuit...more
The Second Circuit recently held that a denial of a motion to dismiss a criminal indictment based on the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (“FSIA”) is immediately appealable under the collateral-order doctrine but concluded...more
The Situation: On May 12, 2021, the Court of Justice for the European Union ("CJEU") held that European Union ("EU") and Schengen Area member states cannot make an arrest pursuant to an Interpol Red Notice if the person to be...more
Last month, in Federal Republic of Germany v. Philipp, 141 S. Ct. 703 (2021), the United States Supreme Court revisited and narrowed the scope of the expropriation exception to sovereign immunity set forth in the Foreign...more
The Situation: On July 10, 2018, the D.C. Circuit held that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act's ("FSIA") expropriation exception to sovereign immunity extended to a sovereign's taking of its own nationals' property in an...more
On February 3, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its anticipated decision in Germany v. Philipp, a case implicating the exception to foreign sovereign immunity for claims arising out of “property taken in violation of...more
On February 3, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Federal Republic of Germany v. Philipp, No. 19–351, holding that the expropriation exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) does not apply to a domestic...more