On October 11, the High Court of London dismissed the claim of a St. Petersburg businessman hiding in France Vitaly Arkhangelsky to the bank “Saint-Petersburg” in the amount of about 300 million dollars. This trial has a long history, but the news is interesting to others. One of the most authoritative courts in the world today sided with Russian business.
According to Fontanka, the English judge completely dismissed Vitaly Arkhangelsky’s claim on all grounds. The appeal confirmed that none of the assumptions of the St. Petersburg businessman, who is wanted by Interpol, were substantiated.
Back in May 2018, the court decision on the bank’s victory in the High Court of London was published. In January 2019, Arkhangelsky sent an appeal to the court. Despite the formal right, it seems that Arkhangelsky sought to delay the return of funds to Bank St. Petersburg as much as possible. In 2020, the Court of Appeal still ordered a retrial of the counterclaim. The subject of a new consideration was the valuation of the assets of the former Arkhangelsk company Oslo Marine Group.
Recall that after a 6-month trial in 2016, the court issued a 390-page judgment in favor of Bank Saint Petersburg against Mr. Arkhangelsky in respect of unpaid loans. The bank filed a lawsuit to recover 1.8 billion rubles, and Arkhangelsk responded accused the bank of raider seizure of business. He stated that the bank first demanded that he repay the loan ahead of schedule, despite the agreement on a six-month delay, and then sold the shares of OMG companies at a lower price to their related structures.
Fontanka also found an emotional component in this court decision (the decision is at the disposal of the editors). The judge openly called Arkhangelsky a fraudster, confirming the previous judge’s findings that Vitaly Arkhangelsky was “self-centered”, a “swindler” and a “pirate”, adding that this was fully consistent with the evidence considered.
From the history of one of the longest processes.
In July 2010, at the request of the creditors of Oslo Marine Group (OMG) – VTB Bank and the Marine Joint Stock Bank – Vitaly Arkhangelsky was prosecuted in two criminal cases under articles on fraud and money laundering. In December 2009, Arkhangelsky was put on the federal wanted list in Russia, since July 2010 he has been on the international wanted list of Interpol. Since the end of 2009, he has been hiding in France, where he has an apartment in Nice, bought, according to investigators, with stolen credit money that was withdrawn from the balance of OMG structures.
According to the materials of the court, in autumn 2008, the OMG group attracted borrowed funds from the bank “Saint Petersburg” in the total amount of 3.7 billion rubles for the development of the shipping and port business. In the same year, the bank entered into a memorandum with the borrower, according to which, when prolonging the OMG loan, additional transaction security was introduced in the form of shares in the Western Terminal port complex and Scandinavia insurance company, which were part of the group. After OMG ceased servicing the loan in 2009, Bank Saint Petersburg gained control of the borrower’s assets and sold them.
Bank Saint Petersburg ensured the evacuation of the crews of three chartered ships abandoned by Arkhangelsky in different countries without support, provision and the opportunity to return home.
Arkhangelsky is indebted not only to Bank Saint Petersburg, but also to 9 other Russian banks. From 2006 to 2008, OMG managed to collect loans in the amount of approximately 14.2 billion rubles in eight banks (VTB, Vnesheconombank, Svyaz-Bank, Vozrozhdenie, Master Bank, Marine Joint Stock Bank, Energomashbank, Lipetskcombank). OMG’s largest creditors were Bank Vozrozhdenie (about 6 billion rubles), Svyaz-Bank (about 1 billion rubles), and VTB Bank.
Delovoy Peterburg, 07/26/2017, “The runaway founder of Oslo Marine Group Vitaly Arkhangelsky was declared bankrupt with a debt of almost 3.5 billion rubles”: The Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region declared the founder of Oslo Marine Group (OMG) and the former owner of the Vyborg port Vitaly Arkhangelsky, who fled Russia to Nice in 2010, bankrupt.
The businessman’s bankruptcy lawsuit was filed at the end of February by the Moscow company Obliya. […] The company through the court demanded more than 3.43 billion rubles from the businessman, and the court recognized its claims as justified. […]
In 2009, the businessman owed about 4 billion rubles to the bank “Saint Petersburg” and at the height of the crisis he could not return the money. After that, the bank gained control over the group’s assets for some time. Subsequently, Skandinavia lost its customers and license, and the Western Terminal lost its shippers and the status of a customs zone. Almost all of their property was sold.
Since the beginning of the conflict in 2010, Vitaly Arkhangelsky and his family moved to France. There he launched a campaign to discredit the head of the bank “Saint Petersburg” Alexandra Savelyevademanding that the French court ban him from entering Europe and prosecute him for forging documents. […]
OMG’s second creditor was the Vozrozhdenie bank, which in 2007-2010 allocated about 5 billion rubles to the Arkhangelsky group’s project. At the end of April 2016, the Petrogradsky District Court changed the plaintiff from Vozrozhdenie to Obliya. — Inset K.ru
Open Media, 04/08/2020, “Runaway businessman Vitaly Arkhangelsky offers flights from the US to Russia. The cheapest ticket is 100,000 euros”: The fugitive St. Petersburg businessman Vitaly Arkhangelsky, whose extradition from France Russia has been seeking since 2009, began to offer Russians to evacuate from Europe, Asia and the United States on private jets. […] Information about such services is also on the page of Vitaly Arkhangelsky in Facebook. The Open Media correspondent wrote a request to the site indicated by Vitaly. He replied that the proposal to evacuate passengers on a business jet from New York to Moscow is relevant. […]
According to site consultant aviav.ruwho introduces himself as Vitaliy and uses a photo of a runaway businessman as a userpic, right now the minimum cost of a flight from New York to Moscow per person is 100,000 euros. […] Finally, to a direct question from an Open Media correspondent, how can one be sure that he will not cheat if a client pays him 100,000 euros, the businessman replied: “No way.” — Inset K.ru
abnews.ru, 03/07/2016, “At the trial in London, they announced Gref’s connections with crime boss Traber”: During testimony in the High Court in London, the founder of Oslo Marine Group (OMG) Vitaly Arkhangelsky announced his negotiations with the head of Sberbank German Gref through the mediation of “criminal authority” Ilya Traber. This is stated in the shorthand of the court session for February 22. Arkhangelsky said that Traber brought him together with Gref at a time when the founder of OMG was looking for funds to acquire the Vyborg Fuel Company. Traber wanted to sell her to a businessman.
According to Arkhangelskog, Gref and Traber have known each other since the 90s – at that time Gref headed the St. Petersburg real estate department. According to Arkhangelsky, at the request of Traber, he had two meetings with the head of Sberbank – in Singapore and in Moscow. In the latter case, Arkhangelsky discussed with Gref the possibilities of financing OMG projects. Gref promised to discuss this with Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to Arkhangelsky, Gref is “dependent” on Traber. The businessman believes that the head of Sberbank agreed to the meeting to please Traber, but did not plan to fulfill the promise. — Inset K.ru