MOSCOW, May 20 (RAPSI) – Sergey Leontiev, the former president of Russian bank OAO Probusinessbank, filed a complaint against businessman Alexander Varshavsky accusing him of using harassment, intimidation in an effort to extract $83 million.
Leontiev, who left Russia in June 2015, has been domiciled in Cyprus and at present resides in New York, owns Varshavsky nothing, according to the complaint lodged with the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.
“In support of his alleged right to payment from Mr. Leontiev, Mr. Varshavsky has produced several loan agreements, promissory notes, and bank guarantees. None of these documents provides any basis to hold Mr. Leontiev personally liable for any debt those documents purport to represent,” the complaint reads. According to Leontiev, neither his name, nor the name of Varshavsky appears on the face of a single document relating to the presented demands to repay the alleged debt.
Nevertheless, Leontiev claims that “a campaign of threats, demands, and harassment” was organized against him, with naturalized US citizen Varshavsky, who allegedly threated to persecute criminal charges against Leontiev, being behind this campaign.
Leontiev asks the US court to declare that he does not owe a debt or obligation to Varshavksy, or anyone acting in concert or participation with Varshavsky, relating to the alleged loans; issue a permanent injunction barring Varshavsky, or anyone acting in concert or participation with Varshavsky, from taking any further steps to enforce the alleged loans against him in his personal capacity. Besides, Leontiev asks the court to award him punitive damages in an amount not less than $25,000,000.
No comments from the parties have been immediately available to RAPSI.
In August 2015, the Russian Central Bank revoked the license of Probusinessbank, acting upon the results of an inspection revealing that “Prombusinessbank’s management carried out large scale operations having markings of assets stripping of the bank.”
On October 27, 2015, the Moscow Commercial Court declared the bank bankrupt, appointing the state corporation Deposit Insurance Agency as the bankruptcy commissioner.
This February, the Russia’s Investigative Committee opened a criminal case against a number of former Probusinessbank employees on suspicion of misappropriation and embezzlement of funds.
According to investigators, in abuse of their office bank employees have arranged knowingly unrecoverable unsecured loans to entities controlled by them, which further transferred the funds to fly-by-night firms.
As a result, about 2.5 billion rubles (about $38 million) were stolen from the bank.
In February a Moscow court ruled to arrest Vyacheslav Kazantsev, former Vice-President of the bank, Nikolay Alexeyev, Sergey Kalachev, Marina Krylova, all former top managers of Probusinessbank, and businesswoman Oksana Kravchenko.
According to the Russia’s Investigative Committee, Alexander Lomov, a former Deputy Chairman of Probusinessbank, and his wife left Russia two days before the criminal case was initiated.
