St. Petersburg court “freezes” JPMorgan’s $440 million funds in Russia – Pronews.gr

The Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region has frozen JP Morgan’s Russian assets totaling $439.5 million as part of interim measures in a lawsuit filed by Russian bank VTB Bank against the American financial institution and its subsidiaries.

VTB has asked for an interim measure because the defendants “made moves to withdraw their resources” from Russia as the bank seeks to recover $440 million from JPMorgan.

The court agreed to freeze money in JP Morgan’s Russian accounts, its stake in the Russian subsidiary and ownership rights to some of its trademarks.

The next hearing is set for July 17.

The Kremlin has restricted access by companies from unfriendly countries to assets they have in Russia in response to sanctions imposed by the US and other Western countries.

VTB was hit by US and UK sanctions in the spring of 2022 and EU sanctions were also imposed against it.

The restrictions provide for the freezing of assets and the prohibition of transactions of natural and legal persons from these countries with the Russian bank.