Introduction

In July 2004, the Russian oil giant Yukos was charged with tax code violations. The resulting court proceedings resulted in the imprisonment of Yukos' former chief, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, tax assessments of billions of dollars, and the liquidation of the company's assets. Many of Yukos' most important operating assets were acquired at auction by Russian state-owned companies. Whatever the merits of the tax investigation, the move against Yukos was widely viewed as politically motivated. In response to these events, a Cypriot corporate shareholder of Yukos, known as Group ...