Litigation Wrap: First Quarter 2025

April 15, 2025 – Read about the firm’s most exciting recent litigation and arbitration victories in our Litigation Wrap for the first quarter of 2025. 

~$500M Jury Trial and Follow-Up Victories for SKAT in $2.1B Tax Fraud Litigation

Marc Weinstein, Bill Maguire, Neil Oxford, Dustin Smith, John McGoey and Greg Farrell secured a sweeping victory on behalf of the Customs and Tax Administration of the Kingdom of Denmark, known as SKAT, in a bellwether jury trial presided over by Judge Lewis A. Kaplan in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. This was the first in a series of multidistrict litigation trials set to resolve SKAT’s claims that it was deceived into paying $2.1 billion in refunds of dividend withholding tax between 2012 and 2015.

After the five-week trial, the jury found the initial set of defendants liable for fraud, negligence and unjust enrichment in the tax fraud scheme. SKAT was awarded ~$500 million in damages.

Read more about our SKAT trial victory.

Following the trial, Hughes Hubbard’s SKAT team finalized a settlement with another U.S. defendant accused of participating in the tax fraud scheme.

Read more about SKAT’s settlement.

Based on the verdict, Judge Kaplan entered 45 further judgments, one for each of the cases consolidated for trial, in SKAT’s favor.

Read more about the follow-up judgments.

Dismissal in US District Court for the Republic of Guinea

Jim Boykin and Malik Havalic achieved victory for the Republic of Guinea when Judge Jia M. Cobb of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed an action to confirm an arbitration award rendered by an International Chamber of Commerce tribunal seated in Paris against that nation.

Read more about our arbitration win for Guinea.

Discovery Win in Dispute Over Sale of Pablo Picasso Painting

Dan Weiner secured a key discovery victory as part of his representation of Sotheby’s in a long-running dispute over ownership of Pablo Picasso’s painting “Le Peintre.” The painting was used as collateral to obtain a $14.6 million loan without the knowledge of the artwork’s owner.

Read more about the “Le Peintre” dispute.

Successful Early Release from Asian Development Bank Sanction

The Asian Development Bank’s Office of Anticorruption and Integrity officially notified Christine Kang’s client, a leading machinery manufacturer, that it and its related entities had satisfied all the conditions for early release from sanction.

Read more about our client’s early release from sanction.

Groundbreaking Settlement in Rental Subsidy Class Action Against NYC

Fara Tabatabai won a major settlement in a pro bono rental subsidy class action litigation against New York City, in which the firm alleged the New York City Department of Social Services was unlawfully terminating rental vouchers for low-income New Yorkers.

Read more about our pro bono class action.

Argument Before DC Circuit to Uphold Enforcement of $156M Arbitration Award

Law360 reported on Jim Boykin’s appellate argument before a District of Columbia Circuit panel that India’s motion to dismiss on the basis of sovereign immunity in a $156 million arbitration enforcement proceeding failed to raise any colorable argument of immunity.

Read more about Jim’s appellate argument.