A Russian court has ordered the seizure of JPMorgan Chase’s assets as part of a lawsuit by Russia’s second-largest bank VTB to regain its funds blocked abroad by sanctions, Reuters reported Friday, citing court documents.
The St. Petersburg Arbitration Court ruled to seize $155.8 million in any currency from all JPMorgan bank accounts, according to Reuters.
It noted that the asset seizure does not affect funds held in so-called type C accounts, which cannot be moved out of Russia but also cannot be seized under presidential decrees.
VTB lodged cases on Oct. 7 seeking damages from nine JPMorgan-related defendants, including its Russian subsidiary JPMorgan International, Reuters said.
The U.S. Treasury sanctioned VTB in February 2022 in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
JPMorgan has since faced several legal challenges over its Russian dealings.
It has said its available assets in Russia were less than the value of the claims and freezing orders against it, which VTB said amounts to $439.5 million worth of its assets frozen in the U.S.
Reuters previously reported, citing court documents, that 204.7 billion rubles ($2.1 billion) of JPMorgan’s 243.3 billion rubles ($2.5 billion) in Russia were held in type C accounts.
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