United States v. All Assets Held in Account No. XXXXXXXX

330 F. Supp. 3d 150
Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit·Decided September 4, 2018·No. Civil Action No. 13-1832 (JDB)·Published·Cited by 10 cases

Opinion

JOHN D. BATES, United States District Judge

This civil forfeiture proceeding involves sixteen foreign defendant properties collectively worth more than a half billion dollars, multiple litigants who have attempted to assert claims to these assets, and allegations by the United States government of criminal conduct by Nigeria's former de facto President and his associates. This Court has already determined the fate of most of the defendant assets and purported claims in prior opinions. The question now before the Court is whether to grant [226] the government's motion for entry of default and final judgment against two of the remaining defendant properties. For the reasons described below, the Court will enter default judgment against these two properties but will not certify this judgment as final.

BACKGROUND

On November 18, 2013, the United States filed a verified complaint seeking civil forfeiture of assets totaling more than $500 million in value. Compl. [ECF No. 1] ¶ 1. As alleged and as described more fully in this Court's March 19, 2015 Memorandum Opinion, see United States v. All Assets ("All Assets I"), 83 F.Supp.3d 360, 364-366 (D.D.C. 2015), the defendant assets were "involved in an international conspiracy to launder proceeds of corruption in Nigeria during the military regime of General Sani Abacha," Compl. ¶ 1. General Abacha, his son Mohammed Sani Abacha, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, and others allegedly embezzled billions of dollars of public funds from Nigeria by fraudulently representing that the funds would be used for national security purposes. Id. ¶¶ 2, 25-29. General Abacha and his associates also allegedly caused the Nigerian government to repurchase government debt at inflated prices from a company controlled by Abubakar Bagudu and Mohammed Abacha, yielding a profit of approximately $282 million. Id. ¶¶ 2, 36-44. The government asserts *153that the proceeds from these schemes were laundered through the purchase and subsequent liquidation of hundreds of millions of dollars of U.S.-backed Nigerian Par Bonds ("NPBs"), which entailed the transfer of funds into and out of U.S. domiciliary accounts and the disbursement of coupon interest payments from and liquidation of the NPBs by a U.S. bank. Id. ¶¶ 3, 34-35, 45, 52-53, 57, 85. Sixteen separate in rem defendants were alleged to contain proceeds from the illegal activities: seven bank accounts, identified at paragraphs 4(a)-(g) of the verified complaint; four investment portfolios, identified at paragraphs 4(h)-(k) of the verified complaint; and five corporate defendants. Compl. ¶ 4.

After filing the complaint, the United States sent direct notice of the action to known potential claimants and, on March 6, 2014, published notice of the forfeiture in accordance with the Supplemental Rules for Admiralty or Maritime Claims and Asset Forfeiture Actions of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. See Mot. for Entry of Default J. and for Final and Appealable Order of Forfeiture Against Assets Identified in Paragraphs 4(h)[ ] and 4(j) of the Compl. ("Gov't's Mot.") [ECF No. 226] at 3. Potential claimants were required to file any verified claim to an asset within 60 days of publication of the notice. See Fed. R. Civ. P. Supp. R. G(5)(a).

Purported claims to various assets were subsequently filed by third parties. Godson Nnaka and his attorneys filed claims to all of the assets on behalf of himself and purportedly on behalf of the Republic of Nigeria, all of which have been struck for failure to meet certain filing requirements. See July 3, 2014 Mem. Op. & Order [ECF No. 54] at 14.

Eight relatives of Abubakar Bagudu also filed verified claims of interest in the four defendant investment portfolios.1 See Verified Claims and Statements of Interest [ECF Nos. 17-19, 21-25]. These four defendant investment assets are described in paragraphs 4(h) through 4(k) of the Complaint as:

(h) All assets held in the name of Blue Holding[s] (1) Pte. Ltd., on behalf of or traceable to Ridley Group Limited and/or the Ridley Trust, at J.O. Hambro Investment Management Limited in the United Kingdom, and all interest, benefits, or assets traceable thereto ["Asset 4(h)"] ....
(i) All assets held in the name of Blue Holding[s] (2) Pte. Ltd., on behalf of or traceable to Ridley Group Limited and/or the Ridley Trust, at J.O. Hambro Investment Management Limited in the United Kingdom, and all interest, benefits, or assets traceable thereto ["Asset 4(i)"] ....
(j) All assets held in the name of Blue Holding[s] (1) Pte. Ltd., on behalf of or traceable to Ridley Group Limited and/or the Ridley Trust, at James Hambro & Partners LLP, in the United Kingdom, and all interest, benefits, or assets traceable thereto ["Asset 4(j)"] ....
(k) All assets held in of the name of Blue Holding[s] (2) Pte. Ltd., on behalf of or traceable to Ridley Group Limited and/or the Ridley Trust, at James Hambro & Partners LLP, in the United Kingdom *154and all interest, benefits, or assets traceable thereto ["Asset 4(k)"].

Compl. ¶ 4(h)-(k). These assets form the basis of two discretionary trusts. The two defendant assets held by Singaporean company Blue Holdings (1) Pte. Ltd.-Assets 4(h) and 4(j) (collectively, the "Blue Holdings (1) Assets")-comprise the Blue Family Trust I. See Ibrahim Bagudu Verified Claim [ECF No. 19] ¶ 2(a), (c). The two defendant assets held by Singaporean company Blue Holdings (2) Pte. Ltd. -Assets 4(i) and 4(k) (collectively, the "Blue Holdings (2) Assets")-comprise the Blue Family Trust II. See id. ¶ 2 (e), (g).

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United States v. All Assets Held in Account No. XXXXXXXX, 330 F. Supp. 3d 150 (D.C. Cir. 2018).

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