Dramatic U.S. District Court Decision Dismissing Imposter Group’s Bankruptcy Foray in Drawn-Out World-Wide Fight Over Assets of Billionaire’s Estate

In a big win for GKN on behalf of its clients, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida issued a dramatic 35-page decision today, laying out an imposter group’s “at best, . . . attempt to game the system and, at worst, a coordinated effort to perpetrate a fraud on this Court.”  The decision cites filings in courts world-wide, including Gibraltar, New York State, Florida, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and the Bankruptcy Courts in the Southern District of New York and Southern District of Florida.  The decision recites the findings and inferences from those courts that GKN’s clients are the rightful owners, and that GKN’s main adversay “was most certainly not a witness of truth” but “[took] advantage of the position of trust in which he found himself.”  As noted by the court, “[t]he ownership dispute has been complicated by an ever-shifting labyrinth of corporations, trusts, partnerships, holding companies, and interested individuals,” including supposed parties who suddenly appeared anew after never being heard of or referenced, despite years of litigation.  The court all but indicted the conduct of many of the GKN adversary counsel, concluding that “such behavior raises serious ethical and professional concerns.”  Partner Martin P. Russo led the GKN team, assisted by partner Marlen Kruzhkov and associate Sarah Khurana.  In re Fisher Island Investments, Inc. & Little Rest Twelve, Inc., Docket No. 12-20939-Civ-WILLIAMS (ECF Doc. 61) (S.D. Fla. Oct. 23, 2012).