By Nupur Anand
NEW YORK (Reuters) -JPMorgan Chase said its assets in Russia may be seized after lawsuits in Russian and U.S. courts, the bank said in a filing on Wednesday.
The bank faces several legal challenges over its Russian dealings after the U.S.
and European nations imposed economic sanctions on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine.
The value of claims and orders to freeze assets exceed JPMorgan’s available assets in Russia, the largest U.S.
lender said. JPMorgan declined to comment beyond the filing.
A Russian court earlier this month ordered the seizure of funds in JPMorgan accounts after Russian state-owned bank VTB sued to regain its funds blocked abroad.
Meanwhile, JPMorgan sued VTB Bank as the U.S.
lender sought to block VTB’s effort to recover $439.5 million.
JPMorgan accused Russian courts of ignoring the bank’s contractual rights and obligations, and disregarding its inability to make various payments because of sanctions laws.
A Russian court directed that JPMorgan’s New York lawsuit be stopped.
JPMorgan said U.S. law prohibits it from releasing funds to sanctioned companies, including VTB, which was put on the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s sanctions list in February 2022.
(Reporting by Nupur Anand in New York, editing by Lananh Nguyen)
