Whale Telecom Files Conspiracy Claim Over Qualcomm Activity in Russia
biz.yahoo.com
Tuesday November 16, 8:25 am ET
Seeks Over $400 Million in Damages
NEW YORK, Nov. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Whale Telecom Limited, a telecommunications contractor, today announced that it has brought suit in the New York Supreme Court against Qualcomm Inc. (Nasdaq: QCOM - News), Anthony Georgiou and Alexander Molozanov.
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Whale Telecom's case arises out of an ambitious billion dollar project launched by Qualcomm to penetrate the Russian telecommunications market.
In the complaint, Whale Telecom claims that Qualcomm knew of the Whale team's extensive telecom experience in Russia. Whale negotiated a contract to provide exclusive services for the Qualcomm project and geared up to meet Qualcomm's needs for a contractor large enough to provide support services in a number of different regions of Russia simultaneously.
Whale claims that after it had provided services essential to launch the project, it was elbowed out and driven out of business, falsely being led to believe that the project was dead. Whale later found out that other contractors had been hired to do the work in its place, including a company that Whale alleges was set up by former Qualcomm personnel.
Whale Telecom claims that Qualcomm conspired with Georgiou and Molozanov to interfere with Whale's long-term, exclusive contract rights. Whale is seeking over $100 million in compensatory damages, and punitive damages equal to at least three times the amount of compensatory damages.
"We trusted Qualcomm's representations to us," said Dmitriy Sychev, a founder of Whale Telecom. "As noted in our complaint, we later discovered that after they had obtained the assistance they needed from us, they pushed us out of the project despite the exclusive contract we had. As a result, our company could not survive."
Whale alleges that, according to press reports released last week, one of the defendants in Whale's case, Georgiou, has admitted in a court affidavit that he paid a fee of about $1 million to a Russian government official for securing a government license needed for a separate Russian telecom project. According to press reports, the governmental official has denied any wrongdoing.
Whale Telecom claims that Qualcomm chose to partner with Georgiou because of his experience in Russia. The complaint alleges that Qualcomm was subject to regulatory scrutiny and legal constraints not imposed on its overseas competitors, and that it joined together with Georgiou to set up and operate through a series of offshore companies, including companies they set up in the Cayman Islands and Cyprus. Metrosvyaz Ltd., a principal vehicle for executing their plans, is alleged to have been a Cyprus company totally dependent on Qualcomm financing.
Whale is represented in the action filed in the New York Supreme Court by Salans, an international law firm known for its expertise in Russia and in telecoms. New York-based Peter J. Gallagher, a Salans litigation partner, heads the Salans team in the New York case.
Separately, Whale has filed two claims against Metrosvyaz, alleging breach of contract and seeking tens of millions of dollars in compensation. |
