MOSCOW, July 18 (RAPSI) – Richard Deitz, the president of VR Capital Group which is said to be a controlling entity of Russian oil company Promneftstroy, is expected to testify in a dispute over alleged misconduct by Yukos’ directors.

Deitz, who resides in UK, was served with a subpoena when he was visiting New York on May 2. Deitz was expected to testify while he was still in the U.S. Nevertheless, he challenged the subpoena claiming that he did not reside or regularly and personally transacted business in the U.S. As a result, the subpoena was modified to allow deposition on a date and at a time agreed upon by the parties involved in the dispute.

The parties later notified a U.S. district court in which the case is pending that Deitz would submit his deposition at the Moscow offices of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP on July 21.  The deposition may be conducted by videoconference if any lawyers of the parties are unable to travel to Moscow.

The lawsuit was filed with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in June 2015 by a number of companies and foundations linked to now-defunct Yukos oil company and managing foreign assets of Yukos. Mark Fleishman, a YUKOS trustee, is also among the plaintiffs.

The defendant in the case is Daniel Feldman. From 2006 to 2014, he was a director of several of the Yukos entities. Until October 2014 he managed structures involved in lawsuits over Yukos assets and participated in the settlement of the disputes. In particular, since 2008 Feldman participated in the settlement of a dispute with entities controlling Promneftstroy over Yukos Finance B.V. and its assets.

The plaintiffs claim that Feldman for certain remuneration disclosed confidential information to representatives of Promneftstroy and later allegedly took part in several frauds until being barred from any YUKOS-related activities in October 2014. Therefore, plaintiffs allege breach of fiduciary duties and inducement of others to breach their fiduciary duties as well on the part of Feldman.

In his turn, Feldman denies claims of any wrongdoing and accuses managers of Yukos assets exceeding $2 billion of misconduct, including corporate mismanagement and waste of corporate assets. Feldman claims that after his dismissal he was subject to harassment and persecution for questioning the morality and appropriateness of his former colleagues’ actions. Feldman alleges that Fleishman and David Godfrey, another Yukos executive, “fly first class at the top rates” and stay at top luxury brand hotels. “These bills are paid, or the funds reimbursed, by Yukos Group companies,” according to Feldman.

He demands his damages resulting from a smear campaign against him to be compensated in an amount to be determined by the court, as well as his legal costs.