Member Info for Looed

WHamboy - I am still going through the data. We have seen on the other cases that what seems like damming evidence doesn't seem quite so damming once the other side file their response. We already knew ZM was ousted so there might be an inevitability to this type of thing. Not the sort of news I thought we would be talking about today that's for sure.

The filings include Exhibits A - G

Exhibit A - public records on lobby fees paid to Cornerstone
Exhibit B - public records related to PP payment
Exhibit C - confirmation of PP payment amount (approx US$240K)
Exhibit D - screen grabs of texts between SN and ZM related to the PP payment and bank account issue (mostly ZM chasing SN)
Exhibit E - copies of multiple emails related to PP payment and bank account issue
Exhibit F - screengrab of texts to LG
Exhibit G - copies of emails to LG, including one warning LG of the actions of SN related to the PP payment

ZM attorney -

Claudia Wilson Frost is a nationally recognized trial and appellate lawyer. She has led trial teams in well over 100 cases, has tried to conclusion 40 cases as lead or co-lead counsel and has argued a like number of cases to appellate courts throughout the country. These cases include complex commercial litigation, patent litigation and appellate matters in the three areas on which Orrick focuses: Energy & Infrastructure, Technology & Innovation and Finance.
Ms. Frost has been extensively recognized for her practice. Chambers USA notes, “Clients admired [this] ‘highly responsive and fabulous strategist’ for her powers of ‘brilliant analysis.’ She has a trial background and a depth of appellate experience.” The Legal 500 has called her “One of Best Known Names in the Field.” Ms. Frost was featured in 2016 as a “Trial Pro” by Law360 and has been recognized in Euromoney’s Guide to Leading US Litigators, Guide to Leading World Litigators and Guide to the World’s Leading Women in Business Law. She has been named a Texas Super Lawyer for over a decade and is in the Top 50 Women Lawyers in Texas and Top 100 Lawyers in Houston. In the patent area, she was named one of Law360’s “20 Most Influential Woman in IP Law” and has been included as an IPStar and listed in IAM Patent 1000 for many years.
https://www.orrick.com/ja-JP/People/C/9/3/Claudia-Frost

I should have added that ZM is seeking damages in "excess of US$1m"

ZM has lauched a new case in Harris County against FRR directors and nominally against FRR. There are multiple pages of submissions (which I cant seem to copy), emails and screengrabs of texts. I will copy and post what I can

It’s a “shareholder derivative action” for the benefit of the company against its directors claiming self-dealing and fraudulent conduct and mismanagement of FRC causing substantial harm to the company, including monetary losses, potential criminal liability and reputational damage.

ZM left the company is Aug 2020. He is listed as a shareholder and minority creditor of FRC.

He alleges the company spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on secretive lobbying efforts without his approval. It says he found out about working with Cornerstone via Georgian TV interviews. He confronted SN who denied they where working with Cornerstone but ZM eventually found the public records (which we had no problem finding). SN then claimed these payments where a mistake.

ZM claims the payroll protection loan was fraudulent obtained and SN operated a secret bank account. It states SN paid some of this to himself and paid some to ZM and ZM's son who works for the company. SN told authorities the payroll protection was for 12 people but the company only had 2 employees. The company had no US employee presence. The bank used for the PP loan was not known to ZM. SN refused to let ZM return the money to the PP bank account. There is some back and forth on the legality of the bank account being used.

ZM then tried to contact LG and TN without success. ZM was removed on 28 Aug, 2020

Thats the gist of the main document.

You can expect more posts from me on this as I wade through the filings.

Great find goose83 and good to see the company refuting the claims made in the article.

I see that 2 of my posts got deleted yesterday, as I think ODR and toatie predicted they would given the action of another poster. They posts discussed US - Georgia cooperation. I will follow the advice of toatie (whose post had at least 22 upticks before deletion) and hope others don't engage with these individuals and create the 'drama' so there is an excuse for deletion.

Today, the United States is imposing sanctions on the Russia-based entity KVT-RUS and identifying the vessel FORTUNA as blocked property. KVT-RUS is being sanctioned pursuant to Section 232 of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) for knowingly selling, leasing, or providing to the Russian Federation goods, services, technology, information, or support for the construction of Russian energy export pipelines. The United States will consider further actions in the near term, under CAATSA, and the Protecting European Energy Security Act (PEESA), as amended.

Nord Stream 2, if completed, would give Russia the means to completely bypass Ukraine, depriving Ukraine of vital revenues and opening it up to further Russian aggressive actions, while providing the means to use natural resources as a tool of political pressure and malign influence against western Europe. Today’s announcement demonstrates that the United States is not afraid to hold accountable those who continue to aid and abet this tool of Russian coercion.

The United States will continue to work with our friends and allies to ensure Europe has a reliable, diversified energy supply network that does not undermine collective security.
https://ge.usembassy.gov/sanctions-on-russian-entity-and-a-vessel-engaging-in-the-construction-of-nord-stream-2/

Some quotes from recent articles

"Georgia wants to become a member of NATO and that’s not for Russia to stop. Whether Georgia becomes a member of NATO or not is for Georgia and NATO Allies to decide, and only them. Because anything else would be to infringe on the sovereign rights of sovereign independent countries. And then, of course, you can have different arguments, but it’s not for Russia to decide what Georgia is to do. It’s for Georgia and NATO Allies.
https://www.georgianjournal.ge/politics/36775-nato-secretary-general-jens-stoltenberg-georgia-wants-to-become-a-member-of-nato-and-thats-not-for-russia-to-stop.html

"In his interview with Voice of America Georgian Service, the Chair of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, Gregory Meeks pledged that the Biden Administration will stand up to Russian attacks against key NATO allies.

"Yes, we will stand up to Russia. The Biden administration will stand up to Russia's attacks against key NATO allies such as Georgia. We do not want them to attack our allies and democracies across Europe. We are not going to have a tolerant approach to Putin and say that what he is doing is acceptable. For example, what is happening in Ukraine, in Crimea. We will stand by our allies, raise our voices and stand up to Russia", - Meeks told VOA's Georgian Service."
https://www.georgianjournal.ge/politics/36752-gregory-meeks-pledges-that-biden-administration-will-stand-up-to-russias-attacks-against-key-nato-allies-such-as-georgia.html

The site now has an english version of the article. It discusses Outrider structure, its dealings with some other companies as well as a version of its history with FRR.

https://kz.expert/en/news/analitika/2251_who_allies_with_akorda_in_the_stati_claim

Tyler Nelson is not just a skilled lobbyist, but has deep political ties and experience in the energy industry.

Cornerstone / Tyler Nelson lists around 8 O&G companies as its clients.

Most of the amounts involved are relatively tiny compared to the annual spend of FRR.

FRR spend is in line with the firms other large O&G customer which is PDVSA

L Giusti has deep connections to PDVSA.

PDVSA has so far spent US$610K in 2020 on lobbying, of which US$230K is with Cornerstone.

These amounts seems to have been spent representing its US subsidiary called CITGO Petroleum.

(CITGO has quite a few legal issues of its own which are easy to find)

Over the next couple of weeks we should get to see how much these companies spent on lobbying in Q4 2020.

Tyler Nelson, linked to Georgia, linked to the political contacts the GG want to reach (recall that they are also spending a small fortune lobbying in the US) might be the bridge builder that others failed to be.

Here is the official NATO press release which details time and place and how to access the live feed etc

https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_180702.htm

This article is in English and dated 13th Jan, Outrider is mentioned -

"English High Court orders Stati to pay over US $3.7 million in legal costs to Kazakhstan"

https://kaztag.kz/en/news/english-high-court-orders-stati-to-pay-over-us-3-7-million-in-legal-costs-to-kazakhstan

The proposed (and presumably standard) order has now been posted. Formatting issues make it difficult to copy but, should it be signed unchanged, this is the next step in the process -

The requirement to convene a first meeting within 28 days of the date upon which the winding up order is made under Order 8, rule 2(1) of the CWR be dispensed with and the JOLs be required to convene a first meeting within 12 months of the date upon which the winding up order is made.

A general review and round-up. Mentions positive moves on Anaklia Port and Caucasus Online which we have discussed before.

https://www.intellinews.com/outlook-2021-georgia-200220/

A variation on the articles already shared, talks about making it political -

Employees of the American oil company Frontera Eastern Georgia held a protest rally demanding payment of their 11-month salary arrears.

Up to 84 employees are demanding salaries from the company.

According to the protesters, if the company does not pay their salaries on time, they will turn the problem into a political issue and demand a meeting with the US Ambassador and the Prime Minister of Georgia.

"Despite the fact that the company extracted oil from the base, it did not fulfill its promise and did not repay the existing salary arrears to the employees. A lawsuit against the American company has not been heard so far, and the company is still illegally engaged in oil production in the Taribana field. "In addition to receiving an 11-month salary, we also demand reinstatement," the protesters said.

They said they were fired after demanding an old salary.

"We are grateful to the government for helping us financially, but it is unclear why Frontera does not pay us 11 months' salary. If our rights as employees are violated, why no one pays attention to us. We demand more attention from the government. We do not want to turn the issue into a political one, but when our demand is fair, we will not stop. "This is a warning action, then we will probably demand a meeting with the US Ambassador and Prime Minister," said Iveri Tsiklauri, a protester.

The dispute over the payment of wage arrears has been going on for several months. In August 2020, "Frontera" published another statement

(The article is quite long and goes on to repeat previous statements by the Govt and FRR, the Award etc)

https://europetime.eu/ka/article/2657-11-tviani-saxelpaso-davalianebis-daparvis-motxovni#

The translator has clarified

"Fields, fossils" = oil and gas

(oil extraction is mentioned) -

Journalist - Employees of the American company "Frontera Eastern Georgia" are demanding 11 months' salary. They gathered in Dedoplitskaro and stated that “the company took oil from the base and did not pay for it. It left us without the payment”. The protesters plan to file a lawsuit in court. According to them, paying the salary arrears is also an obligation of the gas and oil company, which owns 50% of the company. 84 employees of oil production in Dedoplistskaro are demanding to be reinstated to their old positions in addition to receiving their salaries.

Protester 1 - We are all waiting for someone to give us the answer and settle the issue. If we are mistaken and lying we also want to be told about it and we will stop protesting. Behind us stand our families. We need to provide our families. Thank God, we have the fields, fossils and why can`t we use it? Why can't our people work on it and provide our families?

Protestor 2- There have been no reimbursements in the last 2.5 months. Up to 1,500 tons of oil was extracted from the field. In this regard, there was a verbal agreement with me personally and 2-3 other people. They asked us to allow them to take oil, sell it, and pay our debts. But, unfortunately for us, it all remained in words. Nothing has changed

Protestor 3 - We are in tough situation. I can`t describe it in other words. We ask the government to help us and settle this issue.

https://1tv.ge/video/aqcia-dedofliswyaroshi-3/

Our translator has found this 2m news item on the protest. We will proceed with the translation. Though only a short piece it might reveal something new or in addition to the info we have so far.

This will be Translation #39

https://1tv.ge/video/aqcia-dedofliswyaroshi-3/

Domestic production does get a mention in that article -

"The local gas extraction is also increasing (estimated at 11.08 mln m³)"

Not just from from Russia -

Georgia to get 2.518 bln gas from Azerbaijan

Georgia will get 508.7 bln m³ of additional gas from the Shah Deniz gas field in 2021 and optional gas in the amount of 505.96 bln m³, with this implying that the volume of gas from the Southern Gas Corridor to Georgia will increase by 126 bln m³ if compared to that of 2020.

In the current year, Georgia will get a total of 2.518 bln m³ of natural gas from Azerbaijan: 1.014 bln from Shah Deniz and 1.504 from the SOCAR. Additionally, Georgia will purchase 200 m³ of gas from Russia. The local gas extraction is also increasing (estimated at 11.08 mln m³).

The estimated amount of gas consumption in Georgia equals 2.694 bln m³ in 2021, with 1.794 bln m³ being social consumption and 899.82 mln consumed by the private sector.

In 2021, Azerbaijan's giant Shah Deniz field gas started flowing to the EU. Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia said that this being a tremendous step forward.

PM Gakharia also stressed that if Georgia has so far been a transit country of regional significance, it has now become an international actor: the gas passing through its territory will play a crucial role in diversifying the European Union's energy markets.

Georgia is a host country in the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC), with this implying that Georgia will get the SGC gas at a considerably reduced rate. The options contract enables the country to get around 5% of gas passing through it annually. The deal is valid before 2066. The additional gas purchase and sale agreement is in force until 2026. In accordance with the agreement, Georgia will receive around 500 mln cubic meters of gas annually.

The SGC comprises the key components as follows: the South Caucasus Pipeline Expansion Project (SCPX), the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).

On the invitation of the President of Turkey, Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia, together with Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, participated in the inauguration ceremony of the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline project last year.

https://report.ge/en/economics/georgia-to-get-2-518-bln-gas-from-azerbaijan/