Dutch Supreme Court to rule in $50 billion Yukos case

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Dutch Supreme Court is set to rule in a $50 billion legal battle between Russia and former shareholders of the country’s bankrupted oil giant Yukos. If the highest Dutch court rules in favor of the former shareholders Friday in the long-running legal battle, it will likely lead them to attempt to seize Russian assets around the world to recoup the $50 billion they were awarded in an arbitration case. An international panel or arbitrators concluded in 2014 that Moscow seized control of Yukos in 2003 by deliberately crippling the company with huge tax claims. The move was seen as an attempt to silence Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a vocal critic of President Vladimir Putin.