TKS Disputes establishes a law office dedicated to criminal defence for businesses

The law office is headed by Nazerke Rizabekova, an advocate, Counsel and Head of Criminal Practice at TKS Disputes. Its establishment marks the next stage in the development of our criminal practice: we are expanding our team to handle major criminal cases and complex disputes.

A criminal investigation may run alongside a corporate dispute, a contractual dispute or debt recovery proceedings. Decisions in one case can affect the company’s position in the others.

For major matters, TKS Disputes will form teams bringing together advocates from the law office and lawyers from the firm’s litigation and arbitration practice. The composition and size of each team will be tailored to the scale of the matter. This will enable us to handle large volumes of documents and manage several related proceedings in parallel, while maintaining a coordinated strategy.

The law office builds on the team’s experience across oil and gas, metals and mining, banking and brokerage, and the cryptocurrency sector.

Selected matters include:

• International bank – USD 17 million. Representation in criminal proceedings concerning the misappropriation of funds in connection with the performance of obligations under a bank guarantee and the disposal of pledged assets.
• Major oilfield services company – USD 14.9 million in alleged losses. Representation in criminal proceedings concerning alleged misappropriation in the performance of drilling contracts. The team secured the discontinuation of the criminal proceedings in their entirety.
• Major metals company – USD 2.7 million. Representation in criminal proceedings concerning misappropriation through the procurement of industrial equipment.
• Oil producer – USD 2.2 million. Defence in criminal proceedings concerning alleged unlawful subsoil use. The team challenged the legal characterisation of the conduct and the calculation of losses. The criminal proceedings were discontinued in their entirety.
• Major cryptocurrency mining operator – USD 1.2 million. Representation in criminal proceedings concerning the misappropriation of investments in cryptoassets.

The law office provides defence for businesses and their key personnel in matters involving economic crime and official misconduct, including situations of heightened legal and reputational risk.