The Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland, the nation's highest court, ruled in a key tax case to halt cooperation with Russia, according to an unofficial translation. The court said in a June 7 statement that the measure is in line with recent action taken by the Swiss Federal Council and Federal Office of Justice to suspend the mutual assistance procedures for criminal justice with Russia. The case itself stems from a 2018 request from Russian authorities over information on Swiss bank accounts for a case they were pursuing. In 2019, Swiss tax regulators complied with the request, leading to the lawsuit from the involved individual and companies seeking the court to halt such compliance. The Supreme Court ruled on May 31 to halt all cooperation in the case until at least September.

The EU General Court in a June 1 judgment dismissed an application from sanctioned individual Yevgeniy Prigozhin to revoke the European Council acts including and maintaining his designation under the Libya sanctions regime. Prigozhin was originally listed due to his standing as a Russian businessman with links to the paramilitary Wagner Group. He filed his case to argue that the council relied on inadmissible evidence to make the sanctions decisions. The court rejected this claim, holding that the evidence, which includes UN reports and press articles, appears sound and reliable and thus contains "some probative value."

The EU General Court dismissed an application for "interim measures" made by an individual listed under the EU's Russia sanctions regime. The court ruled that the application didn't show a good prima facie case and that there was no urgency or serious irreparable harm in the matter, thus no need was presented to suspend the pending restrictive measures, according to an unofficial translation. The court has ruled in the same way on all interim measures cases on restrictive measures.

Fiji's Supreme Court delayed a U.S. bid to seize a $325 million superyacht allegedly belonging to a sanctioned Russian billionaire, granting the yacht's registered owner, Millemarin Investments, a temporary stay on a previous ruling that would have allowed the U.S. to seize the ship this week, according to documents from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, Bloomberg reported June 2.

Russia announced new sanctions against a host of U.S. citizens, including a trade lawyer and several former and current U.S. attorneys, according to an unofficial translation of a May 21 notice. Among those designated were Kevin Wolf, an Akin Gump export control lawyer, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, U.S. Assistant Deputy Attorney General Lawrence Atkinson and other former and current district attorneys.

The EU General Court in a May 18 judgment rejected an application from Syrian businessman Amer Foz to annul the European Council actions listing and then maintaining his listing on the Syria sanctions list. Subjecting Amer Foz to sanctions due to his family business interests and association with his brother, Samer, whose sanctions listing predates Amer's, is "well founded," the court said.

The EU Court of Justice in a May 12 opinion dismissed Evariste Boshab's challenge of the General Court's decision to uphold his placement on the EU's Democratic Republic of the Congo sanctions list, according to an unofficial translation. Boshab had argued at the General Court and then at the ECJ that the European Council infringed on his right to be heard during the proceeding that saw his continued listing. The EU's high court said a formal hearing wasn't needed to guarantee an individual's right to be heard.

Fiji's High Court in a May 3 order gave the U.S. and local authorities permission to seize the Amadea, a $325 million mega-yacht whose ownership is in dispute. The U.S. said sanctioned Russian billionaire Suleyman Kerimov owns the yacht. A lawyer representing the company that the vessel is registered under told Bloomberg the yacht is owned by another businessman not on any sanctions lists. The High Court further gave lawyers representing this second businessman until May 4 to file a stay order, Bloomberg reported. The U.K. and the EU in March sanctioned Kerimov for his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The U.S. sanctioned him in 2018.

The EU General Court annulled the European Council acts keeping Ferdinand Ilunga Luyoyo on the EU's Democratic Republic of the Congo sanctions list. The court found that Ilunga Luyoyo, the former commander of the National Intervention Legion in the Congolese national police, no longer held the positions that landed him on the list and that the council failed to give sufficient evidence linking him and the security situation in the DRC, according to an unofficial translation.

The EU appointed Goulielmos Valasidis of Greece to the General Court, the European Council announced April 27. Eight other judges were reappointed: Geert De Baere and Paul Nihoul of Belgium; Sten Frimodt Nielsen and Jesper Svenningsen of Denmark; Krisztian Kecsmar of Hungary; Marc van der Woude of the Netherlands; and Maria Jose Costeira and Ricardo da Silva Passos of Portugal. Terms run Sept. 1, 2022, through Aug. 31, 2028.