Loudmila Bourlakova & Ors v The Estate of Oleg Bourlakov & Ors

Facts

The Bourlakovas, the First and Fourth Claimants, are engaged in long-running litigation, begun in 2020 and involving some twenty defendants and proceedings in Panama, Switzerland and the Bahamas, over the ownership of assets including Edelweiss Investments Inc, the Twelfth Defendant. In a judgment of 18 July 2025, Richard Smith J dismissed Edelweiss's strike-out and reverse summary judgment application. He refused a worldwide freezing order for want of a risk of dissipation, but held that a case for a proprietary freezing order was made out. At the consequentials stage, Edelweiss gave an undertaking not to dispose of, deal with or diminish the value of its assets, subject to carve-outs including the ordinary and proper course of business, and that undertaking was accepted in lieu of an injunction. Meanwhile, the Bourlakovas had learnt of an ICAC arbitration in Moscow in which a Mr Ploshchenko claimed just over $101 million from Edelweiss under an alleged 2013 services agreement. The judge refused the disclosure then sought but ordered Edelweiss to explain the arbitration. With the final arbitration hearing listed for 19 November 2025, the Bourlakovas applied for orders requiring Edelweiss to provide the arbitration statements of case, evidence and procedural orders, to notify them of any award or enforcement process, not to pay any award without notice, and to use best endeavours to obtain a transcript or recording of hearings. The application was released to a deputy judge because of its urgency.