Summons and Complaint
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FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 01/22/2010 INDEX NO. 150024/2010 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 1 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 01/22/2010 SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK COUNTY OF NEW YORK JWL Group, Inc. and Joseph Kay, as Personal Representatives of the late Arcady Badri Index No. ______/10 Patarkatsishvili, Little Rest Twelve, Inc., and Fisher Island Investments, Inc., Plaintiffs, - against - Inna Gudavadze a/k/a Ina Goudavadze, Boris Berezovsky a/k/a Platon Elenin, Yuly Dubov, Anatoly Motkin, Sophie Boubnova, Victor Perelman, and John Does 1-50, Defendants. Summons and Complaint STERNIK & ZELTSER 119 West 72nd Street # 229 New York, NY 10023 t/f: 212-656-1810 email: [email protected] MOUND COTTON, WOLLAN & GREENGRASS Michael R. Koblenz, Esq. One Battery Park Plaza New York, NY 10004-1486 (2 I 2) 804-4200 SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK COUNTY OF NEW YORK JWL Group, Inc. and Joseph Kay, as Personal Representatives of the late Arcady Badri Index No. ______/10 Patarkatsishvili, Little Rest Twelve, Inc., and Fisher Island Investments, Inc., Summons Plaintiffs, - against - Inna Gudavadze a/k/a Ina Goudavadze, Boris Berezovsky a/k/a Platon Elenin, Yuly Dubov, Anatoly Motkin, Sophie Boubnova, Victor Perelman, and John Does 1-50, Defendants. To the above named Defendants: YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED to appear in this Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York at 60 Centre Street in New York City within twenty (20) days of service of the Summons, exclusive of the day of service, or within thirty (30) days after the service is complete if this Summons is not personally delivered to you within the State of New York, and to answer this Summons and the allegations set forth in the annexed Complaint with the Clerk, and serve a true copy thereof upon the Attorney for Plaintiff. If you fail to appear and answer the within Summons and Complaint, a judgment will be entered against you by default for the relief demanded in the Complaint together with interest, costs and disbursements of this action. DATED: January 22, 2010 STERNIK & ZELTSER MOUND COTTON, WOLLAN Emanuel Zeltser, Esq. & GREENGRASS 119 West 72nd Street # 229 Michael R. Koblenz, Esq. New York, NY 10023 One Battery Park Plaza t/f: 212-656-1810 New York, NY 10004-1486 email: [email protected] (2 I 2) 804-4200 1. SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 2. COUNTY OF NEW YORK 3. JWL Group, Inc. and Joseph Kay, as Personal 4. Representatives of the late Arcady Badri Index No. ______/10 5. Patarkatsishvili, Little Rest Twelve, Inc., and 6. Fisher Islands Investments, Inc., 7. COMPLAINT 8. Plaintiffs, 9. Jury Trial Demanded 10. - against - 11. Plaintiffs designate 12. Inna Gudavadze a/k/a Ina Goudavadze, Boris New York County 13. Berezovsky a/k/a Platon Elenin, Yuly Dubov, venue of trial 14. Anatoly Motkin, Sophie Boubnova, Victor 15. Perelman, and John Does 1-50, 16. 17. Defendants. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. PLAINTIFFS, by their counsel, complaining of the above captioned 23. 24. defendants, upon personal knowledge as to themselves and/or upon information and 25. 26. belief as to all other matters, respectfully allege as follows. 27. 28. NATURE OF THIS ACTION 29. 30. 1. This action seeks to recover damages for wrongful death of Arcady Badri 31. 1 32. Patarkatsishvili (“Badri” or “Decedent”). As fully set forth below, significant evidence 33. 34. shows that the Decedent’s death was caused by intentional unlawful acts of Defendant 35. 36. Inna Gudavadze, Badri’s widow (“Gudavadze”), in conspiracy with Defendant Boris 37. 38. 1 39. Because of difficulty of pronunciation and spelling of Decedent’s last name, Decedent 40. during his lifetime had been most commonly referred to as and known by his middle 41. name “Badri”. 42. 1 1. Berezovsky (“Berezovsky”), a notorious Russian “oligarch” wanted by Interpol on 2. 3. international arrest warrants. Upon information and belief, Defendants Yuly Dubov (also 4. 5. on the Interpol “wanted” list) and Anatoly Motkin aided and abetted Gudavadze and 6. 7. Berezovsky in causing the wrongful death of the Decedent, with complicity of 8. 9. Defendants Sophie Boubnova and Victor Perelman, who, upon information and belief, 10. 11. knew of the forthcoming crime, and had the opportunity to report it but failed to do so. 12. 13. 2. This action seeks to recover general and special damages suffered by all Plaintiffs 14. 15. because of tortious, malicious and wanton conduct of Defendants in conspiracy with one 16. 17. another and certain third parties. 18. 19. 3. As herein alleged, the Defendants, upon information and belief, have devised and 20. 21. carried out a nefarious plan of intentionally or grossly negligently causing the death of 22. 23. Decedent, a billionaire investor and philanthropist, in order to usurp control over his 24. 25. vast assets. Defendants’ intentional actions in causing the Decedent’s death and other 26. 27. tortious and malicious acts, as set forth hereafter, have caused the Plaintiffs, New York 28. 29. residents, to suffer grave injury resulting in both general and specific damages. 30. 31. 4. Certain events and individual actors described in this Complaint have been the 32. 33. subject of intense media interest and have been widely reported in US and international 34. 35. press - - with a greater or lesser degree of accuracy. The Plaintiffs seek to set the record 36. 37. straight and bring specific causes of action for the Court’s and Jury’s determination of 38. 39. facts and Defendants’ culpability and liability stemming therefrom. 40. 41. 42. 2 1. JURISDICTION and VENUE 2. 3. 5. The Court has jurisdiction because all plaintiffs are New York residents and 4. 5. testamentary documents, upon which JWL Group, Inc. and Joseph Kay have been 6. 7. recognized as personal representatives of the Decedent, were executed in New York City, 8. 9. New York. 10. 11. 6. The Court further has jurisdiction because Defendants’ tortious acts alleged 12. 13. herein had significant consequences in the State of New York. 14. 15. 7. Defendants Victor Perelman and Sophie Boubnova are residents of New York 16. 17. County and New York State. 18. 19. 8. Defendants Gudavadze, Berezovsky, Dubov, and Motkin, reside outside of the 20. 21. United States, however, upon information and belief, do business in New York directly 22. 23. and indirectly through their agents. The Defendants, upon information and belief, own, 24. 25. use and/or possess property in New York State. Moreover, Defendant Gudavadze has 26. 27. voluntarily submitted herself to jurisdiction of New York courts by filing an action in the 28. 29. US District Court for the Southern District of New York against New York residents, 30. 31. including Joseph Kay. (Gudavadze v. Kay, et al., Case No. 08-CV-03363). 32. 33. THE DECEDENT 34. 35. 9. Decedent Badri was a wealthy investor, a citizen and resident of the country of 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 3 1. Georgia.2 Badri died on February 12, 2008, at the home of his then estranged wife Inna 2. 3. Gudavadze. At the time of his untimely death at age 52, Badri’s fortune was estimated 4. 5. at over a billion US dollars. His holdings included numerous business enterprises and a 6. 7. significant real estate portfolio in Eastern and Western Europe. In addition, the 8. 9. Decedent had a stake in business projects in the U.S. 10. 11. 10. Decedent was internationally renowned media owner and philanthropist. He 12. 13. controlled Imedi Media, one of the largest and most respected TV and radio networks 14. 15. in Eastern Europe. Decedent chaired the World Jewish Television network, which 16. 17. broadcasted to five continents. Decedent donated a significant portion of his wealth to 18. 19. worthy causes worldwide, including schools, hospitals, AIDS and cancer research, 20. 21. hospices for children suffering from leukemia, and foster homes. He donated over a 22. 23. million dollars to funds for the victims of the 9/11 tragedy and helped finance a 175-ton 24. 25. sculpture by Zurab Tsereteli titled “To the Struggle Against World Terrorism”-- gifted 26. 27. to the United States for the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Decedent was 28. 29. the Chairman of Georgian Olympic Committee and served on boards of numerous 30. 31. charitable organizations worldwide, including Shimon Perez International Peace Centre. 32. 33. 11. The Decedent was survived by a number of distributees, including the Defendant 34. 35. Inna Gudavadze and including the Decedent’s two adult daughters, Iya Patarkatsishvili 36. 37. and Liana Zhmotova, issue of the Decedent’s marriage to Gudavadze; Decedent’s second 38. 39. 2 40. Here and elsewhere in this Complaint, “Georgia” refers to Eastern European country of 41. Georgia, former Soviet republic. 42. 4 1. wife Olga Safonova and their son David Patarkatsishvili; Decedent’s sisters Mzia 2. 3. Totladze and Nana Patarkatsishvili; Decedent’s mother Natella Patarkatsishvili; 4. 5. Decedent’s brother Yakob Patarkatsishvili; cousins Joseph Kay, Irma Yakubov, Nina 6. 7. Zajic and their parents, Tsiala and Michael Kakiashvili. 8. 9. 12. Badri was a wise and generous man, and provided services and contribution to the 10. 11. distributees and others in the form of voluntary assistance, guidance and counseling, and 12. 13. financial support. 14. 15. 13. Up until several months prior to his death, Badri was a business partner of 16. 17. Defendant Berezovsky. 18. 19. 14. Upon information and belief, at the time of Badri’s death, the Decedent and his 20. 21. personally held entities owed significant debt to various creditors, estimated at over 22.