A Chinese manufacturer faced a situation where straightforward litigation would not deliver results. The distributor in Russia received the first shipment of goods, sold them, and in order to avoid repayment of a $1.34 million debt, transferred its operational activities to a newly established company, stripping assets from the original purchasing entity and preparing it for bankruptcy.

Formally, the dispute could have been resolved in court, but the risk was obvious: even with a favourable judgment, enforcement would have been impossible since the debtor no longer held any assets.

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The main challenge was to overcome an artificial restructuring designed to evade obligations. It was necessary to identify and build admissible evidence of asset transfers and the shift of business operations to a new company, confirm the intent to drive the original entity into bankruptcy, and extend liability to affiliated structures.

1. Prove continuity between the debtor and the newly established company.

2. Confirm that the transfer of business was part of an artificial restructuring aimed at evading financial obligations.

3. Develop mechanisms to block diverted assets and extend liability to the new company and its beneficiaries.

4. Develop instruments for debt recovery without initiating a lengthy and costly bankruptcy procedure.

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The Anahata Solutions team conducted a commercial investigation that uncovered hidden assets, connections, and objective criteria of the restructuring, which indicated its unlawful nature. Based on Data Research and expert opinion, materials were compiled to provide the necessary body of evidence for an independent claim against the beneficial owner and the new company, without the need to gather these data during bankruptcy proceedings.

The assembled materials became a tool for the client’s legal team, providing a well-argued position, accelerating preparation, and allowing them to focus on key actions, which made the recovery process more manageable and predictable.

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1. Analyzed corporate registries, ownership structures, and movement of fixed assets to identify links between the old and the new companies.

2. Documented the transfer of employees, client relationships, and commercial terms to new business units, confirming continuity of operations.

3. Examined financial records and reporting to uncover the scheme of asset diversion and fictitious obligations.

4. Recorded evidence of fraudulent bankruptcy and confirmed the debtor’s intent to evade liability.

5. Using Expert Opinion, defined legal mechanisms to avoid a lengthy bankruptcy procedure and proved the factual succession of the new company.

6. Initiated asset freezes, filed claims against affiliated structures, alerted the debtor’s business partners to the risks of cooperation, and acted as facilitators in negotiations on debt restructuring.

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Data Research uncovered the scheme of asset concealment and business transfer. By consolidating data from corporate registries, property records, and financial transaction reports, as well as evidence of transferred commercial relationships, the investigation established affiliation between the debtor and the new company. This was further reinforced by findings on the transfer of employees and the identical commercial terms applied across both business units.

These results formed the evidentiary foundation for asset freezes and confirmed the signs of fraudulent bankruptcy.

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